Most circulating silver coinage throughout history was minted to relatively high standards, whether .800, .835, .900, or .925. Even when silver coins were debased they still were minted to a .625 fineness or, in Canada, eventually to .500. But there’s one type of silver coin that has even less silver than that: the war nickel. […]
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While the 8x57mm Mauser may not have been a Mauser development, the Mauser factory took the case that resulted and developed an entire line of incredibly popular military and sporting cartridges from it. Some fell into obscurity, such as 8x51mm Mauser and 6.5x54mm Mauser. Others became popular for a time but were eventually eclipsed, such […]
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The Fed’s rate cut last week was supposed to operate like clockwork. Everyone expected the 25 basis point cut, it was merely the next step in what will likely be a continuing series of cuts, and there was no anticipation of anything unusual. Yet what ended up occurring has rattled markets and left many observers […]
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The dream of a comfortable retirement is one that motivates many an American worker. But like many other things in life, the definition of comfortable retirement is one that varies from person to person. For some, retirement means sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking beer. For others, it means living an active life […]
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There weren’t really any surprises last week when the Federal Open Market Committee decided to cut its target federal funds rate another 25 basis points, to a target of 1.75% to 2.00%. That had long been expected and even priced in by many investors. But there were two anomalies that bear mentioning. The first is […]
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When investing in markets, it’s sometimes a good idea to look at what other people are doing. Sometimes that take the form of looking at what they’re doing and doing exactly the opposite, like taking a short position on a hot stock because it’s fundamentally undervalued. Other times that takes the form of watching closely […]
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Austria-Hungary was one of the last countries in Europe to adopt the gold standard, officially adopting the gold standard in 1892. Its Maria Theresa silver thaler was one of the most important trade coins of its era and remained an important trade coin into the 20th century. As Austria-Hungary’s neighbors began to adopt the gold […]
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Saving and investing for retirement isn’t something that many people are familiar with until they’re thrust into the workplace and forced to make investment decisions for themselves. No one takes classes on retirement planning, it isn’t taught in high school, and even most parents don’t sit down with their children and go through the essential […]
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The late 19th century saw the development of numerous small-bore rifle cartridges. The first smokeless cartridges, such as 8mm Lebel and 8x57mm Mauser, saw a significant decrease in bullet size from the 10-11mm prevalent during the blackpowder era to .30- to .32-caliber. From there numerous militaries began to experiment with and eventually field cartridges firing […]
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The United States government’s national debt stands today at an astronomical $22.6 trillion. Everyone knows that’s a huge amount of money, but the sum is so large that it just boggles the mind and can be difficult to conceptualize. So here are a few ways of thinking about the national debt that will put it […]
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