Blogs: Ralph J. Benko
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Written by Ralph J. Benko
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013 |
 "Bitcoins" are a software novelty presenting as virtual coins. They have been much in the news of late as the implicit market cap of these novelties soared to over $1 billion.
This novelty "coin" has its enthusiasts in Silicon Valley, notably the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame. The LA Times notes an upcoming conference of 1,000 techies: "Bitcoin's growing popularity and a recent surge in value has caught the eye of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, including some who are convinced that Read more |
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Written by Ralph J. Benko
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 |
 The January 2009 issue of the National Geographic provided a vivid cover story on Gold: The True Cost of a Global Obsession.
Humankind's feverish attachment to gold shouldn't have survived the modern world. Few cultures still believe that gold can give eternal life, and every country in the world—the United States was last, in 1971—has done away with the gold standard, which John Maynard Keynes famously derided as "a barbarous relic." But gold's luster not only endures; fueled by global uncertainty, it grows stro Read more |
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Written by Ralph J. Benko
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013 |
 The National Geographic's Gold: The True Cost of a Global Obsession ...
... contains a very picturesque story:
"Juan Apaza is possessed by gold. Descending into an icy tunnel 17,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes ... the miner has already made his "payment to the Earth": a bottle of pisco, the local liquor, placed near the mouth of the mine; a few coca leaves slipped under a rock; and, several months back, a rooster sacrificed by a shaman on the sacred mountaintop. Now, heading into the tunnel, he mumbles a prayer Read more |
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Written by Ralph J. Benko
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Thursday, May 09, 2013 |
 The South China Morning Post recently reported, in an article headlined Kunming Mother sues US Central Bank over shrinking cash, that"
A woman in Kunming, Yunnan province, is trying to sue the United States central bank after discovering that the real value of the US$250 she put in an account in 2006 had shrunk by 30 per cent.
She claims it was a result of the Federal Reserve issuing too much money.
Her attorney, her son Li Zhen, called the lawsuit "litigation for the public good" which aimed to stop the Fed from Read more |
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Written by Ralph J. Benko
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Tuesday, May 07, 2013 |
 The Spring/Summer 2012 issue of The Cato Journal is devoted to the topic of "Monetary Reform in the Wake of Crisis." It contains sixteen articles by distinguished thought leaders such as Robert B. Zoellick, Allan H. Meltzer, John A. Allison, George Melloan, James Grant, Benn Steil, George Selgin, Judy Shelton, Richard H. Timberlake, Kevin Dowd, Ron Paul, Lawrence H. White, and Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.
O'Driscoll, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Read more |
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