Free Republic

“Make America Great Again” will, given the astonishing victory it produced for Donald Trump, be recorded among the most successful slogans in political history. Yet it raises a question: how did America first become the world’s greatest economic power? In 1998, in The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy, this writer sought to explain. However, as the blazing issue of that day was Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, it was no easy task to steer interviewers around to the McKinley Tariff. Free Trade Shouldn't Be a Litmus Test...

No wonder my listeners demanded this episode. Saifedean Ammous takes an economic perspective informed by the Austrian School and applies it to Bitcoin and why it matters. He discusses the various roles Bitcoin can play, and parries common objections. (We also take an animated detour into the BCH/BTC discussion, for those of you interested.)

What happens next may look like Greece during its financial collapse – meaning Turkey’s economy could shrink by 10%-20% The Turkish central bank managed to halt the free-fall of the country’s currency last week with a sharp rise in interest rates. But the move failed to stop the free-fall of Turkey’s equity market and – far more dangerous – the collapse of the credit quality of Turkey’s banks. Only last October, the euro-denominated 10-year bond of Turkey’s largest private lender, Garanti Bank, yielded just 3%. Now it yields more than 7%, and the dollar value of the bond has fallen...

There is almost no chance that China will become the world's hegemonic superpower, or that the Chinese yuan will dislodge the US dollar as the key reserve currency in our life-times. It is ageing faster than any nation in history. Indeed, there is a risk that China’s demographic structure will implode long before the great mass of China’s interior ever become rich. This was more or less the conclusion of a closed-door session of Chinese experts at the Davos gathering, regrettably on “Chatham House” rules so none can be named. Those who fret about Chinese chauvinist-militarism certainly have a point....

By Lawrence Kudlow, Arthur B. Laffer, and Stephen MooreThe Trump Administration and the Republicans in Congress have passed one of the best pro-growth tax bills ever. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ranks in the all-time hall of fame along with Reagan's 1981 and 1986 Tax Acts and President Kennedy’s posthumous tax cuts of 1964. The announcements by Apple, FedEx, ATT, Fiat Chrysler and over 300 companies with multi-billion dollar investments in the United States are early lead indicators of good things to come from the tax rate cuts. When this is combined with Trump's deregulation agenda, we see no...

Currency wars and the growing trend away from dollar dominance in international finance, particularly in emerging markets, was highlighted in an interesting CNBC article this morning entitled “Is the Dollar Losing its Clout Among EMs?” It refers to the deliberate and stated policy of “de-dollarization” around the world, the decline in the use of the dollar in international trade and as a reserve currency, and the emergence of the new BRICS bank. The article quotes best-selling author and Pentagon insider, Jim Rickards. Rickards says that the status of the dollar as a reserve currency is still solid despite its decline...

... As relations with the West continue to deteriorate — and the potential for crushing sanctions remains tangible — President Vladimir Putin has begun preparing to release Russia from the crushing grip of the international banking system completely, by moving to a nationalist model based and conducting transactions with allies in gold. In short, Russia has plans to abandon central banks and the dollar — if, indeed, shit hits the fan. Russia isn’t alone — the move away from the much-maligned, Western-centric international banking cartels toward a system less dependent on massive banks comprises a new plan for BRICS nations...

In retrospect, this could be the most important economic event of 2017. The oil-rich country of Venezuela has stopped accepting the U.S. Dollar as payment for oil. Last week President Maduro warned that the country would this week ‘free’ itself from the US dollar. “Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar.” Yesterday Venezuela temporarily suspended the sale of U.S. dollars through its Dicom auction system. This (and other moves) was in response to U.S. sanctions put in place by the Trump administration.

I wanted to post this just in case people missed it, a while back the U.S National Debt clock began publishing the real ratio for U.S dollars to gold. At this point it's up over 6,000 per ounce. Keep stacking!

Turkey’s lira weakened beyond the psychologically important level of 4.0 to the US dollar yesterday, bringing it close to a record low, as concerns about double-digit inflation, and politics, continued to weigh on sentiment.

The impending economic collapse is hidden from most. People only see a rising stock market, not the negative underlying factors that will cause the whole system to crash. The weakening of the U.S. dollar is just getting started, warned veteran market forecaster Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital. “We have just begun a major, long-term bear market in the dollar,” he said, which should cause a spike in oil prices. He thinks oil will reach $80-$100 a barrel in 2018. The commodity currently trades at roughly $63 a barrel. Shiff focuses on oil as just one example of the...

The Iran lobby is digging deep in an effort to drum up support from anyone and anywhere to preserve the Iran nuclear deal including circulating a letter from members of the French, British and German parliaments addressed to the U.S. Congress.The letter is rife with the same common misperceptions that the Iran lobby has worked hard to foist on an unsuspecting world. None have done as much spadework in engineering this plethora of fake news than the National Iranian American Council.Among the common misperceptions in the letter are:“The only reason we were able to achieve this breakthrough is that we stood...

Turkey will face sanctions over its deal to buy the Russian S-400 air defence system, according to Turkish daily Evrensel. The report comes as U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Tina Kaidanow, who heads the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the State Department, was in Ankara to attend the 5th gathering of Turkey - U.S. Defence Trade Dialogue, following a 2-year hiatus Top of the agenda was an offer to sell Turkey the Patriot missile system as an alternative to the S-400. Previous negotiations over Patriots have stalled over issues such as the price and technology transfer.Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said...

Russia is considering replacing the U.S. dollar in crude oil payments on deals with Turkey and Iran, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said as quoted by RT. According to Novak, “There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in our settlements. There is a need for this, as well as the wish of the parties. This concerns both Turkey and Iran – we are considering an option of payment in national currencies with them. This requires certain adjustments in the financial, economic and banking sectors.” Iran, under threat of returning U.S. sanctions, two...

Turkey is switching to national currencies in trade with Iran and China, ending dependence on the U.S. dollar and the euro for about 20% of its commodity turnover, local media reported on Wednesday. Turkey has already switched to settlements in national currencies with Russia amid weakening confidence in the greenback as the world's major reserve currency. The move was initiated by Turkish President Abdullah Gul during his visit to Moscow in February. Turkey's decision to make settlements with Iran and China in national currencies was announced during a visit to Iran by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish...

Iran and Russia Discuss Transacting in Crypto to Avoid International Sanctions Molly Jane Zuckerman Iran and Russia could start using cryptocurrencies to avoid Western sanctions, Russian news portal RBC reported yesterday, May 17. Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, the head of the Iranian Parliamentary Commission for Economic Affairs, referred to cryptocurrencies as a promising way for both countries to avoid US dollar transactions, as well as a possible replacement of the SWIFT interbank payment system. At a meeting with Dmitry Mezentsev, the Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, Pourebrahimi said that they have “engaged the Central Bank of Iran...

Legislation introduced in Congress recently would define the U.S. dollar as a fixed amount of gold, a move that supporters say would help stabilize the monetary system while protecting savers, workers, and investors from the ravages of inflation. If signed into law, the bill would also restrict the ability of the controversial Federal Reserve System to confiscate the American people's wealth and manipulate the economy by expanding the currency supply. President Donald Trump has publicly supported the idea of returning to a gold-backed dollar, but the prospects for the new legislation remain uncertain. The legislation, H.R. 5404, would “define the...

Can we prepare for everything? We never could have imagined…or prepped for…what happened in Venezuela. In this article, I wanted to analyze my preps, and the nature of the apocalypse we have been forced to face. I don’t know about you, but anything that kicks you out of your place, of your warm bed, your pets, kids, wife, and the rest of your family, for me does not have another better word to describe it. My comfort bubble was destroyed, my work of an entire life was thrown out by the window, my family insurance full coverage policy is gone...

Article IV, Section 3 of our Constitution provides that "The Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." A Republican-run state might buy up a few square miles of unoccupied land and sell it and the state sovereignty over it to the federal government. The federal government might then sell it off to a state-authorized private party who promises to create a new republic on it with: 1. limits on taxation/governmental fees/fines/licensing, and 2. no foreign military force, and 3. no governmental...

Martketwatch -- (and now, for a contrarian column) -- More and more investors believe there is a free lunch. That is, you get something for nothing. In investing, people have been getting a free lunch: Stocks (and bonds) have been rising for years without a bad turnout. Will there ever be consequences of massive money printing by central banks, $20 trillion in national debt, a high trade deficit, underfunded social-program liabilities and higher deficits resulting from tax reform? One would think so. In theory, gold is supposed to be a hedge against the supposed free lunch investors are enjoying. In...