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In case you missed it, yesterday we alerted you that the United States government has now officially accumulated $19 trillion in debt. This time it took them just 427 days of printing to pile on this last trillion dollars, compared to the over 75,000 days it took to rack up the first trillion
On October 22, 1981, the national debt in the United States of America hit $1 trillion for the first time in history. It had taken the US federal government over two centuries to reach that mark. And in that period, America had won its independence and built a nation from scratch. How Much
Let’s take a moment to compare the world today to before the Global Financial Crisis struck roughly eight years ago. In this short period of time, US federal government debt has DOUBLED. The Federal Reserve now holds $2.4 trillion of that debt, up from $479 billion. Interest rates, which were between 2-4%, are
On August 24 in the year 79 AD, one of the most famous natural disasters in history struck the Ancient Roman city of Pompeii, and its surrounding area. We have an eye-witness account from Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, whose letter to Roman historian Tacitus vividly describes how the eruption of Mount Vesuvius rained
In 2014, the Journal of Neuroscience published the results of a unique study that probed deep into human emotion. Two Dutch scientists had conducted an experiment in which they exposed test subjects to a wide range of scenarios to evoke some of the most primal human emotions– joy, anger, etc. Subjects were hooked
Chances are you’ve never heard of William White. You might have heard of the organization that he used to manage—the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). The BIS is often called the central bank of central banks; their role is essentially to facilitate international financial transactions among the world’s central banks. So they are
If you believe the official propaganda, no other nation in the history of the world has advanced the cause of humanity more than North Korea. According to the North Korean Ministry of Truth, their great nation has cured cancer, ebola, AIDS, SARS, MERS, and much more. Now they’re saving the world again, this
Julius Caesar was kind of a deadbeat. The guy was in debt up to his eyeballs, and had borrowed so much money to finance his rise to power that he threatened to skip town forever if he lost an election. Back in Caesar’s day, interest rates in Rome were about 12%. In ancient
As a kid I remember hearing it all the time. It was an idea that was drilled into my head over and over again. It was in movies and legal dramas. You could see it in the newspapers. We learned about it in textbooks. “In America,” people would say, “you are always innocent
Eight centuries ago as Marco Polo traveled across the vast dominion of the Mongolian Empire, he encountered what few westerners had ever seen. One of those astonishing experiences was how the Mongols happily and willingly used paper currency. Marco Polo was so intrigued by this that he devoted an entire chapter in his
If you’re not watching it purely for the entertainment value, sitting through a State of the Union speech ranks somewhere between a colonoscopy and a root canal. Every year I opt for the former (entertainment value, not colonoscopy). But because I live overseas, one of the added entertainment benefits is that I’m surrounded
Switzerland is famous for being punctual. The trains. The buses. The meticulously crafted, hand polished luxury watches. The Swiss are so culturally punctual that they even tend to pay their taxes well in advance of the filing deadline. So it was quite a shock to hear this morning that the Swiss canton of
In case it weren’t completely obvious how completely screwed up the financial system is, please allow me to introduce Exhibit A: the Federal Reserve’s own balance sheet. First we need a quick accounting background. And, stay with me, because this is important. Think about your own finances. You, me, everyone… we all have
About a week and a half ago when I landed in Australia, I walked past the currency exchange booths in the arrivals hall and took a quick look at their rates. Their quoted price to change US dollars into Australian dollars was 77 cents that day. I quickly glanced at my phone and
Well, it happened again. China’s stock market plunged, sending more than half a trillion dollars to money heaven. What a surprise, it turns out that a massive credit bubble is actually unsustainable and will eventually burst. Shocker. And just like what happened last year when Chinese stocks tanked, the government is stepping in