by Mac Slavo, SHTF Plan:
The central bank is finally admitting what most of us have known for some time now. The Fed is fueling the asset bubble and pumping a lot of money into a “booming” economy. As Bloomberg’s Richard Breslow details in today’s note, the worst kept secret in the financial world is now not only accepted orthodoxy but finally being discussed openly by, at least some, authorities.
from Birch Gold Group:
Many people have heard of “the 1%”, which is normally used to describe the top one percent of the wealthy.
In recent decades, as the bottom 50% of the United States has seen its collective share of income decline, the 1% has gained at their expense, gobbling up an increasingly large share of the nation’s wealth.
from Silver Doctors:
SD Friday Wrap: It must be getting really bad when the US Federal Government’s own numbers show massive price inflation…
Editor’s Note: These charts were set up at approximately 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Jan 17th, 2020.
*****
Everybody in the United States has been focused on pretty much everything, except for healthcare.
That is to say, the Deep State is offering plenty of distraction in the United States right now, but it seems like they’re trying to avoid the issue of healthcare altogether.
by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds:
The Fed will destroy the nation by widening the wealth/income inequality that is breaking down the nation’s social order.
President Reagan was widely mocked in America when he declared the Soviet Union an evil empire, but this calling things by their real name had a profound impact in the Eastern Bloc. The mockery stemmed from the secularized American view that there was precious little moral difference between the USSR and the US, that the USSR was a legitimate “alternative system,” and that ramping up Cold war tensions was not just dangerous but useless, as the USSR was as permanent (or more so) than the US.
by Nathan McDonald, Sprott Money:
All we have heard about for the past couple of weeks is the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran—and the dire outcomes that situation may lead to. And for good reason: it is a true threat to the stability of our global economy in the short to medium term, and sadly, many good, innocent people have already lost their lives.
However, another sinister situation has continued to unfold behind the scenes, taking a backseat to the immediate threat at our doorstep. I’m speaking of the ongoing crisis in the repo markets.
If you thought this complete and utter mess was magically fixed by the Federal Reserve dumping bucketloads of money on top of it, you were horribly mistaken. In fact, the repo market crisis has continued to fester.
by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
“Give Me a Growing Environment, It’s Easier to Run the Railroad”: CSX CEO.
CSX reported fourth-quarter and annual results Thursday evening: revenues for the quarter fell 8% to 2.88 billion, in line with the freight recession where overall shipments by all modes of transportation in December fell 7.9%, the steepest year-over-year decline since November 2009.
Annual revenue fell 3% to $11.9 billion, and were down 5.8% from 2014. This is not the chart of a growth company. But over the same period of the 5.8% revenue decline, the price of its shares has soared 121%.
by Harvey Organ, Harvey Organ Blog:
GOLD CLOSED UP $9.60 TO $1560.00//SILVER UP 12 CENTS TO $18.06//STRONG QUEUE JUMPING FOR BOTH GOLD AND SILVER//LEBANON CLOSE TO BANKRUPTCY: DOLLARS SCARCE AND HUGE AMOUNT OF DEBT DENOMINATED IN DOLLARS IS DUE//BALTIC DRY INDEX AT RECORD LOWS//TED BUTLER..YOUR WEEKEND READING//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
by Brendan Brown, Mises Institute:
In the last decade, the combination of virulent asset price inflation and low reported consumer price inflation crippled sound money as a political force in the US and globally. In the new decade, a different balance between monetary inflation’s “terrible twins” — asset inflation and goods inflation — will create an opportunity for that force to regain strength. Crucial, however, will be how sound money advocacy evolves in the world of ideas and its success in forming an alliance with other causes that could win elections.
It is very likely that the deflationary nonmonetary influences of globalization and digitalization, which camouflaged the activity of the goods-inflation twin during the past decade, are already dissipating.
by Kerry Lutz, Financial Survival Network:
According to Bix Weir, the computerized market rigging has been going on for 50 years. Every morning they get their marching orders from treasury secretary Mnuchin, complete with instructions on the day’s price targets. The DOW, Comex, gold and silver prices are all pre-determined at that time. As long as the music keeps playing, the day of reckoning will be put off into the future. Tesla has been an orchestrated short squeeze leading to its parabolic rise. The reality is that valuations no longer matter. There’s an unlimited ability to manipulate any market at any time. d the media. We can only hope! Bix’s is very welcome back on the show after a too long hiatus.
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by Alasdair Macleod, GoldMoney:
Gold moved sideways this week in a tight range. The story for silver was the same, but with a little more volatility, as one would expect. By morning trading in Europe, gold had lost $7 from last Friday’s close to trade at $1555, and silver nine cents at $18.01.
Gold’s open interest on Comex rose to just under 800,000 contracts on Thursday, yet another all-time record, and this was despite 32,227 missing contracts recorded as exchanged for physical in the four sessions to Thursday. It really is a high-stakes battle between the bulls and the bears and surely, the shorts must be very concerned because their tactics of using any good news to force the speculating bulls to sell have so far failed.
by Stefan Gleason, Money Metals:
Precious metals got off to an explosive early start to 2020 as tensions between the U.S. and Iran drove safe-haven buying.
Of course, gold and silver markets will need more than a geopolitical flare up to drive a long-term bull market advance.
The question for investors is whether the fundamental picture now looks promising or fleeting.
In our view, the fundamentals are turning in favor of higher gold and silver prices.
by Erik Townsend, Macro Voices:
Erik Townsend and Patrick Ceresna welcome Grant Williams to MacroVoices. Erik and Grant discuss:
