Archive for August 5th, 2011

As central banks around the world scramble for measures to fight a fast slowing global economy, the single currency’s sovereign debt woes have again moved perilously back to centre stage, causing stock markets to plummet and investors to run for the hills. By Jeremy Warner Telegraph.co.uk Torn between the conflicting interests of its 17... »

The European Central Bank has abandoned Italy and Spain to their tortured fate. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Telegraph.co.uk Its refusal to act in the face of an existential threat to monetary union has set off violent tremors across the global financial system, raising the risk that the crisis will spiral out of control. Bank shares... »

Eurozone countries are failing to stop the “contagion” of the debt crisis, the President of the European Commission warned yesterday. By James Hall, and Richard Blackden Telegraph.co.uk José Manuel Barroso’s warning came as stock markets plunged around the world amid growing fears of another global recession. Mr Barroso called for an emergency strengthening of... »

In 2007 the world financial system suffered a near death experience. You could have been forgiven for thinking that it was happening all over again Guardian.co.uk The conventional wisdom is that August is a sleepy month for markets, with politicians, policymakers and investors all at the beach rather than at their desks. The conventional... »

by Robert P. Murphy Mises Daily Now that the “crisis” over the federal debt ceiling has been averted, we can leisurely explore two of the wackier proposals that emerged during the state of panic. Not surprisingly, the schemes involved the Federal Reserve and its ability to circumvent, not just standard accounting, but also the... »

Clients Flood Financial Planners, Asset Managers With Calls as Stocks Swoon; ‘It’s a Losing Battle’ By MARY PILON And JEANNETTE NEUMANN WSJ.com Clients called financial planners from the golf course. Sell orders piled up. Bargain hunters made bets that Thursday’s 512.76-point drop by the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the end of the stock... »

Keith Harmon Snow Consciousbeingalliance.com On July 22, 2011, thirty-two year-old Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway. Hollywood released the new Captain America film the same week. Some people see Captain America as ugly Americana at its worst; others think anyone who criticizes it should be killed. The savior story Captain America... »

Creating Evidence Where There Is None by Paul Craig Roberts LewRockwell.com The New Yorker has published a story planted on Nicholas Schmidle by unidentified sources who claim to be familiar with the alleged operation that murdered Osama bin Laden. There is no useful information in the story. Its purpose seems simply to explain away... »

by Jeffrey A. Tucker LewRockwell.com Excerpted from It’s a Jetsons World (2011). An MP3 audio file of this article, narrated by Steven Ng, is available for download. Ludwig von Mises summed up the essence of government in words that are particularly vivid in wartime: Government interference always means either violent action or the threat... »

by Thomas R. Eddlem NewAmerican.com A number of constitutionalists have warned that the new “Super Congress” – technically a joint committee of Congress – may be unconstitutional. The new entity will be created out of the Obama-Boehner debt limit deal. “It smells,” Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) told Fox News August 1. “I just don’t... »