An abnormality (exostosis) has been developing in the markets that involves an a priori assumption that the EU will solve its debt and banking problems. On the surface it seems that this exostosis is benign and can be fixed with the expected enhancement of the EU’s...

The late Milton Friedman used to ask his students at the University of Chicago whether money matters. Of course, the classic answer that he was expecting from them was: “Only money matters!” Whether someone subscribes or not to this strict monetarist view, the...

The markets are known to be moved by the forces of greed (upswing and bullishness) and fear (downturn and bearish trend). In a similar way, in the cosmos there are two contradictory mysterious forces that move the universe in opposite directions. The first one is...

We are pleased and honored to bring you the following speech by permission from Chairman Volcker. The text of this speech was delivered to the Group of Thirty on September 23, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Our thanks to Chairman Volcker for the use of his speech as well as...

The markets nowadays are in purgatory. What is the task of professional market watchers and fund managers? In a nutshell we would say it is to unmask portfolio holding’s self- alienation in their secular form, once they have been unmasked in their sacred form....

A friend describes in a book he wrote about twenty five years ago, how when they were kids he and one of his friends went into a five-and-dime store and switched all the price tags! As we can understand pandemonium followed when things that were supposed to sell for...

China has been in the news again recently, and hence we would like to offer an update on our previous writings on the subject. However, before we do so, allow us first a few brief comments on gold and precious metals. We started selling a significant position of our...

When the EU started feeling the heat in its periphery, and fearing damages to its core, it established the EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund). We have expressed elsewhere some of our concerns regarding its establishment. In this commentary - which will be better...

Markets could implode from within creating black holes where everything goes in and nothing comes out, destroying in the process paper wealth but also real economies. The essence of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is that explosions could take place when a star collapses and...

It seems that we are on a ship, that has lost its anchor, left the port for a journey in uncharted waters, and we suddenly discovered that the gorilla we were carrying on the vessel is out of his cage. The only good news is that the ship’s name is not Titanic! This...