John Browne

Gentlemen, Start Your Presses: The Bernanke Virus Spreads Across the World

The past few months illustrate a serious spread of Bernanke’s policies across the entire developed world.

Singapore A Wise Owl Among Currency Snakes

Currency devaluation is not a winning strategy, especially for a country with a strong balance sheet.

EU Financial Tax Portends Loss of Market Leadership

Although it was barely noticed by the American press, on January 22nd, EU finance ministers approved a new “Financial Transactions Tax” (FTT) that has implications for market competitiveness around the world. The move was conceived as a Franco-German...

German Gold Claw Back Causes Concern

Last week the Bundesbank (the German central bank) surprised markets around the world by announcing that it will repatriate a sizable portion of its gold bullion reserves held in France and the United States. To many, the news from the world’s second largest...

France and the UK Could Be the Lynchpins of Europe

Over the past two months, Europe’s problems seem to have disappeared from the headlines. However, the new French Socialist government is pushing ahead with policies that favor significantly higher government spending, greater regulation of business and commerce,...

Central Banks Hedge Their Bets

Gold appears to be headed for an impressive price appreciation for the second half of 2012. Since the beginning of July, gold is up almost 10 over the same time frame. What is noteworthy here is that in recent months, fears of a worldwide recession have increased...

Banks Punished For Central Bank and Political Errors

In recent decades politicians have increasingly followed the Keynesian prescription of economic growth through continued government borrowing and the creation of undreamt of amounts of fiat money by central banks. To facilitate this process, the larger commercial...

Gold Still Glitters

Just a few weeks ago, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), announced that he would do anything required to bailout the weakest members of the Eurozone and in so doing prevent the euro currency from dissolution. Investors who may have been...

Dependence Day

The Fourth of July week brought unwelcome birthday gifts to the United States in the form of poor domestic jobs data and similarly gloomy information from other major economies. Amidst the heat and festivities, it has become difficult to deny that the economy is...

Germany Loses to Italy, Again

Poll after poll makes it perfectly clear that the German people have no interest in exposing their hard-earned savings to the ravages of unending bailouts and currency debasement.

European Leaders Play With Fire

The world economy today stands at the doorstep of great change. A gathering crisis looms in Europe, splitting the Continent into two competing blocs. While leaders there face off against one another in a high stakes game of chicken, the rest of the world powerlessly...

Germany Faces Political Isolation

One month ago it appeared that Germany held the whip hand in its titanic struggle against those seeking to cure all economic ills with the snake oil of currency debasement. Now, it appears that the ground beneath its feet is being swept away in a flood of popular...

Germany’s Mixed Signals

Last week’s media headlines focused on how the election results in France and Greece reflected a wave of rising public resistance across Europe to the austerity programs being championed by Germany, the IMF, and the EU. Less notice has been given to...

Austerity Fires Voter Vengeance Against Euro

Though there can be little doubt the euro would survive without the Greeks or the Spanish, there is greater doubt of the euro surviving without the Germans solidly behind it. As the world’s second largest reserve currency, the collapse of the euro would precipitate a m…

BRICS Summit: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa

Last week, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa met in New Delhi for their fourth annual “BRICS” summit. The meeting brought together five countries that together represent 43 percent of the world’s population and 18 percent...

Bernanke Spooks Gold

This past week, gold and silver experienced one of their steeper drops in recent months. After gold had touched a four month high, and silver came close to a six month high, prices abruptly reversed course. By the end of the week gold had sold off more than 5 percent,...

Central Banks Beat Up on Private Creditors

Last week the Greek government, with the heavy handed support of its larger friends in the Eurozone, succeeded in coercing some 85.8 percent of private sector bondholders to “voluntarily” exchange €206 billion-worth of Greek sovereign bonds for newer bonds...

Inflation Held in Check by Fear

History has shown us time and again that out of control money supply expansion creates inflation. In light of the trillions of synthetic dollars that have been injected into the economy by the Federal Reserve over the past five years, most observers (this one...

Wary Investors Give US Stocks Another Go

Recently, the stock market has been roaring, with the S&P 500 up a stunning 22% from October 3, 2011, which was the low of last year. In fact, the first month of 2012 has been one of the best Januaries on record for US stocks. On top of that, last Friday’s...

Straightening Out the Strait

Recently some of the fears that investors had focused on in the 11th hour debt negotiations in Greece have drifted southeastward towards the Strait of Hormuz. An increasingly bellicose Iran threatens to throw the world economy into confusion with the potential closure...

Fed Plays PR Games

The world was taken by surprise recently by the Federal Reserve Board’s announcement that it would publish some of its economic forecasting that forms the basis for its short-term interest rate strategy. The Fed claims that the move will vastly increase...

2012 Offers Few Reasons for Optimism

As the year draws to a close, understandable confusion reigns in the minds of many investors. While short-term indicators, such as consumer confidence, appear to beckon recovery, the longer-term strategic issues remain shrouded in the smoke and mirrors of central bank...

No Courage To Face The Music in America or Europe

Risky Moves Spark Quick Rally

Last week, with liquidity concerns reaching a crisis point for Europe, central banks around the world, led by the U.S. Federal Reserve, stepped in to provide emergency measures to insure that the financial gears continue to turn. At the same time, the European Central...

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