Business

Contributed by Sprott Money. Click here for the original

America’s top forecasters missed the 2008 market crash, during which stock investors lost half their money. Now with stocks approaching bubble territory it looks they are again ignoring warnings signs. What gives?

The biggest red flag is the S&P 500 index, which groups 500 of America’s largest public companies and is trading near record highs. This despite a sluggish US economy driven by record government spending, borrowing and money printing.

It was two years ago, in June of 2015, when just as the Shanghai Composite was flirting with 5,000 and when literally the local banana stand guy was trading stocks, that the Chinese stock bubble burst, unleashing an unprecedented selling spree, a 40% drop in just two months, and Beijing's nationalization of the stock market, courtesy of the domestic plunge protection team, the China Securities Regulatory Commission also known as the "National Team".

In the 50 years since the first Krugerrand was minted in South Africa, the gold coins have turned out to be one of the best investments in the country.

As Bloomberg reports, the Krugerrand originally sold for 27 rand (then worth $35) back in 1967. One ounce of gold is now worth 16,840 rand ($1,273), boosted by a combination of rising global gold prices and a depreciating local currency.

Outspoken exposer of the establishment smoke and mirrors, economist John Williams spoke with USA Watchdog's Greg Hunter this week in a far-ranging interview from Trump impeachment to economic collapse and from the demise of the dollar to physical gold ownership as the "ultimate hedge."

Authored by Eugene Etsebeth via CoinDesk.com,

Eugéne Etsebeth is an ex-central banker who was employed as a technologist at the South African Reserve Bank from 2013 to 2017. During his time at the reserve bank, he notably chaired the virtual currency and distributed ledger working group.

 

In this opinion piece, Etsebeth outlines why he believes central banks won't be able to adapt to innovations in cryptocurrency, arguing they simply aren't set up to compete with sea changes in technology.