By John Browne, Senior Economic Consultant to Euro Pacific Capital

Recently some of the fears that investors had focused on in the 11th hour debt negotiations in Greece have drifted southeastward towards the Strait of Hormuz. An increasingly bellicose Iran threatens to throw the world economy into confusion with the potential closure of one of the world’s most important sources of energy. Catastrophic failure in Athens or the Gulf could plunge the world into Read More »

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By John Tamny

“The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.” – President Barack Obama, Confidence Men, p. 186

It’s often been said in various ways by economic thinkers of the classical school that booms and bull markets don’t die of old age, rather they succumb to policy failure. Economies, and by extension stock markets, in this certain sense do best when Read More »

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EDITOR’S COMMENT: These comments provide  an excellent example of the far-reaching impact that the rules and regulations promulgated by the EPA have on our way of life and our economic well-being. The recent MACT rule clearly would not survive any cost-benefit analysis, as it expected to result in an additional $11 billion of new costs versus a supposed benefit if only $6 million. Unfortunately, the EPA did not want to wait until Read More »

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By Bill Frezza

If a presidential election were held between Gordon Gekko and Saul Alinsky, whom would you vote for?

No, the pending match-up between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is not a choice between a vulture capitalist and a radical socialist, but you wouldn’t know from listening to partisans tirelessly trying to demonize the opposing candidate.

That doesn’t mean that the nation isn’t truly facing a choice that will dictate how our government deals Read More »

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EDITOR’S COMMENT: While we have discussed this “retirement crisis” many times previously, these comments add some significant insight and should give everyone pause, as to what is really going to happen in the next few years to retirees. As we’ve seen, a very large number of retirees simply have not prepared themselves financially for their retirement. What’s going to happen to them, as it is unlikely that they’ll be able to survive Read More »

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By Frank Holmes. CEO and Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Global Investors

What a decade! A rapidly urbanizing global population driven by tremendous growth in emerging markets has sent commodities on quite a run over the past 10 years. If you annualized the returns since 2002, you find that all 14 commodities are in positive territory.

A precious metal was the best performer but it’s probably not the one you were thinking of. With Read More »

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By Alan Caruba

In 1991, the Soviet Union, arguably the greatest experiment in Communism, collapsed. After Mao Zedong died in 1976, his successors moved to shift its Communist economy to one that embraced Capitalism while retaining centralized government control.

Following World War Two, the recovering nations of Europe were rescued from Communism by the Marshall Plan, but adopted Communism-Light in the form of Socialism. The U.S. was already headed in that direction, creating programs Read More »

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Even well-off recent graduates are finding their liberal arts degrees don’t hold much promise. And these days, mom and dad may not be much help.

By Steve Reynolds

It was a warmer than normal winter day in New York City, and Ethan was dressed lightly in low-slung Levis, baggy sweater, and flimsy windbreaker. The ends of his matted hair protruded stiffly from a tightly bound bandana. All were soiled and unkempt. As he entered Read More »

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By John Rubino

Gold and silver mining stocks will be the dot-coms of the second half of this decade. Yet most of the people who bet on them will lose money because they ignore the first rule of speculative sectors, which is that no matter how well the sector does, most of its constituent companies will fail.

This rule applies wherever hot money is chasing untested concepts, but it’s uniquely valid for mining, Read More »

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