ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
News and commentaries that reveal historical facts and trends that place current events into perspective and make it possible to anticipate future events.
Max Wright explains that so-called free-trade agreements do not promote free trade and have distorted the markets instead of creating wealth. Money and assets flow to where they are treated the best, so they gravitate to free markets. The wealth gap is virtually absent in free markets. Socialism is a magnet for corruption. Contrarian Dude 2015 Dec 29 (Story)
Michael Burry, a contrarian Wall Street investor who predicted and made large gains from the 2008 financial crisis, says that ‘little guy’ investors and small borrowers will be crushed in the upcoming economic crisis. He advises being suspicious when the government or banks offer free money, no matter how seductive the deals may seem. ZeroHedge 2015 Dec 29 (Story) (Cached)
Michael Burry delivered the commencement address to the UCLA graduating class of 2012 and revealed how he was able to see the 2008 crash coming when the Federal Reserve did not. He sees the building of another crash of even greater proportions and tells what to do about it. There is much wisdom in this short address. UCLA posted 2012 Jun 29 (Story)
Sweden is using cashless transactions in 95% of all retail purchases, and Denmark intends to eradicate cash by 2030. Spain has banned cash sales over €2,500, while France and Italy have banned cash sales over €1,000. Westpac Bank says Australia will be cashless by 2022, and India is offering tax benefits to those who participate in cashless programs. Governments want this because all transactions can be tracked and taxed. Banks want it because they will receive transaction fees on all purchases rather than just some of them. Consumers meekly accept it because they have been told it will reduce theft and that it is inevitable, neither one of which is true. Economic Collapse 2015 Dec 27 (Story) (Cached)
German researchers have found gaping security holes in bank debit and credit-card transactions. Using Wi-Fi technology, card numbers and pin numbers can be stolen from the terminals that read them. Banks have knowledge of this problem but have done nothing to overcome it, possibly because of the enormous cost to do so. It cannot be fixed by a simple software patch but would require a re-design of the whole system. RT posted 2015 Dec 27 (Story)
Bitcoin is being challenged by a perceived difference in fungibility between old and new units. Fungibility is the quality of money that allows one unit to be equal in value to all others. The value of older Bitcoin may decrease because it has a provable transaction history that may reveal its use for an illegal purchases from websites like The Silk Road that sold illicit drugs. New, virgin Bitcoin could become more highly valued if governments declare that Bitcoin once used in illegal trade can be confiscated. Bitcoin Magazine posted 2015 Dec 26 (Story) (Cached)
