Daily Dispatches

By Craig Hemke
Sprott Money, Toronto
Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Another deal to extend the debt limit of the U.S. government appears to have been reached. If that's a surprise to you, then I guess you haven't been paying attention over the years.

The farce of the "debt ceiling" is simple political theater and nothing more. For decades cynical politicians have used the imagined "catastrophe of default" as a tool to stoke division and score political points, usually just before major elections. 

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Telegraph, London
Tuesday, May 30, 2023

The Republicans have capitulated on the U.S. debt ceiling. This averts the risk of abrupt fiscal tightening in a slowing economy that has yet to digest the most aggressive monetary squeeze in over 40 years.

The putative accord between the White House and Congress does not even try to address the larger threat to America's economic model and hegemonic status.

By Khalid Al Ansary
Bloomberg News
Monday, May 29, 2023

Iraq's central bank boosted its gold reserves by about 2% in a single day last week as part of what it calls a gradual plan to stock up on the precious metal that's seen as a traditional haven in times of economic distress.

Iraq bought 2.5 tons of bullion on Thursday to bring its reserves to 132.73 tons, Mazin Sabah, director general of the central bank's investments department, said in an interview in Baghdad. The strategy is to acquire more gold in the second half of the year, Sabah said. 

By Alex Carp
New York Magazine
May 1, 2023

About a dozen years ago, a pseudonymous commenter on a financial website, writing under the name Beowulf, presented an unusual solution for a debt-ceiling standoff: If the federal government was at risk of default, and Congress couldn't agree to either cut spending or raise the borrowing limit cleanly, couldn't it simply mint a trillion-dollar coin?

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