VIEW: European Parliament in session

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I have investigated your explanation of hyperinflation and can see that you are correct in that this is limited to third world and revolutionary governments. Is it correct to say that as government becomes a bit more aggressive to try to meet its obligations, the economic collapse is a self-destruction process of […]

Vienna Battle, 1683 The Financial Panic of 1683 emerged from the Battle of Vienna on September 12 when the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city for two months which was finally broken with the arrival of a force of 70,000 Polish, Austrians and Germans under the Polish-Lithuanian king Jan III Sobieski. The siege of Vienna […]

The first gold coin produced in the American Colonies is known as the 1787 Brasher Doubloon that was just sold at the Heritage auction for $4,582,500. Ancient coins are generally up substantially over the last 10 years with pieces that sold for $20,000 in 1994 bringing today $150,000 to $200,000. Money continues to move out of […]

An interesting study comparison of the education background of heads of state around the globe reveals our problem. Most of the educated people in government in the USA seem to be lawyers. In Europe, they tend to be not idealists. China has leaders schooled in economics and business. Very curious comparison.

  Banking reemerged after the fall of Rome in Northern Italy. In the town of Lucca, merchant-bankers set up tables in the square to deal with money from exchange, taking deposits, and lending. On the wall of the church in the square you will find to this day the oath of the moneychangers – “no […]

Julius Caesar (100-44BC) The economic history of mankind has always been a story of boom and bust. Throughout time, we find crisis after crisis in the recorded pages of history. The slogans of revolution or revolt have far too often been merely a disguise for economic motives by the state, king, minister or emperor. The […]

  South Sea Bubble originated plan was that of the English statesman Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. The scheme was a debt-for-equity swap in 1711, whereby the idea was to retire the floating national debt of Great Britain. Under the scheme, the debt was assumed by merchants to whom the government guaranteed for a […]

    The Panic of 1837 was one such incident involving an unstable currency and financial system resulting in a lack of confidence in both government and the banks. An independent treasury system emerged when President Andrew Jackson transferred in 1833 government funds from the Bank of the United States to state banks. The Bank […]

The Panic of 1893 was quite different from the US panics that had preceded. To a large extent, the Panic of 1893 came on the heels of American speculation in overseas investment which had kept up with the trend toward “global diversification” and opportunity much like that of the 1990s. The Panic of 1893 was […]