The key to the future is understanding (1) the past and (2) how everything functions. Sure there is a risk of a Dark Age after 2032. Hopefully, we can learn from the past to push things in the right direction at least for once. For whatever reason, the people who like to run government are […]
The German Secretary General of the Economic Council of the CDU, Wolfgang Steiger, has highlighted the growing economic crisis in Europe. The negative interest rates of Draghi and the ECB have totally failed. He has pointed out that despite various EU stress tests for banks, time and time again they continue to fail. He has […]
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Reading between the lines, it seems that you support bank bailouts at taxpayer expense. Is this not counter to free market philosophy? KE ANSWER: Yes it is contrary to free market philosophy. However, it is the only reasonable solution at this moment in time without structural reforms to the financial system. If […]
The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced as of June 23rd, that it was declaring two Italian banks insolvent. Veneto Banca Spa and Banca Popolare di Vicenza Spa have failed since the two banks repeatedly violated the regulatory capital requirements. The determination was made in accordance with Article 18 (1a) and Article 18 (4a) of […]
The European “bail-in” rules have been cheered claiming taxpayer money will be spared. However, many seniors bought bank bonds for their retirement. In the rescue of the small Banca Popolare d’Etruria, a retiree who had lost more than 100,000 euros worth of bonds committed suicide. There have been many such events that do not always make […]
Spain’s Banco Santander is paying €1 to take over troubled rival Banco Popular, in a deal that illustrates Europe’s new system to rescue failing banks without burdening taxpayers or stressing markets. This is being cheered around the world because the shareholders lost absolutely everything. The bank which was valued in the collapse at €1.6 billion was […]
I have warned that whenever a government creates a solution to any crisis, that solution becomes the next crisis. This is what I have called the Paradox of Solution.The unfolding of the exit of the central banks from the Quantitative Easing monetary policy will become a much more serious threat to the financial markets than […]
QUESTION: Why do you support the fed in what you call elastic money and not a gold standard? ANSWER: As usual, you listen to the nonsense about how the Fed is owned by the banks and is responsible for probably everything evil from creating wars to probably killing JFK. The entire use of “elastic money” […]
One of the greatest monetary experiments in financial history has been the global central bank buying of government debt. This has been touted as a form of “money printing” that was supposed to produce hyperinflation, which never materialized as predicted by the perpetual pessimists. Nevertheless, the total amount of Quantitative Easing (QE) adding up the […]
The EU Commission is looking to bailout Monte Paschi by almost eliminating more than 5,000 jobs. The Monte Paschi plan that was presented last October called for 2600 layoffs. It is the oldest surviving bank in the world and the third largest Italian commercial and retail bank by total assets. This makes it a critical bank in Italy. […]
