Peter's Blog

Japanese vs. US: Which Are More Cooked?

No one wants Japan’s sovereign debt.  The global sovereign bond collapse appears to be rapidly worsening. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) owns more than half of its own government bonds, desperate to prop up the economy by buying domestic debt that nobody else wants. But no central bank can prop up an economy forever.

What Do Gold Leasing Rates Say About Markets?

In 2025, gold leasing rates surged, partially from increased gold demand and tightening supply. That’s because confidence in gold is up, and confidence in the global economy is crashing.

Here’s Why Tariffs Won’t Bring Back Manufacturing

Tariffs are being pitched as a magic bullet to revive American manufacturing, pushing out foreign competitors to bring red, white, and blue factories humming back to life. It sounds great: tax imports to bring companies back to the States, and generate a flood of revenue in the process as jobs flood back to the heartland. […]

The Dollar Falters as Gold Remains Stable     

In the past three months, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) has fallen from 108 to below 99. This means the dollar has dropped in value relative to major foreign currencies by over 8% in just the past quarter. This is disastrous for those holding large amounts of uninvested cash. In just a short period, the […]

The Trump Tariffs: Why Free-Trade Is the Only Way Forward

The United States has taken a very strong protectionist stance on global trade. With the recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which include 10% baseline duties on most imports, a staggering 145% on Chinese goods, and targeted tariffs on European and automotive imports, the debate over the nation’s trade policy has become highly contentious. […]

Hands off! A Case for Price Discrimination

Everyone knows that discrimination is wrong. Of course, everyone in that circumstance would be assuming that discrimination was referring to judging people by their underlying traits, but it becomes very easy for the meaning of the word to take on a negative connotation that can be used to inform policy in unhelpful ways. Price discrimination […]

U.S. Economy Stumbles into Negative Territory Amid Rising Inflation and Imports

America’s economy contracted slightly in the first quarter of 2025, with real GDP slipping 0.3%, reversing from a solid 2.4% growth seen in the previous quarter. According to the advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the downturn was largely driven by surging imports and reduced government spending. Despite underlying resilience in […]

Jamie Dimon and the boring secret of JPMorgan’s success

At the start of the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Government reached out to one company they knew could handle the catastrophically managed Bear Stearns. They knew JPMorgan would be able to handle a massive administrative and financial challenge even as others faltered. JPMorgan still suffered from the 2008 crisis, but far less than most […]

Visa, Mastercard, and Russian Commerce

It’s very easy to keep faith in modern electronic payment systems when there is nothing going wrong with them. Russians in March 2022 did not have the same luxury. Due to the country’s involvement in the war with Ukraine, Visa, MasterCard, and several other payment platforms punished all Russians. They did this in three separate […]

Insurance With a Little Shine

Everyone knows that all investments carry some amount of risk. This ranges from highly speculative cryptocurrencies to low return bonds with far lower risk. One area that people do not assign enough risk to is insurance. Insurance is supposed to be a safeguard against risk, so it seems odd to recognize that it also can […]