The author of “The Dao of Capital”, Mark Spitznagel, speaks about the negative impact of interest rate manipulations by central banks. Mark Spitznagel, Universa Investments LP founder, discusses the lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker. (Source: Bloomberg). Click here for the video.
If you’ve ever lived through a life-threatening emergency — whether a car crash, train wreck or a steep fall (hopefully not) — you have noticed that time seems to slow down. You witness your personal jeopardy in slow motion. A memorable example of this is the film The Matrix, in which the hero, Neo, could dodge
Current Fed policy will push the U.S. economy to the brink of recession, possibly by later this year. When that happens, the Fed will have to reverse course and ease monetary policy. Meanwhile, the economic cheerleaders recite recent GDP figures and the stimulative effects of the Trump tax cuts. For more of this article, click
The trade war between the U.S. and China is headline news on every channel. Despite glossy analyses by the mainstream financial media, this trade war is just getting started and should be expected to get much worse before it gets better. Reports that Trump’s tariffs are just for show and China’s response is just posturing
For too long, Americans have been suffering under the myth that China is the invincible super-power of the twenty-first-century and it will surpass the U.S. in wealth and influence in a matter of just a few years. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that China is the world’s second largest economy
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts talk endlessly about anonymity and encryption. These are supposed to be antidotes to state control. The truth is that major payments systems such as VISA and MasterCard are heavily encrypted and all payments systems offer anonymity to the outside world unless you are the target of a criminal investigation or lawsuit. For that
U.S. economic sanctions are being applied like never before. Current targets include North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Iran, Turkey, China, Russia, and Venezuela. Several other countries are under consideration for tariffs and sanctions or on a waiting list. These sanctions are highly effective. The Iranian economy almost imploded in 2013 under prior sanctions and is imploding
Turkey’s economic problems are well-known. President Erdoğan has appointed relatives and cronies to key economic policy positions. This has caused a loss of independence of the central bank and a loss of confidence in the stability of the currency, the Turkish lira. The lira collapse has triggered hyperinflation and a stock market crash. Bond
Several years ago, I began warning my readers that a global trade war was likely in the wake of the currency wars. This forecast did not seem like a stretch. It would simply be a replay of the sequence that prevailed from 1921–39 as the original currency war started by Weimar Germany morphed into trade
Andrew Sheng is one of the most astute and plugged-in analysts on the Chinese economy. I read his work on a regular basis and it is always worth the time and effort. Sheng has been highly critical of many Chinese economic initiatives and has pointed out their flaws. In this article, he takes a more positive
