Yesterday, I wrote of the myriad instances of billowing financial and
economic smoke – from which, fire is undoubtedly smoldering out
of sight, soon to burst into view. Today, we’ll focus on the lies - or
mildly put, propaganda – that pervade our world. Which, if you simply view
them objectively – i.e, free from bias, or the misleading perception of
rose-colored glasses – are easily seen through. Fortunately, even the best
disguised lies are eventually exposed to the blaring light of truth; and
clearly, the “unstoppable tsunami of reality” is causing
more people to understand them each day.
But before I get started on this ugly topic, I can’t resist discussing
something which, frankly, requires little – if any – commentary. To wit, this
week’s “G-7″ boondoggle – which cumulatively, cost taxpayers of the attending
nations around $500 million. At it, the world’s most powerful people are
supposed to discuss ways to improve the world’s (rapidly deteriorating)
political, economic, and social environment. Well, it just concluded, and to
show you just how dysfunctional; useless; and frankly, arrogant and mocking
our so-called “leaders” are; here’ the gist of the only communique they
offered.
“The top seven industrialized countries (Group of Seven, or G7)-whose
carbon dioxide emissions total 25% of the world’s output-decided at a meeting
in Germany today to phase out their use of fossil fuels by the end of this
century.”
I’m not even going to comment on this stupidity; other than to say
that the only way to survive the carnage these incompetents have
wrought – and will unquestionably do so at an expanding rate as the global
economy implodes – is to say the opposite of what they say, and do they
opposite of what they do. And financially speaking, what they are saying is
you should be investing in the stock and bond markets they have manipulated
to all-time high valuations. Moreover, what they’re doing is printing
money, raising taxes, and spending the proceeds to enrich themselves and the
“1%,” at your expense.
Back to the aforementioned lies, the two key “propaganda themes” of
2015 unquestionably relate to “imminent Fed rates hikes” and an equally
imminent Greek “solution.” To this point, it hasn’t really mattered what has
actually happened on these fronts – regarding equity and Precious Metal
prices – as these markets have been so thoroughly commandeered, a nuclear war
could break out and the PPT would have stocks up and gold and silver down.
However, the bigger picture incorporates the experience of all
markets. And when it comes to commodities and currencies, “TPTB” are
decidedly losing the war – as the economic carnage from the CRB Index
plunging toward 2008′s spike bottom lows; and the average currency plunging
by more than 40% in just three years; has plunged the global economy into its
worst condition of our lifetimes. And as for unprecedentedly high equity
prices and low Precious Metals prices, let’s just say that Newton’s law of
what goes up must come down – and vice versa – has decidedly NOT been
repealed.
And then there’s the bond market – which until two months ago was equally
commandeered, taking global interest rates to their lowest rates in a thousand
years. And this, despite the largest debt edifice in history – rising
parabolically despite record low rates. Well, chalk up another victory
for “Economic Mother Nature“; as care of the “tectonic market shifts” we discussed last month, rates are
rising across the globe, despite plunging economic activity and,
incredibly, some of the most aggressive bond monetization schemes yet (think,
the ECB and Bank of Japan). Given said debt edifice, rising rates will
destroy everything in their path – from stocks; to bonds; real estate;
national economies; and sovereign and Central bank balance sheets. Which is
why said QE schemes must continue to expand, per the definition of
the Ponzi schemes they represent – which will only be more chaotic due
to the explosive currency volatility we are witnessing; i.e., the “single most precious metal bullish factor
imaginable.”
Regarding said “propaganda themes,” even I am astounded by how
unabashed such lies have been – particularly regarding Greece, which doesn’t
have a chance of receiving the €50 billion bailout it requires by month-end.
Or ever, for that matter – as it couldn’t be clearer that neither the
Greeks nor the European Union have an interest in sacrificing itself for the
other. Not that such “sacrifice” would ultimately save anyone – as opposed to
modestly kick the can a few more feet. However, in terms of today’s “market
manipulation playbook,” if a new money printing deal can be agreed upon, the
markets will be “loosened” enough to respond to new equity and fixed income
goosing measures. Or so is the plan; which, as history teaches us too well,
may not play out as perfectly in reality as on paper. And
particularly in the physical gold and silver markets – which,
“positive Greek news” notwithstanding, will understand too well that further,
explosive money printing and debt accumulation schemes will only strengthen
the case to hold one’s savings in the form of real money.
As for “imminent” Fed rate hikes, it’s getting to the point of sheer,
abject desperation on the part of Janet Yellen and her merry band of money
printers. Who, nearly a year after the so-called “end of QE,” will lose whatever remaining credibility they
still have if they can’t figure out a way to translate the so-called
“recovery” they’ve propagandized for the past two years into actually raising
rates. Unfortunately, the crashing global economy; collapsing commodity
prices; and a surging dollar (which Obama quite obviously deemed a “problem”
at yesterday’s G-7 meeting) are making this very difficult to achieve. As is
the catastrophic rise in market interest rates, that will only be “turbo
charged” if the Fed is stupid enough to commence a rate tightening cycle –
even if it’s only a “fake” tightening cycle, encompassing a single, trivial
quarter point increase.
To that end, for all the hype about last Friday’s (blatant lie of a)
“strong” jobs report, the market is not currently assuming a rate hike at
next week’s FOMC meeting. Or, for that matter, in September, despite the
incredible amount of propaganda attesting to such. No, as it turns out, the
market’s “bet” on the first rate hike isn’t until December – which, in
today’s wildly volatile political and economic climate, has as much
“predictive value” as G-7 attendees predicting they will be fossil fuel free
by 2100. In other words, propaganda notwithstanding, no one actually
believes the Fed will raise rates this year (they won’t), which is why the
accelerating global rate surge – clearly, for reasons other than plans
of the supposedly “omniscient, all powerful” Central banks – is so
terrifying.
Yes, the economic lies – from corporations, municipalities, Central banks,
and sovereign governments alike – are as pervasive as the market
manipulations “supporting” them. However, what matters far more is how
pervasive the understanding of such lies is becoming; such as
yesterday’s article from, of all places, MSM economic cheerleader Associated
Press – which calculated that when excluding “non-recurring charges,” the
real, GAAP-affirmed earnings of the S&P 500 over the past five
years are an astounding $583 billion less than reported. Having worked as a
Wall Street buy and sell-side analyst between 1996 and 2005, I’m well
aware that such earnings manipulation is nothing new under the sun. However,
it’s become far more egregious during today’s historic equity bubble,
with the gap between earnings reality and fraud having expanded to a chasm.
And with stocks trading at record high multiples excluding said
charges, all the ingredients for the “stock crash to end all stock crashes” are in
place.
And one final note on the topic of “lies, discovered”; regarding first,
the government that invented economic book cooking; and second, the
only government that cooks its data more. Regarding the former, by now you
are well aware that the U.S. government just commenced its “GDP Plus”
accounting scheme, of “double seasonally adjusting” data to make it look
stronger. And incredibly, they are actually telling us they are doing
so! “Sadly,” this fraud has already taken a mortal credibility blow – as, of
all people, the New York Fed just put out a report debunking the San
Francisco Fed’s initial claim that such “adjustments” are necessary.
Regarding the latter, China still claims its GDP is growing at a 7%
annual clip – albeit, the slowest such rate in 35 years – despite all other
indicators suggesting outright recession. Heck, even Wall Street knows it – as even China’s own
PMI indicators say as much. More satisfying yet, the fraudulent Chinese
“economic miracle” took another mortal blow yesterday – in a new research
report claiming that, as is the case essentially everywhere else, the
so-called “deflator” used to gauge real Chinese GDP growth has been
serially overstated – by as much as two percentage points. Oh well, when it
rains it pours. And symbolically, when the Chinese plastic umbrella maker’s
stock that has risen 2,700% this year succumbs to the sheer force of such
rains on its flimsy veneer, its collapse will serve as the poster child of
history’s largest equity bubble collapse – and simultaneous Precious Metals
surge.
Which brings me to today’s “happier” topic – of what Miles Franklin can do
to not only safeguard your assets, but optimize your existing Precious Metals
portfolio. Regarding safeguarding, one simply needs to trade a portion of
their dying scrip for the time-honored wealth protection of physical precious
metals. Which, care of the rapidly spreading TRUTH realization noted above,
will soon be universally understood to be trading below the cost of
production solely due to paper naked shorting and the surreptitious
Central bank dishoarding of the large majority of purported physical holdings
– from the world’s weakest hands, to the strongest.
To that end, Miles Franklin is one of the nation’s largest bullion dealers
– competitive on price, unparalleled in customer service, and without peer
regarding the free information disseminated in its blog. Take a look at our A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau
website, and then look at any of our competitors. There’s a reason we haven’t
had a single registered complaint in 26 years of business. And in the largely
unregulated bullion business (except, ironically, for our home state of
Minnesota), the importance of honesty and integrity cannot be overstated.
As for “what Miles Franklin can do for you”; aside from selling (and buying)
Precious Metals, our brokers – on average, with more than 25 years of
industry experience – are also experts in Precious Metals portfolio optimization.
Thus, not only can we offer what we view to be the safest, most convenient
and cost-efficient storage program in the industry – via our unique
partnership with Brink’s Canada in Montreal (listen to this podcast with Miles Franklin’s President and
co-founder, Andy Schectman, for details); but we can help you to proactively
– and cost efficiently – optimize your current Precious Metal assets to take
advantage of numismatic arbitrage, tax regulations, and, for example, today’s
gaping valuation disparity between silver and gold prices.
All you need to do is tell us what you own, your approximate cost basis,
and how and where you hold it. After that, we’ll do all the work;
demonstrating how, at a minimum of cost, we can help you optimize your
holdings to take advantage of what recent Cartel manipulations price
movements have caused, in light of an increasingly bright Precious Metals
future. To that end, I taped this podcast seven weeks ago with Andy
Schectman – titled “swaps, trades, and repatriations”; in which he discusses,
in great detail, how such “win-win” trades can be effected – and how Miles
Franklin can make them happen.
I mean, what harm can there be to simply asking? Just give us a call at
800-822-8080, and we’ll be happy to give you a free consultation on all
things Precious Metals – from buying and selling; to Precious Metal IRAs;
tax, numismatic, and gold/silver arbitrage; and storage, of either new
purchases or the “repatriation” of existing PM holdings to our Brink’s vault.
And as always, I can be reached via email at ahoffman@milesfranklin.com.
