One of the things that the hard money crowd overlook is the dollar and oil. In fact, Russia and many other OPEC countries have often used oil as a political weapon. To a large extent, they became masters of the world behind the curtain. However, the USA began to wiggle free and is now possibly […]

QUESTION: Your insight into the Saudi’s supplying the chemical weapons and arms to the Syrian Rebels long before anyone even had a hint of that was astonishing. I recently met someone in London who worked at your City Office. He said even Margaret Thatcher would ask you what was really going on in Russia. He […]

The Debt Ceiling Crisis has done far more damage than anyone suspects. It has drawn attention to the Sovereign Debt Crisis by highlighting the national debt and then the “Conservatives” are targeting the Republicans who voted to end the shutdown. While it may be admirable that someone is trying to address the debt crisis, shutting […]

The man who may have saved the world is Stanislav Petrov who was one of those bureaucrats who received a report that the US had launched nuclear missiles on a first strike to Russia. Normally, he should have reported the attack to his superiors but did not perhaps on a gut feeling it was a computer […]

QUESTION:  Dear Martin, In your last post you say that sovereign debt crisis may be postponed for 8.6 years.  Would this delay the phase transition in the Dow and other US share markets.  Thank you for your posts, me and others I talk to read your blog everyday. Sincerely, JD ANSWER: Any postponement in the […]

The US rare coin market remains strong and is a “movable” asset class as is the case with ancient coins. A rare US $4 dollar “Coiled Hair Stella” gold coin from 1880 was auctioned at Bonhams in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing  $2.5 million, or $1 million more than expected. The coin contains six grams […]

Of course the American commentators are hurling nothing but insults at Putin for his Op-Ed in the New York Times. They dare to say with chemical weapons being used in Syria, he has no moral standing. Putin rightly points out that there is a serious casualty here and that will be the United Nations. “No […]

Bernanke is in a real box. He knows he needs to trim back the QE purchases, but at the same time he is concerned about the rising bond yields and interest rates. This can send the deficit much higher at a time when there is still a debt ceiling debate ahead. The question of will he […]

A very serious problem is lurking behind the entire NSA affair. Are they giving information to their “partners” who have been feeding them private and personal information crossing the line into Industrial Espionage? Reports are surfacing that the NSA has been spying on the Brazilian oil company Petrobras, and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is making the allegation. […]

Many people are talking about a stock market crash when Obama invades Syria. When we look at that historically, war does not create a major decline in stocks. Here is a chart of the Dow for the Gulf War in 1991. The market rallied after Congress authorized force. The idea that people will dump stocks […]