EuroPac.net - We are being told loudly and repeatedly that the gargantuan mortgage bail-out package is necessary because illiquid mortgage-backed securities are clogging our financial arteries, threatening the economic equivalent of cardiac arrest. The idea of the plan is to transfer these supposedly valuable, but currently unmarketable, assets to the government so that private institutions can freely lend once more. The monumental flaw in this argument is that the mortgage backed securities are in fact highly liquid, just not at the prices the owners would like to receive.

Mortgage bonds are just like houses. They won’t sell if the owners stubbornly refuse to drop the price. However, they can find buyers if they acknowledge reality, and lower their expectations accordingly. Read More

CNC.com - It is often in the midst of economic despair that wealth is both made…and lost. While history often focuses only on the financial loss that transpires during recessions, it is also important to point out that these types of market environments have also provided individuals with the opportunity to make money.

Consider, for instance, some of the biggest companies we have today. Microsoft was started during the recession of 1975, Hewlett-Packard was born during the Great Depression, Disney was founded during 1923, and GE started during the panic of 1873. The founders of these companies were all able to thrive during times of economic turmoil.

Not an entrepreneur? No Problem. Recessionary environments also provide investors with investment opportunities. There will be opportunities to buy real-estate at undervalued prices, shares in companies at historically low P/E ratios, and perhaps even invest in start-up or emerging companies that might become the next Microsoft or GE.

But, before you start counting the wealth that you can possibly make during this recession, it is best to first start thinking about how you are going to protect it. Indeed, while a recession provides opportunities, it also creates an environment where many investors are often afraid to invest in value opportunities, or simply do not have the cash to participate. Read More

There were two main direct assaults on the gold standard by the American government: the first on the watch of a Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, when the U.S. defaulted on its domestic gold obligations in 1933; the second on the watch of a Republican president, Richard Nixon, when the U.S. defaulted on its international gold obligations in 1971.

In each case, the gold standard struck back. Uncannily, in each case there was a lag of 36 years, signifying the fact that it takes that long for a new generation to acquiesce in the slogan two legs bad, four legs good! as in George Orwells Animal Farm, a parody of the Soviet Union and the Bolshevik revolution. It will be recalled that the pigs have overthrown the farmer and took over the farm, trying to run it under this revolutionary slogan.. Read More