The world is becoming a scary, dangerous place; even here in America, the “land of the free,” where freedoms are being lost at an alarming pace; and the “home of the brave,” where the bravery to express one’s opinion is rapidly being overwhelmed by the negative ramifications of such freedom of speech – unless it adheres to not only that of the powers that be, but the increasingly liberal-leaning populace. Most of whom, have been brainwashed to the point of idiocy.
It starts with the government – whose propaganda has become so venomous, and relentless, it’s difficult to tell if anything they say is genuinely true. Like the incessant accusations of Russian hacking; or a “strong, recovering” economy which somehow caused 90% of America’s counties to vote against the incumbent Democrats. Next up, there’s corporate America – which, aided by its partners in crime on Wall Street, and the lobbyists it employs to buy government favors; has stripped-mined America’s manufacturing base and balance sheets; and engaged in accounting fraud so egregious, the “earnings” they report each quarter have any real semblance to economic reality. And last but not least, the third leg of the “evil Troika,” the mainstream media, which has engaged in, for lack of a better word, a policy of publishing “fake news.”
Fortunately, the world is starting to awaken, slowly but surely, to such lies; nowhere more so than at the polls, even if recent “anti-establishment” votes in the U.S., UK, and Italy have thus far been more about a general level of creeping dissatisfaction than a genuine understanding of the actual issues underlying it. It’s certainly a start, but it could take a good while – of economic pain, and the loss of freedom – before more concrete actions are taken to reverse these trends. Fortunately for truth seekers – and “truth investors” like us – “Economic Mother Nature’s” powers cannot be permanently usurped by money printing, market manipulation, and propaganda indefinitely – as math is on her side, particularly in the terminal phase of history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme.
For all the hype, hope, and propaganda about the historically egregious bubbles the Fed, PPT, and other “manipulative operatives” have inflated in “last to go” markets like the “Dow Jones Propaganda Average,” the average global investor has had a very, very bad year. You see, when one’s currency is getting decimated, the real return on nearly any investment declines – negating most, if not all nominal returns. And this year, more than any since I started forecasting a dramatic, fear-driven dollar rally three years ago – decidedly NOT due to American “economic strength” – global real returns have been abysmal. To that end, here’s what I wrote in December 2013’s “2014 Predictions” – which sadly, will again be one of my top predictions for 2017, when published next week.
Multiple currencies will experience dramatic declines relative to the dollar. The “final currency war” is clearly underway, catalyzed by the Fed’s 2012 commencement of QE3; the ECB’s 2012 announcement that if needed, it would engage in open-ended sovereign debt monetization; and the Bank of Japan’s 2013 announcement that it intends to double the money supply in an attempt to dramatically weaken the Yen. Consequently, these “big three” Central banks have exported copious amounts of inflation worldwide – as highlighted in “the most important article I’ve ever written.” “Tapering” notwithstanding, the global trend of increased money printing must continue – and eventually, accelerate – as history’s largest Ponzi scheme plays itself out. Consequently, the “race to debase” will intensify, yielding increased worldwide inflation. In time, this “cancer” will rise to the top of the totem pole, destroying the world’s “reserve currency” itself.
Even nominal returns have been blatantly lied about – such as the relentless belief that the world is aglow in optimism about Trump’s election, and overflowing with capital gains from the “Trump-flation” (whatever that ambiguous, propangandized, and essentially baseless term means) trade. To wit, aside from the massive real losses due to the historic, worldwide currency crash of the past six weeks – featuring a nearly 20% plunge in the Yen; the Euro crashing to a 14-year low; the Yuan being “fixed” at its lowest-ever rate; and the exchange rates of essentially all second and third world currencies imploding to, near, or well below previous all-time lows – the nominal losses on financial assets have been larger since Trump’s election than any time since the height of the 2011 European sovereign debt crisis. Which, very likely, will be back with a vengeance in 2017; heck, as I edit, news just emerged that the bankrupt nation of Italy – the EuroZone’s third largest economy, which just two weeks ago essentially voted to pursue an ItaLeave – intends to bankrupt itself further, by, for all intents and purposes, nationalizing the nation’s third largest bank.
The below, horribly damning chart of how “profitable” Trump’s election has been to global investors. This, in nominal terms, excluding the massive real losses when incorporating the aforementioned, historic currency declines. And by the way, take a guess which sector of said “last to go” markets has benefited most from Trump’s victory – as if there wasn’t enough salt being rubbed in the world’s collective economic wounds? Yep, you guessed it…financial stocks, due to the expectation that Trump will ease regulations on the white collar criminals that have destroyed the global economy – and billions of lives – for the past two decades. Literally, the best performing stock in the S&P 500 has been Goldman Sachs, which has milked – read, stolen – more wealth from the world’s population than any private corporation since Britain’s East India Company in the 17th through 19th centuries. And if you think Trump is actually going to “drain the swamp” – or for that matter, delivery any of his campaign promises – consider that his appointments for Treasury Secretary and Head of the National Economics Council come from Goldman Sachs itself!
Nowhere is the propaganda thicker – as has been the case for the past two decades – than in the Precious Metals sector, where the inability to provide any truth about supply and demand; fundamentals; or the reasons why gold and silver have been, and always will be, safe haven assets in a storm of fiat currency oblivion, has been as relentless as it has been criminal. I mean, after at least a decade of commentating, I am still – outside of GATA’s Bill Murphy, and a very small handful of others – the only person noting how the price of gold is attacked essentially every day at the “2:15 AM” open of the London paper pre-market session – as it was on queue today, for the 755th time in the past 870 trading sessions.
Nowhere but the Miles Franklin Blog, and a mere handful of other places – worldwide – are concepts like record demand or plunging supply discussed; or the utterly massive premiums being paid in India, China, and many other places due to the extreme supply shortages caused by millions of people clamoring for the only financial asset capable of protecting them from the serial destruction of their fiat currencies. Perhaps Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high market capitalization last night – for the very same reason global physical gold and silver demand is soaring – can help in this manner, too.
Of all the anti-gold and silver propaganda I’ve (we’ve) been forced to endure, none gets my goat more than when it’s claimed gold is negatively correlated to “the dollar.” As for one, it’s not empirically true, as I have proven countless times over the past decade-plus. And more importantly, it doesn’t even make logical sense, given that a rising “dollar” – as defined by the dollar index, whose “basket” is comprised 58% of the Euro; 14%, the Japanese Yen; 12%, the UK Pound; and 16%, assorted other useless fiat trash.
In other words, “if a nuclear bomb destroyed Europe”; or Japan or the UK, for that matter; we’re propagandized by governments and financial institutions with a blatant anti-gold agenda to believe this is somehow “bad” for gold. And conversely, “good” for America. Which by the way, is exactly what has hit Europe, Japan, and the UK this year, politically and/or monetarily – as well as countless dozens of fiat currency hyper-inflating nations. Ironically, as much due to the reserve-currency issuing Federal Reserve’s incessant inflation exportation as any other factor. Which in turn, yields a vicious feedback loop, yielding plunging economic activity; and eventually, anti-establishment election results.
The news item that catalyzed today’s article – which only appeared in Zero Hedge, of course – was this, titled “why Trump’s border tax proposal is the most important thing nobody’s talking about.” In it, it describes yet another of Trump’s (lesser known) campaign promises, with not a chance in hell of coming to fruition. Which is, the 20%, across-the-board import tariffs he wants to enact – as well as 12% export subsidies. Neither of which would benefit America’s net economic or geopolitical position, even if “theoretical” cases can be fabricated to support such ridiculous contentions. For example, while hypothetical calculations claim such legislation would eliminate the trade deficit, the reality is that the resulting price inflation – and simultaneously, rising interest rates – would annihilate what’s left of the dying, zombie-like U.S. economy. Not to mention, the violent protectionist responses from competing economies; let alone, the resulting, thermonuclear escalation of the “final currency war.”
According to the same Wall Street, Washington, Academia, and Central bank “experts” that have been wrong about essentially everything they’ve forecast for time immemorial – particularly regarding their misplaced, relentlessly refuted faith in Keynesian monetary and fiscal policy – this would somehow be “good” for the dollar. As in, a net positive for the U.S. economy. True, it might be good for the “dollar index” – for the exact same reasons as I forecast three years ago, as described above (i.e., fear of collapsing global liquidity). However, it would decidedly NOT be “good” for America; and definitely not “bad” for gold and silver – particularly in light of the massive price inflation that would result. In other words, yet another example of why the dollar index only measures the value of various fiat trash against each other – as opposed to the dollar’s actual purchasing power against real items of value like gold and silver.
Hopefully, today’s article – this week’s second attempt to “demystify Precious Metals Propaganda – empowers you further to realize the only reason Precious Metals prices have fallen since the election – albeit, to a far lower extent in the world’s other 180 currencies; and little, if at all, in the rapidly tightening physical markets; is due to an historic campaign of market manipulation and propaganda designed to buy the powers that be the last few inches of road to kick the can down – as history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme once and for all implodes. As I assure you will become readily apparent in 2017; i.e., the “year of money printing.” In other words, for those of you living in nations where prices have been suppressed; whilst supply is still readily available; you are staring at one of the best financial investment opportunities ever. Or more aptly put, one of the most inexpensive “insurance” policies.
