Venezuela is like a surreal field experiment of failing economic policies. But sometimes the macroeconomic figures we read about deceive us; they show the harsh reality intellectually, but the human suffering behind those numbers is never revealed to us on an emotional level. Even Joseph Stalin apprehended this asymmetry when he said: “The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of millions... »

Bond yields of debt-ridden European countries have been falling recently in line with the gold price. Below the surface, however, things don’t look that pretty in Europe. ‘Bad’ bank loans as a percentage of total bank credit have been increasing in both Spain (13%) and Italy (8%), unemployment hasn’t improved, euro-scepticism is still on the rise, and capital is still fleei... »