Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 373

Russia’s View on Gold

It is now eighteen months since Sergei Glazyev, Commissioner for Integration and Macroeconomics within the Eurasian Economic Commission, disclosed his views on gold and its economic value. Undoubtedly, his opinion carries weight not only with President Putin to whom he is very close, but he also influenced Russian proposals for a new trade settlement currency for BRICS which failed to make the Johannesburg agenda last August.

Published in Vedomosti, the Moscow business paper on 27 December 2022,...

We Spent a Billion Dollars Fighting the Houthis…and Lost

Why does it seem the Pentagon is far better at spending money than actually putting together a successful operation? The failed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” and the disastrous floating Gaza pier are but two recent examples of enormously expensive initiatives that, though they no-doubt enriched military contractors, were incapable of meeting their stated goals.

To great fanfare, last December the Pentagon announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a joint US/UK military operation t...

Prepare for the Repricing of Risk Globally

There are no more “saves” available for the next market meltdown.

The past 24 years can be viewed as an era in which risk declined due to the dynamics of globalization and financialization.

The ascent of China as “workshop of the world” generated a deflationary wave of lower prices for products (due to lower labor costs and lower quality components) that blunted the inflationary impact of the global economies adding $150 trillion in debt since 2000. Global debt, public and private, now tops $315...

America Prepares for Global War and Restarts the Draft for 18-26 Year Olds

Our government is planning a big draft, conscripting millions of young Americans for an even bigger war!

I call to your attention a Democratic amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was slipped into the almost trillion-dollar Pentagon war spending bill, by voice vote, in the House Armed Services committee.

The Democratic Amendment to H.R. 8070, the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) reads:

Section 531. Selective Service System:  Automatic Registration.  SEC. 3. (a)(...

The BRICS Weigh in on Palestine

MOSCOW – Something of extraordinary magnitude happened in Moscow on 23 May. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help organize a peace conference on Palestine, at which Russia would be the first non-Arab nation invited.

Al-Khalifa and Putin had two rounds of discussions – one of them closed – during which the main focus was always Palestine. The Bahraini monarch noted that in a rare show of unity, the Arab world had finally come together in...

The Ever Widening War

British Foreign Minister Says “We must go after everything Russian.”

“We will show Putin that we are completely behind Ukraine: we will chase the money and the oil, we will stop the gas, we will stop the ships,” declared British Foreign Minister Cameron.

The UK is “hunting” companies that do business with Russia “all over the world,” Cameron said. “We will sanction companies in China, in Turkey, in Kyrgyzstan, even in Israel, that we believe are supplying dual-use material” to Russia, he added.

...

The Man From Galilee Takes Stock of the Situation

The Man From Galilee came back to have a look around.  He sized things up slowly, and then he said: “This is insane.  I am absolutely appalled by what I see going on here.”

“You have put the planet at grave risk of annihilation.  You have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert in missile silos and on aircraft.  You have nuclear submarines—undetectable—roaming the seas and ready to launch.  Whether by accident, human error, or an act of stupidity, you are a hair’s-breadth away from de...

Staying Sane in the Land of Lunatics

When I was a young rebellious lad, I discovered the works of Dr. Thomas Szasz. I devoured his books The Manufacture of Madness and The Myth of Mental Illness. While working at the hospital, I would quote from them to the more interesting patients on the psych ward. This usually just happened to be the more attractive female patients.

As Dr. Szasz noted, any of us can look “crazy” under a microscope. If you’re early for an appointment, the psychiatrist will label you “anxious.” If you’re on time,...

The Downfall of the Dollar and the Global Monetary Transition

“I have good news and bad news. The good news is we will all soon be billionaires. The bad news is that by the time that day comes, the dollar will be so devalued that your billions may not purchase your weekly groceries.”

~  Jarod Kintz,  A Memoir of Memories and Memes

There is a bit of important news that is being hidden, covered up, and ignored by most, especially by the controlled mainstream media. Yes, Saudi Arabia did fail to renew the ‘petrodollar’ deal struck with the U.S. decades ago, bu...

Saudi Arabia Drifts Away from Washington and the Dollar

Earlier this week, those of us who follow news about the US dollar’s global status noticed numerous claims that the US-Saudi petrodollar agreement had “expired” and that the Saudis would now sell oil for many currencies other than dollars. Some versions of the story even claimed the Chinese yuan would replace the dollar.

The reports appear to have originated either in India or in publications that cater to crypto investors. Fervor over the story was large enough that economist Paul Donovan at UB...