It’s early Saturday morning – and I do mean early – and I have a
lot to say, about a great many things. I’ll try to be as brief as
possible – but irrespective, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Starting
with a brief description of my “voting history” – starting with November
1988, when I had just turned 18 years old. A freshman at SUNY Albany in
upstate New York, I was still living in Long Island – in a broken, but decidedly
Democratic household. I didn’t know much about anything; and thus, the
decision to vote for Michael Dukakis was a no-brainer.
In 1992, the beginnings of “Ranting Andy” were evident – as I not only
voted for Ross Perot, but passionately so. And anyone that doesn’t
realize just how great a man Perot was, I strongly urge you to read Ken
Follett’s On the Wings of Eagles – about how, during the 1979 Iranian
hostage crisis, Perot snuck into Iran, at great personal peril, to visit
imprisoned EDS employees in Iranian jails.
At that point, I was “0 for 2,” – but I made up for it in 1996; when I
helped re-elect Bill Clinton, as not only did the world appear “fine” at the
time, but I despised Bob Dole. Then came 2000 – when I voted for George
Bush for three reasons. One – as a Wall Street oilfield service
analyst, the stocks I covered rose when Bush led in the polls, and fell when
he floundered; as if, in hindsight, it mattered a whit. Secondly, I
despised Al Gore. And finally, I didn’t know Bush from a hole in the
wall – so I couldn’t possibly imagine what an abysmal failure of a person,
and President, he would be.
Care of a Clinton and a Bush, I was up to 2 for 4, for an even 50%
“success rate.” But that was the last election I voted in for a reason
other than to prevent someone I hated from winning – starting in 2004, when I
voted for John Kerry in a futile attempt to prevent Bush from being
re-elected; and 2008, when I voted for Obama – another guy I didn’t know from
a hole in the wall – to prevent “neo-con” John McCain from taking
office. And then came 2012 – when I was so disgusted with the state of
the world, I voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson; who seemed like a nice
enough guy when I met him in person that summer (coincidentally, his booth
was directly next to Miles Franklin’s at “Freedom Fest”). Which
coincidentally, none other than Donald Trump served as the keynote speaker
at!
Which brings us to today, with my “election record” of three “wins,” and
four losses. I believe Gary Johnson is running again – and like
last time, he has not a chance in hell of winning. No, this is going to
be Trump vs. Clinton, in an election that will not only shape the future of
the dying U.S. Empire, but the entire world. Either way we lose – as
best described by Gerald Celente, who describes it as “Hitler vs.
Hitlery.” As in the big picture, as I see it, the only real difference
is that if Hillary wins, at least some semblance of diplomacy will
remain. Whereas, if Trump wins – which I strongly believe will be the case
– America’s foreign policy strategy will potentially regress not just by
decades, but centuries. After all, this is a man famous for
insulting people to their faces – damn the consequences.
So what will I do this November, assuming this “Gordian Knot” of a
choice? Contrary to what the prior paragraph suggests, I’d vote for
Trump without reservation – given that I, like hundreds of millions of
Americans, are sick and tired of a political system that has not only
destroyed our nation, but gone out of its way to damage me personally.
Thus, on November 8th, I expect to be “4 for 8” – but such a “victory” will
be Pyrrhic at best, as America will really start going downhill on
November 9th, if the “snowball effect” of crashing economic activity,
financial markets, and currency confidence, hasn’t started already.
After all, Trump is a man who – this week alone – did the
following…
1. Hired a campaign finance chairman named Steven Mnuchin, following 17
years as a partner at…wait for it…Goldman Sachs
2. Vowed to spend trillions to expand America’s war machine, no matter the
(printing press-financed) cost. To wit, “we will spend what we need
to rebuild our military. It is the cheapest, single investment we can
make. We will develop, build and purchase the best equipment known to
mankind. Our military dominance must be unquestioned, and I mean
unquestioned, by anybody and everybody.”
3. Last but not least – in perhaps the most ironic statement a politician
could make, in a nation with more debt than all other nations combined…”Don’t
forget, I’m the king of debt, I love debt. I know more about debt than
practically anybody.” Yes, the “King of Debt” is about to become
President, on a platform of unfettered fiscal spending – including not only
unrestrained military spending, but an (equally printing press funded)
infrastructure investment spree he likens to a modern version of FDR’s “New Deal!”
My friends, this is the sad truth of where America is heading; and sadder
yet, I will unquestionably vote for Trump – as I, too, will do anything to
prevent a mainstream politician from winning, particularly one with Hillary
Clinton’s sordid track record.
Next up, let’s take a look at where the world at large is trending – as
the “powers that be” rapidly head toward the precipice of comprehensive,
catastrophic failure. In Asia, we just learned that retail sales in
Hong Kong, one of the world’s most affluent cities, plunged by an astonishing
19% in March. In Europe, a June 23rd “Brexit” is an odds-on
possibility; as is a summertime “Grexit,” now that the IMF has officially
threatened Germany that if it doesn’t agree to debt relief, it will no longer
participate in the “bail-out” of Greek banks that has put Greece in worse
financial shape than at any time in its 5,000 year history. Meanwhile,
on June 5th, Swiss citizens will vote as to whether the average family of
four should be given the (printing press funded) sum of the Swiss Franc
equivalent of $78,000 per year, tax-free, for life. Can you imagine
what Swiss price inflation will look like under such a scenario – in a nation
that is already one of the world’s most expensive?
Meanwhile, Europe’s “migrancy crisis” is getting worse by the day – with
anti-Muslim sentiment starting to take on an ominously post-World War I
Germany flavor. Will Muslims be the 21st century’s scapegoat, as the
Jews were in the 20th? Sadly, that’s the direction the world is heading
– and the unrelenting pressure on oil prices that the expanding global glut
portends will only accelerate this trend, as countless millions of Middle
Easterners scramble for “higher ground” that doesn’t exist. And then
there’s the expanding global currency crisis that, despite not a peep from
the mainstream media, worsens with each passing day. South America, in
particular, looks ripe for a viral spread of hyperinflation – which is why
it’s so symbolic that the Olympic Games are scheduled for Rio DeJaneiro this
summer, if they happen at all.
Regarding said crisis, the “final currency
war” officially went thermonuclear when the Chinese started the
process of devaluing the Yuan last summer – or as I deemed it, the “upcoming,
cataclysmic, financial big bang to end all big bangs.” That was a
mere tremor portending what will be eventually be a 10.0 Richter Scale
financial earthquake, as the plunging Chinese economy prompts the PBOC to
devalue further. And this, as China dramatically steps up its gold
ownership and market domination, as symbolized by last month’s establishment
of the Shanghai gold fix.
But it’s not just China, of course – as the entire Central banking world
is rapidly destroying itself. To that end, even I was shocked to learn
that in just one month’s time, the amount of global sovereign bonds
trading at negative yields surged from $7.8 trillion to $9.9 trillion.
Yes, a whopping $2.2 trillion of additional negative-yielding bonds – and
that’s just through April 25th, so we’ve had another two weeks of “QE to
Infinity” front-running since. Which will only go parabolic following
yesterday’s horror show of a U.S. “jobs” report; which, at one fell swoop,
validated not one, but both of the premises of my article from
Thursday, “the
fraudulent BLS, versus the real PM bull market – the final showdown.”
To wit, here’s what I wrote just 24 hours beforehand…
“Regarding tomorrow’s NFP report, my bold, cocky guess is that by
the weekend, either the U.S. “recovery” propaganda will be dead and buried
(and with it, the Fed’s ability to pretend it plans to raise
rates); or the fraud that is the BLS’ “jobs” report will be, once
and for all, completely and utterly discredited.”
Regarding the former, just 160,000 “jobs” were created in April, versus
the “expected” 200,000 – which it’s hard to believe no one anticipated, given
that Wednesday’s ADP report came in at just 156,000. Heck, Goldman
Sachs raised its NFP estimate from 225,000 to 250,000 on Thursday, after the
aforementioned ADP report! But that was just the “tip of the iceberg”
as far as just how bad the report actually was. Not to mention, how far
it went toward depicting not only a collapsing U.S. labor market, but
exposing the BLS’ unprecedented accounting fraud as starkly as imaginable.
To wit…
1. Of said 160,000 “jobs,” 233,000 were fabricated by the archaic
“birth-death” model – which assumes unreported jobs are continually being
created, despite the fact that more private companies have “died” than been
“birthed” for eight years running.
2. The accompanying “household survey” violently disputed the claim of
160,000 “jobs” being created, by depicting a loss of 312,000 jobs.
3. All of said jobs were in the “service” sector – led by
non-productive sectors like education, healthcare, and “leisure and
hospitality.” I.e., the part-time, minimum wage-paying “waiter and
bartender” positions that have been America’s only labor “growth sector”
since the 2008 crisis. And the beauty of the BLS’ accounting, is that
when a 40 hour per week job becomes two 15 hour per week jobs; and two
15-hour per week jobs become four five hour per week jobs, the number of
reported “jobs” multiples like a cell undergoing mitosis!
4. The labor participation rate plunged to a near record low of 62.8%, as a
whopping 562,000 Americans exited the Labor Force – in most cases, permanently
– compared to the supposed 160,000 “jobs” created.
5. Not only were all incremental jobs in the “service” sector, but all were,
as usual, in the 55+ age category – as the “American dream” of retirement
continues to rapidly die. In fact, like “waiters and bartenders” as a
“job category,” the onlyage segment to experience growth since the 2008
financial crisis is 55+. And I assure you, such people, desperate to
pay bills because they have no savings, are not taking jobs as corporate
CEOs.
After the horrific report was announced, the money market “odds” of a 2016
Fed rate hike plunged to ZERO. Actually, no rate hike is now expected
until mid-2017 – so clearly, said “recovery” propaganda is dead and
buried; and with its, the Fed’s ability to even pretend it’s in
control, or that its next move will be “tightening.”
Consequently, the “powers that be” did everything in their power to paint
the tape – like utilizing yet another “dead ringer” algorithm on the “Dow
Jones Propaganda Average,” whilst the Cartel desperately capped gold and
silver at their new “lines in the sand” at $1,300/oz and $17.50/oz, respectively,
care of the ubiquitous 12:00 pm EST “cap of last resort” algorithm.
To that end, if you want to see just how maniacal the Cartel has been in
capping PMs amidst a world of expanding negative interest rates; exploding
Central bank money printing; and virally spreading fiat currency collapse;
take a look at the below charts of silver “trading” since the Cartel was
taken by surprise by the overnight surge to $17.60/oz on April 21st.
This, as we officially learned of record physical demand. As you can see, the
12:00 PM EST (or whereabouts) “cap of last resort” – which I initially
identified roughly a decade ago – was utilized on 10 of the ensuing 12
trading days
That said, the real story of the day wasn’t witnessed until 3:30 pm
EST – when the weekly COT report was published, regarding COMEX Precious
Metals “trading.” To wit, whilst the Cartel’s – I mean, “commercials”’-
paper silver shorts remained essentially unchanged at their (naked) shortest
level ever; their gold naked shorts when hyperbolic, increasing
by a near-record 55,000 contracts this week alone – to nearly an all-time high.
In fact, like silver, there’s no precedent – in the entire 16-year PM bull
market – of the Cartel naked shorting so much, of both metals, in such a
short period of time. And this, by the way, only depicts such shorting
as of Tuesday, which undoubtedly surged further in the Cartel’s aforementioned,
maniacal defenses of $1,300/oz and $17.50/oz on Wednesday; Thursday; and
particularly, Friday.
Yes, there are ramifications
of hyperbolically expanding monetary policy, in a negative interest rate
world gone mad – amidst the worst economic environment in generations, and
the highest debt levels, by far, in global history. One of them, of
course, is parabolically expanding debt levels. Another is the
destruction of political regimes. And last but not least, the
deterioration of social stability. Financially speaking, the trend
toward real monetary alternatives, like physical gold and silver, is
as inexorable as the tides. Not to mention, any perceived means
of storing purchasing power. Such as, say, Bitcoin – which after again
surging above $450 on Friday, appears on the verge of what could be a major,
globally attention-garnering breakout. Which not “coincidentally,” may
occur simultaneously with what may well be a significant Precious Metals
breakout; particularly if, as was the case in 2011, said “commercials” are
forced to start covering their increasingly loss-generating shorts.
Last, and decidedly least, I’ve been asked to comment on Harry
Dent’s latest anti-gold diatribe – as yet again, this brilliant economist,
with an equally “un-brilliant” market forecasting track record has,
incredibly, chosen to attack not only the world’s most obviously undervalued
asset, but the one performing better than any other this year. To wit,
his latest comments.
“So which is it? Inflation or deflation?
I spend a lot of time arguing with economists over gold, stocks, and
the economy, but this is the biggest argument I have. It’s usually with
gold bugs like Peter Schiff and Porter Stansberry, who admittedly understand
that the economy’s not all it’s cracked up to be…but they totally miss the
bigger picture on what kind of crisis we’re looking at, and how to prepare
for it.
So let me be clear: we are facing a deflationary crisis, not an
inflationary one. Don’t listen to these guys who tell you that
“hyperinflation” will cause gold to spike to $5,000 and that the dollar’s
going to fall to zero. Sorry, not happening!”
To which, I can only say thus. Or better yet, prove my point with this12-second
clip from Revenge of the Sith – in which Obi Wan responds to a
soon-to-be-Darth-Vaderized Annakin Skywalker’s claim of “if you’re not
with me, then you’re my enemy,” with “only a Sith deals in absolutes.”
In other words, there’s no such thing as an “inflationary” or
“deflationary” crisis – as no matter what the scenario, something is
always appreciating. Let alone gold – which not only rose during
the 2008 crisis (notwithstanding the Cartel’s initial attempt to smash it,
yielding severe physical shortages; and ultimately, higher paper prices); but
was the world’s best performing asset class during the Great Depression.
Or how about Treasury bonds, to name another? Sure, yields
“deflated” during the 2008 crisis – aided, afterwards, by QE and other
official manipulations. However, during what was unquestionably the
worst “deflationary crisis” of our lifetimes, Treasury bond prices inflated,
as a perceived safe haven, quite handsomely – and have continued to do so
since.
Frankly, it’s getting pretty pathetic watching Dent spend so much time
fixating on the tiny, historically undervalued gold market – when there’s a
whole universe, of hundreds of trillions’ worth of overvalued financial
assets on the verge of collapse. In my view, he’d be best served to
focus on the latter, as they will unquestionably collapse spectacularly – in real
terms, be it via an “inflationary”; “deflationary”; or “stagflationary”
crisis. Because if he continues to “fight the tape” of the world’s
ultimate safe haven market, he runs the risk of being massively right about
the big picture, but remembered from having told people to avoid the best
means of protecting themselves.
