All financial crises are the same and different at the same time. They are the same when it comes to the dynamics of contagion, illiquidity, bank failures and the high-panic state in which everyone in the world wants his money back at the same time. Yet, each crisis is different in its specific causes. The
Admittedly cryptocurrency geeks live in a world of their own and are not fully acquainted with how the domain of central banks and governments actually works. And they’re proud of it! Cryptocurrency supporters in many cases are anarcho-libertarians who thrive on the fact that cryptocurrencies are decentralized, so-called “trustless” systems that do not rely upon
Market bubbles are nothing new. In the 17th and 18th centuries we had the Dutch tulip bubble, the French Mississippi bubble and the UK’s South Sea bubble. The 19th century saw bubbles in canal building (1830s), gold (1869) and railroads (1890s). In the 20th and 21st centuries we have seen bubbles in Florida real estate (mid-1920s), stocks (late 1920s),
Cryptocurrencies in all of their forms proliferated and gained a widespread following before governments woke up to how cryptos work and what they do. Now the period of free reign by cryptos is over. Governments have had sufficient time to learn about the crypto market and they don’t like what they see. Governments, central banks
The Fed’s interest rate policy committee meets eight times per year, about every six weeks. In the days leading up to each meeting, and in the immediate aftermath, breathless TV commentators dissect the nuance of every word that comes from the mouth of a Fed governor or other voting member of the rate committee. Chairman
One of the most popular TV series lately is “Black Mirror” on Netflix, which offers dark comedy and social satire of the near future in the digital age. Episode One of the third season was called “Nosedive.” It tells the story of a young woman named Lacie who lives in a world where your social
