Monday mornings can be daunting, in processing the massive amount of PiMBEEB – or Precious Metal bullish, everything-else-bearish – news since my last publication, 72 hours earlier. This, amidst a world where government-commandeered “markets” signal nothing but the madness they have created, and the carnage that must surely ensue – as if generational economic weakness; the highest-ever debt load; the largest-ever industrial oversupply; the lowest-ever cumulative purchasing power; and the highest level of political, geopolitical, and social unrest in generations isn’t carnage enough. But alas, the rapidly accelerating, guaranteed-to-fully-run-its-course implosion of history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme is in truly unprecedented territory; featuring history’s largest-ever bubbles – and in Precious Metals’ case, “anti-bubbles”.
Today’s principal topic is as important; far-reaching; and per today’s title, PiMBEEB; as anything I’ve yet discussed. Thus, the best way to preface the most PiMBEEB transaction of all-time, is to simply list the past 72 hours’ events – to demonstrate just how rapidly the powers that be’s “control” is being lost.
- The Illinois Death Watch is on – as following last week’s downgrade to one notch above junk, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza said “this is not a false alarm, we are in massive crisis mode. The magic tricks run out after a while, and that’s where we’re at.” “Magic tricks,” eerily similar to the “extraordinary measures” the Treasury is currently taking – i.e, plundering pension funds, and creating fraudulent interdepartmental transfers – to buy a few more weeks, before the “mother of all debt ceiling crises” arrives.
- Heightened military escalation; as the U.S. bombed Syria – prompting Russia to cut off diplomatic ties, citing such as act as “supporting terrorism”; whilst Iran and China conducted joint naval drills; NATO simulated a Russian invasion; and America pondered the deployment of an additional 20,000 troops to Afghanistan.
- Escalating political chaos, as the odds of a Trump impeachment hearing increase further each day. Not to mention, the chaotic aftermath of last week’s “shocking” UK election – and yet another London terrorism incident.
- The accelerating collapse of Saudi Arabia’s finances, as the OPEC “production cut” agreement collapses – as highlighted in this Steve St. Angelo article, discussing what I have exhaustively harped on for the past year. e., America’s desperate need to support the collapsing petrodollar complex, as its only Middle Eastern “ally” inches dangerously close to political and economic chaos.
This, as rigged financial markets are blatantly, and dramatically, supported – as evidenced by the past four days’ “trading”; in which, amidst a Fed “rate hike” and “balance sheet normalization” proposal that NO ONE can make sense of, given how U.S. economic data is unquestionably at its post 2008-crisis low; interest rates are within two basis points of their post-Election lows; and the dollar is essentially at its post-Election spike bottom low. To wit, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said all you need to know about the “control” the Fed has, and the understanding – or better put, denial – of the mess they have made…”for me, deciding whether to raise rates or hold steady, came down to a tension between faith and data.”
To that end, it’s shocking to consider dislocated today’s historically manipulated markets are – as nothing is being allowed to reflect reality. Particularly, “last to go” markets like paper Precious Metals and the “Dow Jones Propaganda Average” – the former of which, were subjected to their 189th “Sunday Night Sentiment” raid of the past 199 weekends; 857th “2:15 AM” attack of the last 978 trading days; and this monstrosity of “COMEX open”…
…whilst the Dow, following the disastrously timed Fed rate hike – amidst collapsing retail sales, housing starts, home sales, building permits, and wholesale reports, and the aforementioned, soon-to-be-discussed “most PiMBEEB transaction of all time; continued to be relentlessly supported by the PPT’s “dead ringer” algorithm…
Seemingly everywhere one looks, these epic, unprecedented “distortions” can be seen – from sophisticated derivative markets decidedly betting on lower interest rates; to unsophisticated investors making record bets on historically overvalued stocks and bonds, via the largest equity and bond fund inflows in a decade. By nearly every quantitative metric available, stocks and bonds are as overvalued as at any time in history – whilst home builder sentiment, despite historic unaffo-rdability; higher mortgage rates; and collapsing sales, permits, and starts, has reached its highest level since the peak of the 2007 real estate bubble. This, as gold prices have been suppressed to all-time inflation-adjusted lows; the silver/gold ratio, to its most egregious undervaluation ever; and the platinum/gold ratio to a fresh all-time low. And I haven’t even gotten to today’s very, very important topic – which I assure you, will ignite already historic Central bank money printing like a match to a gasoline tank. I.e, Amazon.com’s shocking acquisition of Whole Foods – which in my view, is easily the most PiMBEEB M&A transaction of all time.
To wit, my long-standing commentary of the dramatic changes the world is experiencing – due to technology, demographics, financial reality, and a rapidly changing zeitgeist. My focus on such historically unprecedented change goes back more than a decade, when I first noticed how many consumer goods were “made in China” – all the way to the present, in being one of the first people to recognize, and publicly discuss, the historic, world-changing ramifications of crypto-currency.
More than at any time in history, staples of life – and mindsets – are being radically, irreversibly altered, to make way for a 21st Century that, by the time its halfway through, won’t even resemble its beginnings. To wit, in June 2016’s “here’s the real end game,” I first espoused my view that history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme would be replaced by crypto-currency – with Precious Metals re-claiming their historic role as the world’s best storage of value assets; whilst in February 2017’s “shocking new world order,” I spoke of how the world our children inherit won’t even resemble the one we grew up in.
“Technology is changing so rapidly, today’s world will barely be recognizable a few years from now. And I’m talking about essentially all aspects of life; from cars, to real estate, insurance, education, and healthcare, to name but a few; to, of course, money. In other words, not only is it becoming mathematically unlikely that your children will attend college; but that they’ll ever own a car – or a driver’s license, as self-driving cars become ubiquitous. Or that we’ll need to see doctors when we’re modestly sick, now that medical Tricorders – a la Star Trek – are being invented. Or that my five-year old, Sylvie, will ever have a “bank account” – or use “cash” for a transaction.”
Typically, technology changes improve society’s cumulative experience. However, when society’s natural progression – and “Economic Mother Nature’s” immutable laws – are unnaturally altered, the impact of technology can be just as disruptive and destructive as it is beneficial. Which is exactly where we stand today, given that the deflationary, employment-killing tsunami Amazon/Whole Foods represents will irreversibly wash over history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi with a speed – and relentlessness – unlike anything witnessed in global economic, monetary, political, geopolitical, and social history.
In a world where historically debt-laden, savings-starved, and hope-deprived citizens value price more than anything, the trend toward cost cutting is about to take ten giant leaps forward – aided by robotics and logistics technology that could eliminate half of the world’s jobs. Amazon’s leadership in these areas has already destroyed, permanently, countless business models. However, it wasn’t until Friday’s Whole Foods acquisition that Amazon’s world-changing ambitions was finally brought to light – to the point that even uber-cheerleader Jim Cramer; who practically begged the Fed to address the collapsing banking system in early 2008, had the following to say about it.
“If I was the Federal Reserve, I would have a meeting on this. Inflation is going to go down…You have to rethink food … Costco knows how to compete…but Kroger, a crisis in Cincinnati, crisis!”
Yes, retail food stocks of ALL kinds were decimated Friday – from Costco and Target; to pure Whole Foods competitors like Sprout’s; anachronistic supermarket chains like Kroger; and even Wal-Mart itself – which was already bracing for cut-throat European competition from German mega-discounter Aldi. This, amidst an already crisis level of industry profitability, and collapsing restaurant demand. Frankly, an unprecedented reaction to a major M&A transaction – although arguably, there is no transaction even remotely comparable, in the history of U.S. finance.
The reason being, that Amazon has brought to light – along with the amazing technology advances and corporate efficiency its business plan will bring – the horrific debt, employment, and supply chain destruction it will yield. Which as noted above, would be fantastic if it occurred organically, in a free market environment featuring strong economic health. However, the economic hell wrought by historic government and Central bank intervention will yield financial carnage unlike anything seen before – as countless dozens of companies are bankrupted; millions of jobs are permanently lost; billions of entitlements are demanded of insolvent governments; and trillions of fiat currency units are printed to “monetize” these needs.
Unquestionably, resulting in dramatic inflationary increases, at a time when the world has never – at least, since Feudal times – been as polarized by Central bank-fostered wealth disparity than at any time in history. In other words, an historic “PiMBEEB” environment, at a time when physical Precious Metal demand is near its all-time high; production is in terminal decline; and above-ground, available-for-sale inventories are “running on fumes.” To which point I can only say, why are you NOT considering the protection – and insurance – of your hard earnings savings, and NOW?
