This week a preliminary attempt to value gold with a different method. I have shown earlier how we can value the stock market: we can compare the replacement value of the underlying company assets with the price we pay for the same assets on the stock market. This ratio is also known as the “equity q ratio,” named after the Tobin q ratio which was first described by Nobel laureate James Tobin (Tobin would take both the equity and debt in his original formulation). This time, I try to do

Will the European Central Bank (ECB) raise interest rates – currently at zero percent – earlier than the market until recently was anticipating? A recent report led markets to speculate about an earlier rate hike. Is such speculation well-founded or do markets exaggerate once again?... »

Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the world has become increasingly dependent on the US dollar. The US dollar continues to fulfill an important role as the world’s reserve currency and as a result the United States is basically obliged to provide the world with sufficient dollars.

In order to do so, the United States must import more goods every year than it exports. The difference is paid for in dollars; dollars that can then be used by other countries to import oil and other commodities. This worldwide dependence on the dollar has meant that the United States can structurally live far beyond its means.