Reality Check continued

Here is what I told an auditorium full of students, age 10 to 18, about economic success. Maybe some student you know could put this information to effective use. Maybe it isn't too late for you.... keep reading

The collapse of Enron was one more example of how the conventional media don't provide accurate warnings. Yet millions of investors trust the media for information crucial to their futures.... keep reading

With an estimated $333 trillion in derivatives worldwide as of June, 2005, the possibility of a gigantic domino effect is only too real. There is no way to monitor this incomparably complex web of inter-related debts.... keep reading

Time-management is not risk-free. You can short-change (short-time?) your family, church, or service organization. But in an age of mass entertainment, time-management is the place to stop your losses.... keep reading

Nobody knows this story. I do. That's because my father and his associates with the F.B.I. told me. They cracked the case. It's an amazing story.... keep reading

No currency can be trusted in the long run because no national government can be trusted in the long run. Currencies are like a bunch of drunks who stagger together, arms interlocked, as they head into the night.... keep reading

Central banks have held down the price of gold by inflating less and by selling off their gold reserves under the cover of calling this "leasing gold." They cannot pursue either policy indefinitely without bringing on a worldwide depression.... keep reading

Gold will rise because the dollar will fall. The tight-money policies of 2005 will produce a recession. When that happens, the Federal Reserve will abandon tight money. Gold will then enter another boom phase.... keep reading

Present-orientation is the mark of the lower-class person. Americans are fast becoming lower class. The result will be the reduction in our standard of living.... keep reading

The recession of 2001 showed investors once again that the good times can cease to roll. It's going to happen again. Worse.... keep reading

What goes up must come down. What is pumped up by investors will get deflated by investors. At that point, they will call on the government to restore the old price/earnings ratio. The government will respond by inflating.... keep reading

The word "supermoney" comes from the title of a 1968 book by "Adam Smith." The book touted -- the correct word -- the idea of getting rich through issuing stock and retaining millions of shares for yourself. That strategy blew up in 2000. It has not worked since.... keep reading

Moore's 1965 "law" states that computer chip capacity doubles every 18 months. He was wrong. The doubling period is now down to 12 months. The economic gains from this are marginal, year by year, though significant over decades. Meanwhile, the depreciation rate is incredibly high: a constant drain on profits.... keep reading

This is an endless debate. At least we are debating about 3% inflation in 2005, and not 14%, as in 1979.... keep reading

Many eyes, many versions. This is why historians never agree on anything they have studied in detail.... keep reading

The "Great Game" has been played in Afghanistan for over 150 years. The British and the Russians lost men and money trying to control Afghanistan. Now it's our turn.... keep reading