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Faith in Humanity Update

I’m pleased to report that I just got my cell phone back in the mail. (Loyal readers will recall that I left it in a cab last week.) And because I was pressed for time, I just put in a $5 bill for the guy (with the postage paid envelope). So maybe The Dark Knight […]

Practicing What I Preach

I just bought about $700 in US silver coins (dollars, half-dollars, quarters, and a few dimes) and I threw in a 1/4 oz gold coin just for kicks. I bought the crappiest coins they had; i.e. no numismatic value here. I realize there’s an incentive for me to be an alarmist–because then people come to […]

Disgruntled Lehman Employee: "Austrian Economics Was Right!"

No joke. Check it out. (Click for larger image.) Thanks to my former student Shannon P. for the picture.

Gold Stages Biggest One-Day Gain in the History of the World

…according to this article. You see folks, just a few days ago I really started urging you to buy gold. And today alone it’s up 10.74%. I think if I had been a little more formal with the recommendation, Free Advice’s “track record” would have been astounding amongst financial digests.

Stocks Down 3%, Gold Up 8%

I guess I feel vindicated today, since I have been saying since July 2007 (pdf) that US stocks and the USD were in trouble, and that precious metals were the place to be. As of a few minutes ago, the S&P 500 was down over 3%, and gold was up over 8%, for the day. […]

TIPS Have Underforecasted Inflation

Back in 2003, the Treasury began selling 5-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. (Longer maturities were available starting in 1997.) What happens is that the government pays a fixed coupon rate, but the principal is adjusted based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Thus, TIPS yields are one of the closest things […]

U.S. Government Decides to Take Over Insurance Sector, Too

While you were sleeping (almost), the feds decide to nationalize one of the world’s largest insurance companies. Apparently Paulson is the kind of guy that buys every property he lands on; it’s just play money, right? What’s another $85 billion among Wall Street friends? Anyway here are the gory details: The precise details of the […]

A Shout Out to Hampton Bay

I think the incentives are bad for manufacturers to write good instructions, since people have already purchased the product by the time they see the instructions, and more important because you already learned how to put the #)%$#$ thing together (in spite of the awful instructions) the first time. I.e., you would not be deterred […]