Have you heard about the “gold” asteroid?
You probably have. It’s been all over the news. Apparently, NASA is planning a mission to a Massachusetts-size lump of rock named “16 Psyche” located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
There’s been widespread reporting that this mission could pave the way for asteroid mining. And that’s led to speculation that it could make us all rich!
This is dumb.
So athletes in the 2020 Olympics are going to be competing for junk.
No joke. The medals for the Tokyo games will be made entirely out of recycled e-waste.
When people talk about the economy, they generally focus on government policies such as taxation and regulation. For instance, Republicans credit President Trump’s tax cuts for the seemingly booming economy and surging stock markets. Meanwhile, Democrats blame “deregulation” for the 2008 financial crisis. While government policies do have an impact on the direction of the economy, this analysis completely ignores the biggest player on the stage – the Federal Reserve.
From time to time, I write about gold-covered food. Why? Because it’s a thing – a weird thing. It involves gold – which is what we do here. It comes up a lot in my daily Google searches for gold news. And did I mention I find it kind of weird?
Really, I don’t understand the thrill of eating gold. I like to invest in gold. I like to wear gold. I like to look at pretty golden things. But eat gold? Nah. Really, it’s a hard pass for me. (There’s a joke there that I’m not going to explain – just think about it a second…hard pass.)
All eyes will focus on the Federal Reserve as it wraps up its June meeting. But it’s important to remember the Fed isn’t the only game in town. Moves by the European Central Bank also have a significant impact on the global economy (and the gold market) and it has taken a decidedly dovish turn.
Most analysts expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady in June, but potentially set the stage for a July rate cut. (Although Jim Grant said he thinks the Fed will actually cut this month.)
In an opinion piece published yesterday, a Chinese government newspaper called for the international community to find alternatives to the global dollar system and warned “capricious actions” by the United States government could “ruin the future of the dollar itself.”
This is yet another sign that the world is getting tired of the US weaponizing the dollar.
Well, you missed out. You could have been $100,000 richer. But you didn’t plunk down $25 for a map. And you’re probably not in Canada.
Too bad. As my dad used to say, “When you snooze, you lose.”
But a few people did cash in on a treasure hunt up in the Great White North. And those folks are $100,000 better off for their efforts.
And they say crime doesn’t pay.
Remember the South Korean custodian who found gold bars in the garbage can at the Incheon International Airport? I wrote about it a little over a year ago. The real travesty is that the janitor who found the gold probably won’t get a dime. It was a sad case of finders weepers.
Well, the story has another twist. It seems it may be losers keepers.
Calvin and Hobbs ranks as my all-time favorite comic strip. Calvin said and did a lot of the things that went through my head when I was a kid. But of course, I was too chicken to do or say most of those things.
If you’re familiar with the strip, you know Calvin’s imagination sometimes intertwined with reality to create some really weird scenarios. Well, I’ve got a real-life story for you that kind of reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbs strip.
In a recent article, Peter Schiff called the ongoing trade war Pres. Trump’s last stand, saying, “it looks to me that Donald Trump … is charging into an economic version of the Little Bighorn.” Proponents of the trade war argue that we need to give Trump’s strategy time to work. They say the tariffs will force the Chinese to bend, and in the end, America will find itself in a much better economic position than it was before.
We can debate whether Trump’s tariffs are a brilliant negotiating tool or an economic disaster, but we shouldn’t ignore the fact that they are causing significant pain. And not just for the Chinese. Ultimately, American consumers are paying the price.
