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Image | Off the Cuff: Cognitive Dissonance
Off the Cuff: Cognitive Dissonance
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

 

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:

  • Europe Worsens
    • Even Germany is showing signs of weakness now
  • David Stockman
    • Everyone's trying to shoot the messenger
  • Cognitive Dissonance
    • It feels like we're taking crazy pills
Off the Cuff: Cognitive Dissonance
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

 

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:

  • Europe Worsens
    • Even Germany is showing signs of weakness now
  • David Stockman
    • Everyone's trying to shoot the messenger
  • Cognitive Dissonance
    • It feels like we're taking crazy pills
Image | Rise a Pauper
Rise a Pauper
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Because of exceptionally poor decision making on the part of Cyprus leadership both before and during the recent crisis, Cyprus is now consigned to a very dark future of economic depression and failure.

Whatever the jabbering from the Troika, a precedent has now been set.

The one genie that cannot be placed back into its bottle is the notion that bank depositor accounts are now fair game.  The larger lesson here is that a wealth tax is now one of the solutions on the table for various government authorities across the EU, US, and other developed nations.
Rise a Pauper
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Because of exceptionally poor decision making on the part of Cyprus leadership both before and during the recent crisis, Cyprus is now consigned to a very dark future of economic depression and failure.

Whatever the jabbering from the Troika, a precedent has now been set.

The one genie that cannot be placed back into its bottle is the notion that bank depositor accounts are now fair game.  The larger lesson here is that a wealth tax is now one of the solutions on the table for various government authorities across the EU, US, and other developed nations.
Image | David Stockman: We’ve Been Lied To, Robbed, and Misled
David Stockman: We’ve Been Lied To, Robbed, and Misled
by Chris Martenson

David Stockman, former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, and veteran financier is an insider's insider. Few people understand the ways in which both Washington DC and Wall Street work and intersect better than he does.

In his upcoming book, The Great Deformation, Stockman lays out how we have devolved from a free market economy into a managed one that operates for the benefit of a privileged few. And when trouble arises, these few are bailed out at the expense of the public good.

By manipulating the price of money through sustained and historically low interest rates, Greenspan and Bernanke created an era of asset mis-pricing that inevitably would need to correct.  And when market forces attempted to do so in 2008, Paulsen et al hoodwinked the world into believing the repercussions would be so calamitous for all that the institutions responsible for the bad actions that instigated the problem needed to be rescued — in full — at all costs. 
David Stockman: We’ve Been Lied To, Robbed, and Misled
 by Chris Martenson

David Stockman, former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, and veteran financier is an insider's insider. Few people understand the ways in which both Washington DC and Wall Street work and intersect better than he does.

In his upcoming book, The Great Deformation, Stockman lays out how we have devolved from a free market economy into a managed one that operates for the benefit of a privileged few. And when trouble arises, these few are bailed out at the expense of the public good.

By manipulating the price of money through sustained and historically low interest rates, Greenspan and Bernanke created an era of asset mis-pricing that inevitably would need to correct.  And when market forces attempted to do so in 2008, Paulsen et al hoodwinked the world into believing the repercussions would be so calamitous for all that the institutions responsible for the bad actions that instigated the problem needed to be rescued — in full — at all costs. 
Image | Off the Cuff: Whither the US Dollar?
Off the Cuff: Whither the US Dollar?
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Charles Hugh Smith do something a little different.

Given the thoughtful and in-depth discussion resulting in our recent article on the future of the dollar's purchasing power, Chris and Charles engage in a fundamentals-based debate on the outlook for the U.S. dollar over the next decade.

This is one of those instances in which Charles, a valued contributing editor to Peak Prosperity, sees the future differently than Chris…

Off the Cuff: Whither the US Dollar?
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Charles Hugh Smith do something a little different.

Given the thoughtful and in-depth discussion resulting in our recent article on the future of the dollar's purchasing power, Chris and Charles engage in a fundamentals-based debate on the outlook for the U.S. dollar over the next decade.

This is one of those instances in which Charles, a valued contributing editor to Peak Prosperity, sees the future differently than Chris…

Image | Precious Metals: The Calculated Gamble
Precious Metals: The Calculated Gamble
 PREVIEW
by John Michael Greer

Executive Summary

  • B1
  • B2
  • B3
  • B4

If you have not yet read Part I: Precious Metals: The Unseen Risks, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As I discussed in last month’s subscribers-only article, “Face First into the Limits to Growth,” the crisis faced by the global economy in the years immediately ahead of us is not primarily economic in nature. The explosive economic growth that reshaped the world over the last three centuries or so was made possible by the discovery of a few simple gateway technologies that gave humanity access to vast amounts of cheap, highly concentrated energy in the form of fossil fuels.

Precious Metals: The Calculated Gamble
 PREVIEW by John Michael Greer

Executive Summary

  • B1
  • B2
  • B3
  • B4

If you have not yet read Part I: Precious Metals: The Unseen Risks, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As I discussed in last month’s subscribers-only article, “Face First into the Limits to Growth,” the crisis faced by the global economy in the years immediately ahead of us is not primarily economic in nature. The explosive economic growth that reshaped the world over the last three centuries or so was made possible by the discovery of a few simple gateway technologies that gave humanity access to vast amounts of cheap, highly concentrated energy in the form of fossil fuels.

Image | Precious Metals: The Unseen Risks
Precious Metals: The Unseen Risks
by John Michael Greer

Precious metals have been a core investment vehicle for very good reasons since before the beginning of recorded history.  In periods of crisis, by and large, precious metals – especially gold – maintain their value to a much greater degree than other media of exchange.  In times of complete political and social collapse, in turn, precious metals – again, especially gold – are often accepted in exchange for goods and services when nothing else has any exchange value at all.
Precious Metals: The Unseen Risks
 by John Michael Greer

Precious metals have been a core investment vehicle for very good reasons since before the beginning of recorded history.  In periods of crisis, by and large, precious metals – especially gold – maintain their value to a much greater degree than other media of exchange.  In times of complete political and social collapse, in turn, precious metals – again, especially gold – are often accepted in exchange for goods and services when nothing else has any exchange value at all.
Image | Say Goodbye to the Purchasing Power of the Dollar
Say Goodbye to the Purchasing Power of the Dollar
by Adam Taggart

On a long solo car trip this past weekend, I downloaded several podcasts to listen to as the miles passed. One was a classic: The Invention of Money, originally released by NPR's Planet Money team back in January of 2011. I highly recommend listening (or re-listening) to it in full.

The podcast is a great reminder of how any currency in a monetary system is a fabricated construct. A simpler way to explain this is to say it has value simply because we believe it does.

Say Goodbye to the Purchasing Power of the Dollar
 by Adam Taggart

On a long solo car trip this past weekend, I downloaded several podcasts to listen to as the miles passed. One was a classic: The Invention of Money, originally released by NPR's Planet Money team back in January of 2011. I highly recommend listening (or re-listening) to it in full.

The podcast is a great reminder of how any currency in a monetary system is a fabricated construct. A simpler way to explain this is to say it has value simply because we believe it does.

Image | John Doody: The Falling Knife of Mining Stocks Has Hit the Floor
John Doody: The Falling Knife of Mining Stocks Has Hit the Floor
by Chris Martenson

Look across the universe of equities these days and it's hard to find a stock sector more thoroughly hated by investors than precious metals mining companies.

They are supposed to act as leveraged investments on the price of the precious metals. However, on average, the sector has underperformed the price action in gold in silver over the past several years. In fact, many miners have been absolute widowmakers.

On top of that, as the stock market has powered to new highs over recent months, many miners and mining indexes have sunk to multi-year lows.

What gives?
John Doody: The Falling Knife of Mining Stocks Has Hit the Floor
 by Chris Martenson

Look across the universe of equities these days and it's hard to find a stock sector more thoroughly hated by investors than precious metals mining companies.

They are supposed to act as leveraged investments on the price of the precious metals. However, on average, the sector has underperformed the price action in gold in silver over the past several years. In fact, many miners have been absolute widowmakers.

On top of that, as the stock market has powered to new highs over recent months, many miners and mining indexes have sunk to multi-year lows.

What gives?
Image | How to Survive the Mother of All Bubble Burstings: A Collapse of the Bond Market
How to Survive the Mother of All Bubble Burstings: A Collapse of the Bond Market
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • The three main signs presaging a bond-bubble collapse are now evident
  • Why the Fed will fail to get new credit debt growth at the rate it needs
  • The return of CDOs and other risky tactics that show market participants have returned to reckless thinking
  • How a bond market collapse will play out
  • How to product yourself and your wealth during the extreme pain of a bond market collapse

If you have not yet read Part I: Investors Beware: Market Risks Today Are Higher Than Ever, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The dangers growing in the bond market are, of course, all the result of the Fed, et al., cramming the real rate of interest on Treasury bonds into negative territory, starving investors for income, and forcing them to chase yield whenever and wherever it can be found.  Given a long enough time without a serious disruption in the markets, you eventually find yourself exactly where we are, with everyone chasing yield because they have to. Hey, everybody else is, and nothing bad has happened yet, right?

Of course, the odds of this ending well are practically zero.

How ridiculous has it become?  How about a company currently in bankruptcy proceedings able to sell bonds at investment-grade yields?

AMR Bankruptcy Yields Record-Low Bond Coupon

Mar 13, 2013

American Airlines is selling investment-grade debt even as it spends a 15th month in bankruptcy while bond buyers look ahead to the merger with US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) that will create the world’s largest carrier.

The AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) unit issued $663 million of so-called enhanced equipment trust certificates yesterday that included a portion paying 4 percent, matching the record low coupon for similar airline debt, which was first awarded to United Continental Holdings Inc. in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. American is also seeking to refinance about $1.3 billion of bonds backed by aircraft after receiving court approval to do so in January.

By the time you have 'investors' offering money to a perpetual basket-case like AMR – a company that also happens to be in bankruptcy proceedings at present – at investment-grade 4% yields, you know you are in the midst of a crazy bubble. Consider this anecdote to be the bond market equivalent of a hairdresser from Las Vegas buying her 19th house…

How to Survive the Mother of All Bubble Burstings: A Collapse of the Bond Market
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • The three main signs presaging a bond-bubble collapse are now evident
  • Why the Fed will fail to get new credit debt growth at the rate it needs
  • The return of CDOs and other risky tactics that show market participants have returned to reckless thinking
  • How a bond market collapse will play out
  • How to product yourself and your wealth during the extreme pain of a bond market collapse

If you have not yet read Part I: Investors Beware: Market Risks Today Are Higher Than Ever, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The dangers growing in the bond market are, of course, all the result of the Fed, et al., cramming the real rate of interest on Treasury bonds into negative territory, starving investors for income, and forcing them to chase yield whenever and wherever it can be found.  Given a long enough time without a serious disruption in the markets, you eventually find yourself exactly where we are, with everyone chasing yield because they have to. Hey, everybody else is, and nothing bad has happened yet, right?

Of course, the odds of this ending well are practically zero.

How ridiculous has it become?  How about a company currently in bankruptcy proceedings able to sell bonds at investment-grade yields?

AMR Bankruptcy Yields Record-Low Bond Coupon

Mar 13, 2013

American Airlines is selling investment-grade debt even as it spends a 15th month in bankruptcy while bond buyers look ahead to the merger with US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) that will create the world’s largest carrier.

The AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) unit issued $663 million of so-called enhanced equipment trust certificates yesterday that included a portion paying 4 percent, matching the record low coupon for similar airline debt, which was first awarded to United Continental Holdings Inc. in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. American is also seeking to refinance about $1.3 billion of bonds backed by aircraft after receiving court approval to do so in January.

By the time you have 'investors' offering money to a perpetual basket-case like AMR – a company that also happens to be in bankruptcy proceedings at present – at investment-grade 4% yields, you know you are in the midst of a crazy bubble. Consider this anecdote to be the bond market equivalent of a hairdresser from Las Vegas buying her 19th house…

Image | Investors Beware: Market Risks Today Are Higher than Ever
Investors Beware: Market Risks Today Are Higher than Ever
by Chris Martenson

After the shot across the bow in 2008, you might have expected regulators and market participants would use the experience to change for the better, to become more prudent, and to reduce the sorts of risky behaviors that almost crashed the entire system.

Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.
Investors Beware: Market Risks Today Are Higher than Ever
 by Chris Martenson

After the shot across the bow in 2008, you might have expected regulators and market participants would use the experience to change for the better, to become more prudent, and to reduce the sorts of risky behaviors that almost crashed the entire system.

Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.
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