Author: Paul-Martin Foss

It’s no secret that central banks have been large buyers of gold over the past few years. Last year nearly set a record for gold purchases by central banks and the trend looks set to continue this year. But those central banks who already own gold are increasingly looking to hold onto it themselves. They […]

One of the keys to the mainstream’s faith in the financial system is the belief that the Federal Reserve is actually capable of managing interest rates. The Fed eases policy to lower interest rates and tightens policy to raise interest rates. But what happens if the Fed loses control of interest rates? What happens if […]

Last Friday saw a stronger than expected headline GDP figure, with economic growth coming in at an annualized rate of 3.2%. That was well above estimates but, as with any other rosy economic data, pulling back the curtain to get a closer look at what’s behind it demonstrates that not all is well with the […]

If you’ve read Federal Reserve press releases over the past decade, one thing that the Fed constantly drones on about is how low inflation is. The Fed wants to target a 2% annual inflation rate and is always complaining that inflation is running lower than that target. The folks at the Fed act as though […]

Read any of the mainstream financial media commentary about gold and you’ll likely hear that gold is a horrendous investment that doesn’t make any gains and doesn’t provide investors with any growth in wealth. But that attitude is most often coming from pundits who made great gains in the ‘80s and ‘90s and haven’t actually […]

While gold gets all the attention from the mainstream financial media, silver just lurks in the background, drawing attention mainly from dedicated precious metals investors. Often referred to as “poor man’s gold,” silver’s significantly lower price allows investors to dip their toes into precious metals markets without having to shell out huge amounts of cash. […]