Forget TARP — the Real Bailout Came from the Fed
Since its inception almost a century ago, the Federal Reserve has enjoyed a cloak of secrecy that has grown more opaque over the years. When the economy imploded in 2008, Bernanke’s...
About: Charles Scaliger
Posts by Charles Scaliger
Venezuela Brings Gold Home
In today’s extremely unsettled financial climate, one can hardly blame Venezuela or its erratic leader, Hugo Chavez, for deciding to bring home the gold. ...
Forbes: Time to Re-open the Gold Window
It is strangely apt that the stock market this week has been experiencing turbulence, in the wake of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S credit and fears of a double-dip recession....
GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum
No one has ever accused Rick Santorum of being coy. The former Pennsylvania Representative and two-term Senator has built a reputation for being outspoken and unapologetic, a political point man for...
GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich
Former Congressman Newt Gingrich has never shied away from controversy, so the recent turmoil among his presidential campaign staff, leading to the abrupt departure of a number of his senior aides,...
Stock Market Decline Just the Beginning
The stock market is in freefall once again, evoking specters of 2008. As one fund manager told the Wall Street Journal on Monday, “the sense of déjà vu is almost sickening.”...
A.G. Heinsohn: Not Cottoning to Oppression
This article is the third installment in a series on Americanist entrepreneurs. The first two, on Robert Welch and Fred Koch, appeared in the May 23 and June 20 issues of...
Forbes: U.S. Default a Given
According to no less a source than Forbes magazine, a U.S. default is no longer a question of if. It’s when. In a July 23 article, Forbes’ Addison Wiggin warned readers...
Ron Paul’s First Campaign Ad Focuses on Debt Limit Debate
Congressman Ron Paul has joined the presidential race again, but with a difference: This time around, there’s no House seat to return to as a consolation prize. The Texas congressman, long...
Italy and Ireland in Free-fall
Europe’s crisis took a dramatic turn for the worse with the sudden awareness, reflected by a steep increase in government bond yields, that the Italian economy may soon be on the...
Ben Bernanke to Ron Paul: Gold Is Not Money
What news could possibly draw a smile from the normally sphinx-faced Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke? The news that his longtime adversary on Capitol Hill, Ron Paul, is retiring...
EU Economic Crisis: Italy’s Debt Now Second Only to That of Greece
Europe’s slow-motion economic collapse continues apace as Eurozone governments and banks continue to wring their hands over what to do to postpone the inevitable Greek default. And now there’s a new...
The 14th Amendment and the Debt
The topic of the14th Amendment of the United States Constitution is continuing to stir debate in Washington, with those who favor increasing the debt limit at any cost raising the specter of...
Aug. 2 Debt Limit Vote: Will GOP Cave and Vote for Tax Increases?
With the federal borrowing clock allegedly ticking down to financial Armageddon on August 2, discourse on Capitol Hill is becoming predictably envenomed. The official Republican position, framed repeatedly by House Speaker...
The Constitution and the Debt Limit
It’s a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Washington that the only occasions on which the United States Constitution is invoked with any reverence by the political establishment is...