Mt. Gox's Downfall Shows the Power of Creative Destruction: Erik Voorhees Interview

Bitcoin evangelist and Coinapult Cofounder Erik Voorhees gives us his thoughts on the demise of Mt. Gox and losing nearly $300K in Bitcoin… why cryptocurrency exchanges are a threat to government and the banking industry… what really happened with China’s "ban" on Bitcoin…and advice for investing in cryptocurrencies.

Here are a few excerpts:

"You know, Mt. Gox was … really the first Bitcoin exchange. They got started by this hacker guy who put it together and was suddenly running a $100 million Bitcoin exchange. That's sort of a recipe for disaster. … This is the ultimate creative destruction of capitalism. There's a huge market opportunity for people who know how to do this right, to step in and do it—and already we have exchanges that are better run than Mt. Gox." Continue reading "Mt. Gox's Downfall Shows the Power of Creative Destruction: Erik Voorhees Interview"

Gold Stocks Are About to Create a Whole New Class of Millionaires

By Jeff Clark, Senior Precious Metals Analyst

Bear markets always end. Has this one?

Evidence is mounting that the bottom for gold may be in. While there's still risk, there's a new air of bullishness in the industry, something we haven't seen in over two years.

An ever-growing number of industry insiders and investment analysts believe the downturn has come to a close. If that's true, it has immediate and critical implications for investors.

Doug Casey told me last week: "In my lifetime, the best time to have bought gold was 1971, at $35; it ran to over $800 by 1980. In 2001, gold was $250: in real terms even cheaper than in 1971. It ran to over $1,900 in 2011.

"It's now at $1,250. Not as cheap, in real terms, as in 1971 or 2001, but the world's financial and economic state is far more shaky.

"Gold is, once again, not just a prudent holding, but an excellent, high-potential, low-risk speculation. And gold stocks are about to create a whole new class of millionaires." Continue reading "Gold Stocks Are About to Create a Whole New Class of Millionaires"

Doug Casey on Crisis Investing in Cyprus

By Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor, International Man

Recently, legendary crisis investor Doug Casey and I put our boots to the ground in Cyprus to search the rubble of one of recent history's most significant financial crises—the financial collapse and bank deposit raid in Cyprus—for incredible bargains. And we found them.

In this newly released video interview below, Doug and I detail the tremendous speculative opportunities available on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. Continue reading "Doug Casey on Crisis Investing in Cyprus"

Syria and Second Passports

By Nick Giambruno, Editor, International Man

All of us by now have seen the latest sales pitch from the Obama administration for yet another so-called "humanitarian intervention" in the Middle East. It is not hard to see that the case for war is a bunch of rubbish and will likely end in disaster for both Syria and the US.

I am not diminishing the tragedy that is going on in Syria. The events there touch me on a personal level. I have good friends who live in Damascus and have been there myself several times when the situation wasn't so hot.

As some of you may know, I used to live in neighboring Beirut while I was cutting my teeth in finance at a regional investment bank. Due to its rich history and importance today, I have long been interested in the Middle East and sought ways to combine it with my professional background in finance. Continue reading "Syria and Second Passports"

The Federal Reserve Relies on a Flawed Economic Model

By Lacy H. Hunt, Ph.D., Economist

In May 22 testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke issued another of many similar positive interpretations of central bank policy. Yet again, he continued to argue that quantitative easing has decreased long-term interest rates and produced other benefits. He called economic growth "moderate," a term that he has often used without acknowledging that the Fed's forecasts have repeatedly been far above the mark. Within less than two months—or by the time of the July FOMC meeting—the Fed had downgraded the economic growth to "modest," tacitly acknowledging that program of open-ended $85 billion purchases of government and federal agency security purchases had failed to boost economic activity.

The Fed's polices have not produced the much-promised re-acceleration in economic growth. In the first half of 2013 as well as the latest four quarters, the real GDP growth rate was a paltry 1.4%, even less than the 1.9% growth in the 13.5 years of this century, and less than two-fifths  of the 3.8% GDP growth rate since 1790. Only growth in the 1930s was less than in the 2000s, a time when Dr. Bernanke played a major, if not dominant, role in monetary policy decisions. Continue reading "The Federal Reserve Relies on a Flawed Economic Model"