Once again, I am flattering an entry with a picture taking here in Switzerland where I am currently entertaining courses at HEC Lausance. As you can see, it is a beautiful place and also, as it were, very interesting with respect to tail fume patterns from the enormous amount of airplanes moving back and forth over le Lac Léman (middle of Europe remember!). Posting is slim I know, but so unfortunately is time; I can assure that it is not out of lack of enthusiasm to write and opinion on current events.

Moving on to the topic du jour it is interesting to observe wow fast things sometimes change. We need not go back more than 5-6 months to observe how hawkish central banks across the economic edifice were busy scrambling to raise rates in order to quell inflationary pressures. Most notably, the

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There was virtually nothing in the price action of gold in the Far East on Friday that suggested that there would be an explosion in the gold price on Friday morning at the Comex open. I’d gone to bed at 5:00 a.m. New York time after filing my Thursday rant that you read yesterday morning. True, at the usual 3:00 a.m. time, gold had peaked at the lofty price of $759. But two hours later the price was still at $759.

So when I hit the ‘On’ button on the computer yesterday morning, I was hoping and praying that we would be away to the races when the Kitco gold chart came up…and we were. I’m encouraged by the fact that gold managed to finish on its highs in electronic trading after the Comex had closed for the day. The markets are very thin there…especially on Fridays…and it would have been

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Below is an exclusive English translation of an extensive debate transcript featuring the Polish historian Adam Michnik, one of Poland's foremost intellectuals and hero from the Solidarity movement. We also recently published a translation of another article from his most recent visit to Moscow. PUBLIC LECTURES (Polit.ru) Russia, Poland, Europe A public discussion with Adam Michnik We are publishing the full transcript of a discussion with the famous European intellectual, one of the most famous Polish dissidents and political prisoners, editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Wyborcza” Adam Michnik, which took place on 25 October of the year 2007 in a club — the literary cafe Bilingua within the framework of the project «Public lectures of Polit.ru». The discussion was organized with the aid of the International society «Memorial». Adam Michnik was born in the year 1946. In 1961—1962 he entered into the famous ...

Expectations the Polish central bank would increase rates in the coming months eased back slightly this week following better than expected producer price numbers, and a rebound in industrial output which was lower than analyst expectations. And this despite the fact that consumer price inflation continues stuck significantly above the banks target.According to data released by the Polish statistical office Poland's industrial output rose 7.2 percent year-on-year in June (see chart above), while the rate of increase in producer prices held constant at 2.7 percent year-on-year (see chart below).Folllowing publication of the data Monetary Policy Council member Andrzej Slawinski is quoted as saying that the level of interest rates would now largely depend on the zloty."What is going to happen with the interest rate level will largely depend on ...