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There are plenty of books about the entitlement disaster in our future, but few come with the backing of an academic press. The Clash of Generations is an exception. Written by economist Larry Kotlikoff, one of the creators of generational accounting, and my good friend of long standing, Scott Burns, Clash shows what current policies have already done to young people, tells stories about how both parties have allowed it to happen, and offers actual policy solutions– for banking, taxes, healthcare, and Social Security.
I recently had a chance to speak at a conference where Dr. Ian Bremmer spoke after me. I was very impressed with his thought process and asked him to give me an outline of his speech to share with you for this week's Outside the Box. It's a shorter version of his powerhouse book, Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. I highly recommend it.
A peaceful and stable Pakistan is integral to western efforts to pacify Afghanistan, but Islamabad's obsessions with its giant eastern neighbor may render such issues moot.
Since partition in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought four armed conflicts, in 1947, 1965, 1971 (which led to the establishment of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan) and the 1999 Kargil clash.
A strike on Iran, however limited, would push the current internal power struggle to a premature end that would not be in the US' best interests - that is the message, whether intentional or not, of the recent "intelligence leak" that has provided the Obama Administration with justification for standing down with regard to Iran.
 By Louis James, Casey ResearchEconomic crises signal that the current system isn't working as expected and needs improvement. When it comes to monetary systems, questioning their fundamentals can lead to doubts about whether the preferred medium of exchange will continue to be preferred for long. The large-scale whirlwind of economic trouble around the globe has pushed some to rethink the role of gold in the economy – and to actually move toward bringing it back.
Back in November, I laid out the case for a multi-year bull market in the U.S. dollar. At the time I shared several reasons, and most of them seem to be playing out. One of the key factors was my belief that interest rates in the U.S. would be hiked by the Fed before any hikes came about in Europe or Japan.
In the 32 years of his benighted rule, Zimbabwe's President Robert Gabriel Mugabe has done more damage to the country than its white-led minority government ever did.
With the exception of the smuggling of "blood diamonds" the country's economy, once the "breadbasket of Africa," resembles nothing so much as a slow motion train wreck.
For the first time in decades, the Middle East is on the brink of a war that could involve multiple countries … on multiple fronts … with many dimensions — civil war, guerrilla war, religion-based war and economic war.
I had my nose in Niall Ferguson's newest book, Civilization: The West and the Rest, at every possible moment during my recent trip to Hong Kong and Singapore. It's powerful and very, very timely, and I strongly recommend it.
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Recent News
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Natural Resource-Related Stocks Show Promise: Frank Barbera
The Gold Report: Europe is in the headlines daily: more leftists coming to power, regional banks suffering, renewed recession appearing to take hold. What is your take on Europe?
Frank Barbera: In the headlines, Europe looks like quite the mess. Imagine being a Greek who saved over a lifetime now facing the possibility of devaluation or Greece leaving the euro. If Greece pulls out of the euro and devalues, most of the people will see their life savings collapse in terms of purchasing power.
In my view, there is a pretty good chance that would spark a contagion. When people in Spain or Italy see Greece pull out and return to a devalued drachma, there will be . . . → Read More: Natural Resource-Related Stocks Show Promise: Frank Barbera
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Natural Resource-Related Stocks Show Promise: Frank Barbera
The Gold Report: Europe is in the headlines daily: more leftists coming to power, regional banks suffering, renewed recession appearing to take hold. What is your take on Europe?
Frank Barbera: In the headlines, Europe looks like quite the mess. Imagine being a Greek who saved over a lifetime now facing the possibility of devaluation or Greece leaving the euro. If Greece pulls out of the euro and devalues, most of the people will see their life savings collapse in terms of purchasing power.
In my view, there is a pretty good chance that would spark a contagion. When people in Spain or Italy see Greece pull out and return to a devalued drachma, there will be . . . → Read More: Natural Resource-Related Stocks Show Promise: Frank Barbera
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Dr. Frankenstein’s Europe
"Had I right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race."
– The musings of Dr. Frankenstein about his creation of a monster, in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein
And later the monster answers:
"Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his . . . → Read More: Dr. Frankenstein’s Europe
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The People Have Spoken and Precious Metals Will Soar: Leonard Melman
TGR: It seems that economists can plan and recommend, and politicians can negotiate and maneuver, and pundits can analyze and predict all they want, yet when the people don’t want to play along, it can all mean nothing. Of course, we’re talking about the elections in France and Greece. What’s going on?
Leonard Melman: What’s going on is that the monetary authorities in Europe have decided that austerity is the only way out of the financial dilemma, which I find kind of amusing, because it is their Keynesian activities that created those policies in the first place. Their decision now is that austerity, which is cutting back government programs, is the only thing that will work. The problem is . . . → Read More: The People Have Spoken and Precious Metals Will Soar: Leonard Melman
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Are JPMorgan Chase ETNs Safe?
I don’t know about you, but here in Texas I can barely drive a mile without passing a JPMorgan Chase (JPM) branch. They’re even inside the grocery stores.
Simply being everywhere doesn’t make a bank safe, of course. As we learned last week, traders in London just cost JPMorgan $2 BILLION and possibly more! Fitch Ratings downgraded its credit rating one notch to A-plus, and it looks like Moody’s may cut the bank, too.
Weiss Ratings, ahead of the curve as usual, cut JPMorgan Chase to “D” on September 30, 2010. And on October 22, 2010, they issued a special news release advising subscribers that among U.S. banks, JPMorgan was carrying the largest . . . → Read More: Are JPMorgan Chase ETNs Safe?
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