International banking secrecy was delivered a massive blow on Monday, when Swiss banking giant and refiner Credit Suisse pled guilty to tax evasion and accepted a $2.6 billion penalty. Swiss banks, notorious for helping wealthy investors hide their money from the U.S. government, are nearly synonymous with “discretion.” This charge blows the lid off that…
The Origins of Money: A Brief History
Unless you’re independently wealthy, thinking of money means thinking of mortgage payments and utility bills, filling up the gas tank and buying groceries, even saving for your children’s education. Money can keep you awake at night! Yet when it comes to the origins of money, we rarely give it a moment’s thought. One of our…
Price Controls & Manipulation: Factors that Impact the Price of Gold and Silver
A major driving force behind gold and silver’s multi-year rally is the printing of money by central banks around the world. Since 2008, literally trillions of new dollars (currency) have been created in the hopes of resuscitating the besieged stock and housing markets. This inflation has placed upward pressure on gold and silver. In 2008…
AOCS – The Bridge to a New Way of Trade?
Have you ever browsed our online store, come across a coin labeled AOCS Approved and scratched your head wondering what in the world that means? The American Open Currency Standard—widely known as AOCS—was developed to allow gold, silver and copper to be used in commercial trade and barter. (Coins that are AOCS Approved should not…
What the Fed Isn’t Saying: The (Unintended) Consequences of Quantitative Easing
In our last two posts, we touched on the Federal Reserve’s controversial decision – to purchase $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities every month for an indefinite period of time – and the effect it’s having on the gold and silver markets. News coverage on the monetary stimulus seems to be centered primarily on what the…
House of Representatives Overwhelmingly Passes Fed Audit Bill
H.R. 459, better known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012 (…or Audit the Fed), has passed the full House of Representatives by a vote of 327-98. Passage of the bill represents a crowning achievement in the career of Congressman Ron Paul, the bill’s author. For decades as a congressman and 3-time presidential candidate,…
