Expect Government Crackdowns In A "Global Depression" For those professing a preference for one type of government over another, an ugly reality is they all cut from the same cloth. Whether we are talking about Democracy, Communism, Socialism, or Fascism the strong link they share is one of dominance and a desire to control. While seen as vastly different systems with distinct goals, each... read more

No one could have predicted it. Not the economists, not the real estate agents, and especially not the nation’s homebuilders. But a pandemic caused an emotional run on housing unlike any other. Now, one year after the Covid-19 crisis shut down and warped so much of American life, things are still unpredictable, but the outlook isn’t bright for housing. In fact, it looks like the perfect... read more

Off the coast of Los Angeles, more than two dozen container ships filled with exercise bikes, electronics and other highly sought imports have been idling for as long as two weeks. In Kansas City, farmers are struggling to ship soybeans to buyers in Asia. In China, furniture destined for North America piles up on factory floors. Around the planet, the pandemic has disrupted trade to an ex... read more

The hype around "hot" stocks, the retail-investing boom, and the surge in listings of special-purpose acquisition vehicles are all signs of an expanding stock-market bubble, the veteran investor Jim Rogers said in a RealVision interview released on Monday. Rogers is George Soros' former business partner and the cofounder of Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management. He indicated that bonds were... read more

GUANGZHOU, China — China’s Inner Mongolia region plans to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects and shut down existing activity in a bid to cut down on energy-consumption. Bitcoin is based on a decentralized network, which means it’s not issued by a single entity like a central bank. Transactions, recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, need to be “verified” by miners.... read more

The House is expected to pass a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package later Friday and send President Joe Biden’s relief plan to the Senate. Both chambers aim to approve the bill and send it to Biden’s desk before March 14, when key programs buoying millions of jobless Americans expire. Pitfalls await in the Senate, where a single Democratic vote against the plan would sink it and a de... read more

The Bretton Woods conference of 1944 set the global financial system that still prevails today. The period 1969-1971 can be regarded as the First Reset, which involved the creation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR, ticker:XDR), the devaluation of the dollar and the end of the gold standard. For years, commentators (myself included) have discussed the next global monetary realignment, which is... read more

Gold markets have initially pulled back a bit during the course of the trading session on Tuesday to break down below the $1800 level. However, the buyers came back in to push this market to the upside and form a little bit of a hammer shaped candlestick. It is interesting to note that we have seen support underneath in the form of a couple of neutral candlesticks, sitting just above a major su... read more

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appear wary of signs of froth in financial markets, even as they press ahead with economic stimulus measures that are elevating the euphoria. There “may be sectors where we should be very careful,” Yellen told CNBC television last week, when asked about possible speculative sizzle. The remark... read more

A $15 minimum wage could become a reality in the U.S. While millions would get a pay boost from a higher national wage floor, it would still fall short of paying many workers a “living wage” — the salary a person or family needs to cover their basic expenses. That’s especially true for families, largely due to higher living costs like childcare, relative to single adults. Even... read more