John T. Reed’s news blog

Steve Forbes book says there cannot ever be inflation if there is a gold standard. . Well, there actually was gold inflation after America was discovered. The conquistadors found lots of gold and brought it back to Europe. That jump in the supply of gold caused temporary inflation I believe. . Minor sidelight: At times in recent hyperinflation, people have used bricks, cigarettes and chocolate as money—the latter two in Germany in 1945. Bricks were used in the shattered USSR. . I have not read a book on inflation in years. Reading this one scared me more and I was...

Detroit is coming back real-estate-wise. I am not surprised. I studied it somewhat because it was an interesting case study. . In the early 1950s, Detroit was the world equivalent of Silicon Valley in the 1990s and 2000s. Booming Motown, cars being the hot industry. That was when my parents and maybe most others first became car owners, the massive transformation of the cities and suburbs. . Arguably, Detroit created the transportation revolution that destroyed it. Although, it must be admitted that it's first black mayor Cpleman Young also DEIed it to death. Other cities were not destroyed by the...

The armorer on Alec Baldwin's movie Rust got the max jail sentence. 1. Why would Hollywood (or NM in this case) ever take a working gun to a movie shoot.this was a revolver. So put a plug in the back of the barrel so it is impossible to fire or even chamber a round 2. Ban live ammunition totally at movie filming. Why would you ever need it? 3. You can use blanks but they can kill, too. One young male actor, Jon-Eric Hexum, pointed a gun with blanks in it at his head and pulled the trigger. Dead. At...

Here is my new and improved ultra precise answer to your question of which index fund readers should put their money in. 82% in XLG and 18% in FEZ. This is my implementation of Burton Malkiel’s very strong admonition on page 202 of the 50th anniversary hardcover edition of A Random Walk Down Wall Street. . He writes in pretty plain English, but I will translate it one more level into plainer English, . You’re nuts if your stock market investments do not match this. . If Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett were to read this, I suspect they would...

Costco is selling gold and silver bars at a bit of a discount. Very popular with millennials. . Gold is overpriced even at Costco. Silver is also overpriced, although not as much. Nickel is also a durable commodity and NOT overpriced (based on it's long-term average real price). . Because of Executive Order 6102, you need to keep gold abroad. . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 . That ought to convince you not to buy it. There are other disadvantages in my web article on gold disadvantages. . https://johntreed.com/.../60940227-disadvantages-of-gold... . If you must own gold or silver I recommend doing so with American coins...