On this, an absurdly over-hyped “Fed Day” – in which Whirlybird Janet and her minion will at best sound stupid; and at worst, trigger a global market meltdown; I thought it would be the perfect time to summarize how far the “good guys” have come in the war against financial evil, ignorance, and omission. Which I’ll get to momentarily. Before a few comments on said Fed decision.
Frankly, I’ve spoken too much already of the idiocy of the Fed-led propaganda scheme to attempt to “save face” by instituting an infinitesimal, meaningless “one and done” rate hike. And thus, good riddance to the upcoming 2:00 PM EST FOMC announcement, before it even arrives. And don’t forget for a second that no matter what drivel Yellen spews, the story remains the same. “Quantitatively” speaking, ZIRP has been an unmitigated failure of epic proportions – not just in the States, but the entire world. To that end, the sheer comedyof Obama giving a press conference yesterday hyping the “recovery” that isn’twas too much to bear. And when he ended it by bragging of how the “stock market has doubled in the past six years,” I nearly lost my lunch.
No Barack, there has decidedly NOT been a recovery, here or anywhere. To the contrary, things are dramatically worse than the day you took your oath of office. Just as they will the day Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or Jeb Bush steps down in 2020. In a nutshell, David Stockman’s description of 80 months of U.S. ZIRP – and the 700 other global rate cuts that accompanied it, as the “final currency war” accelerated – is as DEAD ON as it gets.
“Two decades of cheap, nearly limitless credit and other forms of capital have saddled the world economy with staggering levels of excess capacity in energy, mining, manufacturing, transportation and distribution. But like all crack-up booms in commodities and capital goods, this central bank driven deformation has now, inexorably, morphed into a relentless deflation.”
In fact, this is the last data point the Fed will see before making its “historic” decision…
Which is EXACTLY why the Fed must maintain zero interest rates “to infinity” – well, that, and the relentless Chinese selling of U.S. Treasuries that is driving rates higher, and America deeper into recession. Not to mention, relentless, covert money printing and market manipulation – such as the yesterday’s equity “dead ringer” algorithm, and paper gold “Cartel Herald” algorithms at the 12:00 PM “cap of last resort” yesterday and “2:15 AM” today?
Moreover, when “Economic Mother Nature” and her “unstoppable tsunami of reality” overpower the Fed’s best efforts to rig markets covertly, they will have no choice but to step up overt manipulations like Quantitative Easing. And FYI, several readers sent me thisfabulous commentary of the myriad failures of the Fed, QE, and all things Central banking. A better 20 minutes of financial education you can’t spend, in my view – other than reading the Miles Franklin Blog, of course.
But enough on that for now; as at this point, Thursday morning at 10:00 AM EST, there’s nothing left to say. By 2:00 PM EST, the Fed will have, one way or another, tightened the noose around its own neck – as well as the world’s other 180 or so Central banks. And rest assured, I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow to produce an Audioblog relating the gory details.
For now, however, let’s speak of “happier” topics. Such as the incredible progress the once meek “GATA Army” has accomplished through the past 15 years, in educating the worldof the economic horrors wrought by decades of relentless money printing, market manipulation, and propaganda – made possible only by the maniacal, but thankfully suicidal, suppression of gold and silver prices. First, by covertly dishoarding official reserves – like the U.S. Treasury’s fabled 8,133 tonnes of gold; and subsequently, suppressing paper prices via derivatives, naked shorting, fraudulent accounting, and relentless propaganda.
Back in 1998, Bill Murphy and Chris Powell started GATA – i.e., the “Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee” – in response to “mysterious” gold trading following the 1998 financial crisis. Specifically, surrounding the collapse of the infamous, ironically-named hedge fund, Long-Term Capital Management. No one paid much attention to GATA back then, but when gold and silver bottomed two years later, and started an inexorable 11-year march higher, interest in what GATA had to say expanded globally. Its Dawson City, Yukon conference in August 2005 put GATA on the geopolitical map, when Vladimir Putin’s “right hand” Economic Advisor, Andrey Bykov, followed up his appearance by calling it the “finest conference I ever attended.” Bykov was also in attendance to GATA’s August 2011 conference at the Savoy in London; i.e., the finest conference I ever attended – capped off by the fantastic speech of Andrew Maguire, the most influential “whistleblower” our sector has seen. Not to mention, its perfect timing – as S&P’s historic stripping of the U.S.’s triple-A credit rating occurred that very week. And don’t forget the March 2010 CFTC hearings debating the merits of positions limits on metals like gold and silver (which of course, were not enacted) – in which Bill Murphy, Harvey Organ, and Adrian Douglas delivered crushing blows to the Cartel, for the entire world to see.
Long-time readers know I went “all-in” to precious metals in May 2002 – and that I became “famous” in this sphere via the dozens, if not hundreds, of free missives I posted on GATA’s blog starting around 2004. Thus, I couldn’t have been more honored when, from his platform as keynote speaker at aforementioned London conference, “Admiral Sprott” himself started his speech by thanking what I casually deem the “Four Horseman of GATA” – aside from Bill and Chris of course; i.e., Bill Holter, Dave Kranzler (“Dave from Denver”), James McShirley (“James Mc”), and myself; at the time, still known as “Ranting Andy.” FYI, Bill Murphy himself coined the name Ranting Andy – due to the countless, maniacal emails I wrote complaining of the rigging of mining shares. Well, I no longer go by Ranting Andy anymore; partly for professional reasons, and partly because I no longer own mining shares – the last of which was sold in spring 2011.
Over the years, GATA and its “army” of loyal supporters – many of whom are high-profile names in the Precious Metals “alternative media” – have been through the ringer, and then some. Relentless suppression of gold, silver, and mining shares – and equally malevolent commentaries explaining “why”, both within and without the PM community – have angered, frustrated, and humbled even the most passionate, headstrong believers. And never more than the past four years – precisely after “dollar-priced gold” peaked amidst September 6th, 2011’s infamous “Operation PM Annihilation I” paper raid. That is, when TPTB realized they must suppress Precious Metals, damn the ramifications, on a 24/7/365 basis. To that end, I have discussed said “point of no return” ad nauseum. And now that we have finally reached the initial stages of the “end game” of global economic collapse – in which Eastern Central banks, too, recognized said “point of no return”, such manipulations have never been more powerful – or blatant.
That said, said “powers that be” are simply hastening the inevitable end of history’s largest fiat Ponzi scheme, in tightening the physical gold and silver markets to the point they are ready to spectacularly “blow” to the upside. Seemingly each day, new, violently bullish physical Precious Metal data emerges – such as yesterday’s news that India’s August gold imports exploded higher, putting 2015 in line to meet or exceed 2011’s record level; and this, excluding the massive “black market” inflows occurring as a result of the onerous PM import tariffs imposed in 2013 (ironically, to “save” the Rupee – which as we speak, sits at its all-time low level.
And oh yeah, from Miles Franklin’s perch as one of the nation’s largest bullion dealers, what we said in August 13th’s “silver supply a 1.5 or 2.0 of 10” and August 28th’s “physical market update” podcast – i.e., that silver supply is dramatically tightening, amidst surging demand – has dramatically intensified since. Delivery times on essentially all one and ten ounce silver products are now at least six weeks, and physical premiums are relentlessly creeping higher. This morning, for instance, industry wide premiums ratcheted 1%-2% higher for popular products like American Silver Eagles and Canadian Silver Maples, representing the second time this has occurred this week alone. As for “junk silver,” which three years ago I vehemently warned everyone “must own” – good luck finding any. And if you can locate what I deem the “ultimate fear asset,” you’re currently going to pay spot plus $7-$8/oz. And as for the wholesale market, where big volumes are bought and sold – such as, for example, the New York CRIMEX – er COMEX – registered inventories are vanishing like “farts in the wind.”
Which brings me to today’s topic, of how the battle-tested – and far larger – “GATA Army” has responded to the latest round of anti-gold propaganda in the best imaginable manner. I.e., with quality of analysis, in great quantities – in a coordinated manner using maximum “teamwork.” To that end, the “GATA All-Pro Goldbugs Team” I named three years ago has gone from a top-heavy organization to a “Patriots-like” force with depth at all positions – led of course by Bill Murphy, who actually played for the Patriots. Aside from the late Adrian Douglas – may he rest in peace – the entire team is intact; and together with its new “reinforcements,” it is handily defeating the forces of propaganda and “mistruth” yet again.
In this case, I’m referring to the “usual suspects” coming out of the woodwork to aver that what we’re saying about shrinking supply and waning inventories is a figment of our imagination. From drivel about shortages being due to “lack of blanks” rather than surging demand; to claptrap regarding term structure, lease rates, and “technical” market definitions; the Jeff Christians, Bron Suchecki’s, (name any) Kitco “analysts,” and (name any) Wall Street analysts are doing what they always do. Which is, for varying reasons – from blatant conflict of interest, to ignorance, to unknown factors I cannot comprehend – trying to convince you “all’s well” in the physical Precious Metal markets, regardless of the fact that supply has become difficult to source; miners are collapsing left and right; and objective measures of global demand are hitting record levels.
I put my hat in this ring of confrontation three years ago. But for now, I’ll leave this fight to the rest of said “GATA Army,” as I have enough of my own “PM battles” to fight. To that end, Chris Powell did a beautiful summary of why the “good guys” are right yet again. And kudos to fellow “horseman” Bill Holter and Dave Kranzler for their contributions to this “propaganda Waterloo”; as well as long-time GATA contributor “Jesse”; the indomitable “Turd Ferguson” – i.e, Craig Hemke; and wow, even an analyst from the perpetual anti-gold Fekete Research – who rips through Christian’s propaganda like a hot knife through butter.
Here at the Miles Franklin Blog, we continue to value our relationships with “good, smart people” as much as any other asset – personal, financial, or otherwise. You, too, must determine who to trust in a world being systematically destroyed by lies and propaganda; and in our view, the “GATA Army” – battle-tested, and stronger than ever – are as good and smart as they come.
