Bill Bonner

The pound sank into the mud of the Somme and never recovered. By the end of WWI, Britain was deeply in debt. It had to give up India in 1947. And then, in 1956, it was unable to control the Suez Canal.

The British empire came to a final, wimpy end in the Suez Crisis of 1956. ‘Allied’ with France and Israel, Britain set out to take back the canal from Egypt. The three allies attacked.

It was obvious that the British Empire was in decline. And the Gallipoli campaign helped bring down all three empires — Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Turks, and the UK.

Bad policies…unnecessary wars…foolish theories — never go away. Like zombies, they rise up in the light of the full moon, and terrorize the world once again.

There’s a time for everything. The time to get into stocks is when prices are low, not when they are high. This is not exactly advanced geophysics, but when they are at epic lows there is more upside.

The two parties are doing something that China, Russia, Iran et al might like to do, but lack the means to do it. They’re bankrupting and impoverishing the USA.

A gamble is just a gamble; it could go either way. And who wants to bet against gold? It was the star performer for the last 26 years…and the most reliable performer since the Flood

At the present rate, the war would add about a half a trillion to the US deficit this year. If it goes on as long as the war in Afghanistan, it will add $10 trillion to the debt.

Real output is already very cheap in gold terms. Instead, the most likely correction will take place in the stock market itself, either because the dollar sinks or because stocks sink…or both.

We’ve seen what a sharp, sudden spike in interest rates (the availability of credit) does; businesses tighten up, employees are let go, spending goes down and GDP rates go from positive to negative.