“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness. The road forks and wanders wherever you are. It is not a single way, but many: a web of choices” – Colin Thubron, author of the “Shadow
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In 1661 Johan Palmstruch discovered a Midas touch when he realized that he could solve his bank’s liquidity spread of short-term deposits and long-term loans by issuing credit paper. Dubbed “Palmstruch’s Notes”, they were credited as the first instance of IOUs (“I owe you”) in Europe, backed by nothing but the general public’s confidence in
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What's going on with the price of gold?
It is height of the 1970s energy crisis. Everyone is panicking over the rising price of oil and soaring inflation. They can feel how each dollar can buy less. But you are sitting calmly in your chair, totally unaffected. Now and then you glance at a gold bar on a table next to you and
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Chasing cheap gas comes at a cost
I encourage you to take a short interactive quiz to see if you are able to manage an energy crisis in a hypothetical European country. Find the link to the quiz at the end of this article! “All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds” Dr. Pangloss in Voltaire’s novel “Candide”
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