To me the gold price takes the form of a very uncomplicated formula, and all you have to do is divide one by 'n.' And 'n', I'm glad you ask, 'n' is the world's trust in the institution of paper money and in the capacity of people like Ben Bernanke to manage it. So the smaller 'n', the bigger the price. One divided by a receding number is the definition of a bull market.

It is an axiom nowadays that no bank fails for lack of capital; unprofitable lending is always the underlying cause.

Credit is money of the mind.

The 1980s are to debt what the 1960s were to sex. The 1960s left a hangover. So will the 1980s.

Progress is cumulative in science and engineering, but cyclical in finance.

In almost every walk of life, people buy more at lower prices; in the stock market they seem to buy more at higher prices.

I believe that there is an important kernel of truth in the idea that financial errors recur every other generation.