I've often referred to a theory of business cycles that was first described by the Austrian Joseph Schumpeter, but amplified by contemporary American Thomas Sowell. Both are brilliant economists who have described in mathematical detail how free markets produce the most wealth and well-being for society, including for those at ...read more

I would not touch bonds with a barge pole, especially government bonds. After 40 years of unending fiat money expansion, the world suffers from excess levels of debt. A lot of this debt will never be repaid. My expectation is that the market will increasingly question the ability and the ...read more

Some friends and co-workers spent their holidays at Rancho Santana in Nicaragua, where you can live like a king on a pauper’s salary. The beaches are among the best in the world, and the people are nuts for Americans. There is every amenity and consumer product, even better stuff than ...read more

Whether it's pirated software, poison-infused baby formula, cancer-causing drywall, luxury purses or fake medicines, if you need a knockoff, China has traditionally been the go-to country, with a counterfeiter always willing to oblige. Now, with precious metals prices on the cusp of possibly the biggest price explosion in centuries, fake gold ...read more

It's common knowledge that if a person has the wisdom and discipline to save for the future, then he or she can eventually enjoy a permanently higher standard of living. However, it's useful to look at a numerical example -- such as the one I detail in chapter 10 of ...read more

Last weekend, we bought some land. This flies against policy (our policy) of never buying anything except that which can be paid for at the time of purchase – and even though I know full-well that we won’t really own the land, just as we don’t really own the land we ...read more

Let us look at some awful analysis of gold, courtesy of Wells Fargo Bank. Perhaps channelling their inner Michael Pascoe, the bank’s analysts told clients, “Interest in gold investing has reached the level of a speculative bubble.” Having thus be-clowned themselves, they went on to elaborate: gold prices are volatile, gold ...read more

A regular Whiskey bar patron writes: I truly do enjoy your insights on the Whiskey & Gunpowder posts. These ideas are very much in tune with what is going on. But why do you and others insist that Social Security is somehow an entitlement? No matter what the immoral politicians did ...read more

The budget deal is all but done. Woohoo! Back to spending beyond our means again. Back to buying more iPads. Back to more public work projects. What a huge relief it is to get that silly spending cap out of the way. Or… is it? The deal making its way through congress would provide ...read more

Gas is still only $0.20 per gallon... [caption id="attachment_8999" align="aligncenter" width="503" caption="A gas station in Ashland, Oregon, May 2011"][/caption] ...If you pay with un-debased U.S. currency. One gas station in Ashland, Oregon, is accepting payment for gas in the old, un-debased version of the currency. The more prices change, the more they remain the ...read more