inflation

This week’s batch of must-read articles deals with the issue of scarcity. Whether it’s a lack of water, light, ammunition or money, you’ve got to know how to get by and survive.

James Altucher is a best-selling author, former hedge fund investor and a major backer of Silicon Valley’s hottest ideas. Today, James offers some advice on wealth preservation in times of economic upheaval. You might be surprised to see what he recommends…

Alexander Hamilton was America’s first Secretary of Treasury under President George Washington. When he first entered office in 1789, America was an agricultural nation of just 4 million still broke from its financially costly victory over the British Empire in the Revolutionary War. The states had accumulated relatively massive debts to finance that war, which …

The experts will tell you the recession is over, but they’re only torturing the data to hide the truth. The economy never recovered from the downturn it experienced. But the downturn happened in 2000, not 2008. The country’s been in the middle of a 14 year recession and hardly anyone knows the truth.

Politicians love inflation. It’s a way to pay for the government’s debts without upsetting the public by raising taxes, or their special interests by cutting government. So they’ll flood the economy with easy money and eat away at your savings. But that’s only part of the story…

Argentina is suffering the ravages of government debasement of the currency — i.e., inflation, the process by which government pays for its ever-increasing debts and bills by simply printing more paper currency. The expanded money supply results in a lower value of everyone’s money, which is reflected in the rising prices of the things that money buys.

Nihilo ex nihilo fit. Out of nothing, nothing comes. First put forward by ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides in the fifth century B.C., Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine later used this axiom to prove that the universe needed a “first mover” to get things going. Even if the whole thing began with some kind of “Big Bang” moment, it still needed a banger to bang it. Who? God, of course.

We put in a good-citizen call to the SEC the other day. “There’s a massive scheme to manipulate stock prices,” we told the friendly agent. “I have to tell you that your call is being monitored so that we can better serve the public,” he replied. “Oh, don’t worry about that. The NSA is tapping …

Politicians — elected officials — are street smart rather than book smart. If you care about influencing government policy it helps to know how they think. Forbes contributor Nathan Lewis argues that: “Too much is done today on the oral tradition. That is, literally, what it is. In this post-Gutenberg age, we have some better …

Economic history is primed to repeat in the nastiest of ways unless the government stops distorting the price of something we use every day. Every product, good, or service has a price, which is essential to rational decision-making. We use prices every day as vital data that guide us. Without true prices, prices not distorted …