By Doug Casey
International Man
August 14, 2026
International Man: Markets are supposed to reflect economic reality. But when central banks suppress interest rates, governments debase currencies, and major powers manipulate oil prices for political purposes, can any market still be considered honest?
Doug Casey: Almost all markets are distorted in some way by government intervention.
Interest rates are the price of money itself.
By Charles Hugh Smith
OfTwoMinds.com
August 14, 2026
While the Everything Bubble has soared to new heights, consumer confidence has fallen to new lows.
For your consideration, four charts that tell a single story: while those Americans who have benefited so immensely from the Everything Bubble in stocks, housing, crypto, bat guano, etc.-every asset under the sun-have spent lavishly on fripperies, the foundations of everyday life for the bottom 90% have rotted away.
Par Olivier Berruyer
L'Italie vient tout juste de retrouver son niveau de production de début 2008 : dix-huit ans pour revenir au point de départ, sans guerre, sans catastrophe, sans effondrement. L'Espagne, à l'inverse, affiche un PIB à son plus haut historique et la meilleure croissance des grands pays de la zone euro (+2,8 % en 2025) ; le Portugal, sorti de quinze ans de morosité, tient +1,9 %.
What it's really about.
By JD Breen
Pretium Insights
August 13, 2026
Two years ago, "conservative" pundits rightly ridiculed the Biden Administration for suggesting inflation was fine while blaming its poor approval ratings on Americans' ignorance of how little they were spending. Now, under the Trump Administration, the same "influencers" mock young people for noticing how much things cost.
Schiff Sovereign
August 13, 2026
Arguably the most famous man on the planet throughout the 1700s was the famed writer François-Marie Arouet, known to history as Voltaire. He wasn't just a celebrity writer and philosopher, however; Voltaire was also a wealthy capitalist and nobleman who almost single-handedly turned the impoverished region of Ferney into a highly productive watchmaking hub.
Through his fame and creativity, Voltaire managed to attract a small army of Swiss watchmakers to relocate across the border into France and set up shop in Ferney.
By Charles Hugh Smith
OfTwoMinds.com
August 12, 2026
Most of AI isn't productive, it's just another form of consumption.
Like GDP (Gross Domestic Product), economic Productivity is an unquenchable spring of delusions, delusions being pushed to new heights of delirium by promises of endless leaps of productivity as AI is deployed in every nook and cranny of the global economy.
Let's start with what Productivity measures.
par Mike Whitney
L'effondrement du yen a déclenché l'alerte à Wall Street et dans les places financières du monde entier. Si la Banque du Japon vendait son immense stock de bons du Trésor américain (qui dépasse désormais 1200 milliards de dollars) pour soutenir sa monnaie en perte de vitesse, le marché obligataire américain pourrait s'effondrer, entraînant l'économie mondiale dans le précipice.
Alors que les approvisionnements mondiaux sont perturbés par le conflit en Asie de l'Ouest, la Commission de régulation de l'énergie annonce une hausse du tarif du gaz à la rentrée.
Une énième mauvaise nouvelle pour le portefeuille des Français. Le prix de référence du gaz va augmenter de 5,6% au 1ᵉʳ septembre, par rapport au mois d'août, en raison de l'augmentation des prix sur les marchés de gros, a indiqué à l'AFP la Commission de régulation de l'énergie (CRE).
Par Hovannès Derderian
Alors que le pétrole et le gaz de la mer du Nord sont perçus comme une "zone de stabilité" appréciable pour nos approvisionnements en hydrocarbures, c'est pourtant de là que pourrait émerger la prochaine crise énergétique. En effet, les prévisions des spécialistes, ainsi que celles des autorités norvégiennes elles-mêmes, montrent que les réserves restantes de pétrole et de gaz sont en voie d'épuisement, ce qui entraînera un nouveau déclin de la production dès 2027.
By Ron Paul, MD
The Ron Paul Institute
August 11, 2026
This month marks 55 years since President Richard Nixon closed the "gold window," severing the last link between the US dollar and gold. Under the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, foreign countries pegged their currencies to the US dollar, which was then pegged to a fixed value of gold. Foreign countries could exchange their dollars for gold at a rate of 35 dollars per ounce.
By Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
August 11, 2026
The standard explanation is that China is buying gold because it wants to destroy the dollar. That makes a dramatic headline, but it confuses diversification with replacement and political ambition with market reality. The People's Bank of China increased its reported gold reserves by 640,000 fine troy ounces in July, nearly 20 metric tons.
By Veronika Kyrylenko
The New American
August 10, 2026
"Tariffs have made us rich," announced President Donald Trump on Wednesday. There is one problem with that boast. The Supreme Court struck down his signature "Liberation Day" tariffs as unlawful. The Treasury is now sending about $100 billion of that supposed wealth back.
And, despite the president's assurances, much of the money did not come from foreign countries in the first place.
By Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
August 10, 2026
A United Nations proposal would replace the current system of taxing each multinational subsidiary separately with a global unitary tax system. A corporation's worldwide profits would first be combined into one total and then divided among countries according to a formula measuring where it employs workers and where its customers purchase goods and services.
By George F. Smith
August 8, 2026
The 16th of November may be considered as the Fourth of July in the economic life of the United States. Coming generations will commemorate it as marking the foundation of our financial emancipation. - libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org
By Doug Casey
International Man
August 8, 2026
International Man: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created after the 1970s oil shocks to protect the country from severe supply disruptions.
Since the war with Iran began earlier this year, Washington has been tapping it again. Is this exactly what the reserve was designed for-or is it being used to suppress oil prices and postpone the political consequences of the crisis?