Next week, I’ll be on vacation; and plan not to write. That said,
don’t be surprised if I do, as I have a nasty habit of waking up long before
anyone else, with a craving to express myself; particularly, with so many PiMBEEB headlines
to consider. Either way, I invite you to visit the Miles Franklin Blog to
check out the vast archive of everything I’ve ever published, going back to
when I joined the firm in 2011. Not to mention, to see what Miles
Franklin is all about. No bullion dealer provides better personal
accessibility, which is probably why we’ve been in business for 28 years
without a single registered complaint. Essentially all of our staff
have worked together for decades, with the average broker having more than 25
years of industry experience. And in our view, our Canadian storage
programs are unparalleled; particularly, the Private Safe Deposit Box program
launched last year – which you can learn about in this
article, or this
interview with Miles Franklin’s President and Co-Founder, Andy
Schectman. Not to mention, our principals – myself included – all put
our money where our mouth is, being proud Precious Metals owners, and users
of our Brink’s Canada storage programs.
As for today’s financial landscape, it all comes down to what eventually,
and inevitably, causes the powers that be to lose control over “last to go” markets like
paper gold and silver and the “Dow
Jones Propaganda Average.” To various degrees, they have lost
control of countless global markets – including the vast majority of
currencies and commodities. However, stock and bond markets have yet to
give up the ghost, given the gargantuan amount of “support,” both overt
and covert, given by relentlessly hyper-inflating Central banks and their
minions. And by “minions,” I mean the partners-in-crime known as “too
big to fail” banks; which themselves are decidedly losing their unwinnable
war with “Economic Mother Nature,” if this week’s “surprise” capital raises
by Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are any indication. As a whole, the only
reason they are not bankrupt are the fraudulent accounting governments
have sanctioned since the 2008 crisis; the “free money” supplied by Central
bank printing presses – again, both overtly and covertly; and the inside
information Central bank “trading desks” provide them, enabling profitable
“trading” operations every day – like JP Morgan, which has only lost money on
two days of the past 1,000.
The amounts earned by such operations are infinitesimal compared to the
potential losses they are on the hook for, once the “most
overdue financial crisis in history” inevitably arrives. I mean,
Deutsche Bank alone has nearly €30 billion of illiquid “Level 3” assets that,
care of said accounting lenience, are “marked” to essentially whatever price
its criminal management decides. Throw in the its nearly €50 trillion derivatives
book – which is far more opaque than even Level 3 assets – and you can
see why piddling €8 billion capital raises could dissolve in a matter of
days; particularly when Deutsche Bank, for example, is heavily invested
in quite worthless assets like the sovereign debt of PIIGS like Greece.
In other words, it won’t take much to topple it, particularly when its
principal counter parties – like the entire Italian banking system – are
hopelessly insolvent. To the contrary, all it will take will be a mild
crisis to get the ball rolling downhill; and this time, I can’t see how
Central banks will have enough “ammunition” to save them. Unless, of
course, “nuclear option” of hyper-inflation is attempted; which aside from
Precious Metals, will destroy everything. To varying degrees,
this is already being attempted by numerous Central banks – including
“leading” ones like the ECB and Bank of Japan; with the only thing separating
today’s historic monetary recklessness from said worst-case scenario, being
the loss of confidence that inevitably jump starts monetary velocity
– out of historically overvalued “mainstream” assets like bonds, and into
time-tested wealth preservers like physical gold and silver.
The powers that be may have finally backed themselves into a corner they
can’t escape from. With so much going against them – politically,
economically, and financially – they have been forced to work harder than
ever to pretend all’s well, when it is decidedly not; particularly since the
“BrExit
times ten” Trump election, which so thoroughly surprised them, they were
forced to take their already unprecedented amount of money printing, market
manipulation, and propaganda to new levels of lunacy. Most notably, by
fabricating the “fraud meme” of “Trump-Flation,” to explain why
out-of-the-blue, what they had spent all of 2017 fearing – i.e., a
Trump election – was suddenly, just as “stock bullish and gold bearish” as
the Hillary Clinton election they were so sure they had in the bag.
As vehemently espoused in my first
post-election Audioblog, NONE of “Trump-flation’s” tenets were
reality-based; as massive fiscal stimulus and tax cuts would not be
economically viable – particularly, with the mother of all debt ceiling
crises approaching. Moreover, a “repeal and replace” of Obamacare would
be politically impossible – as once that “socialist genie” was let out of its
bottle, it can NEVER be put back. Irrespective, for two months Precious
Metal holders had to deal with the ignominy of the ensuing manipulation
blitzkrieg – watching gold and silver be smashed, whilst stocks were goosed
to dotcom valuations despite rising interest rates destroying what
was left of the real economy. This, whilst oil was goosed by an “oil
PPT” hell-bent on overcoming history’s largest oil glut; as base metals
surged, despite the level of stimulus proposed being mere fractions of
what China has spent over the past decade, for naught. And of course,
“the dollar index”; which rose as much due to the pending
collapse of Europe – which is decidedly “PM bullish”; as the fraudulent
meme of a resurgent U.S. economy, which was being undermined in real-time by
the dollar’s rise, as much as rising interest rates. Not to mention, as
the President himself complained that the “too
strong” dollar was “killing” America.
However, slowly but surely, the legs under the “Trump-flation” fraud started
to be kicked out – aided “inadvertently” by the initial surge in interest
rates, commodities, and the dollar, which cumulatively put a significant drag
on an already collapsing economy. Interest rates peaked shortly after
the election, with the benchmark 10-year yield topping at 2.62% on December
15th – prompting my “2.5%,
‘nuff said” article of January 11th; in which, I adamantly espoused that
the global economy simply could not handle rates any higher.
The 10-year yield subsequently plunged to 2.31% on February 27th – when
“coincidentally,” gold and silver finally re-captured their 200 week moving
averages (then, at $1,264/oz and $18.59/oz, respectively); which were the
levels they equally “coincidentally” breached to the upside on Election
Night, just before the aforementioned, unprecedented market rigging efforts
commenced.
At that point, the Cartel’s “200
week moving average war” was taken nuclear – as mere minutes after
the close, three Fed Presidents suggested a March 15th rate hike was
imminent, despite the fact that hard economic data continued to
deteriorate; which is probably why, at that time, NO ONE was expecting a
March rate hike. Just two trading days later, an infamous $2.7 billion
paper silver sell order – representing 20% of global annual production, that
doesn’t exit – hit the COMEX open, pushing prices of both metals back down,
enabling the fraudulent meme that rate hikes are “bad” for gold to be
perpetuated, despite the fact that PM prices bottomed directly after the
December 2015 and December 2016 hikes. Subsequently, the rate hike
occurred – LOL, the very same day the Fed’s own economists lowered their 1Q
GDP growth estimate to just 0.9%; and since then, interest rates, the dollar,
and crude oil prices have tanked – to the point that I haven’t heard the term
“Trump-flation” in weeks. Simultaneously, Precious Metals rebounded –
and as I write, gold is amidst a tooth-and-nail Cartel battle for its 200
week moving average, which has since declined to $1,252/oz. The economic
data continues to weaken – as evidenced by yesterday’s ugly Ford earnings
outlook, and today’s “unexpected” decline in core durable goods orders;
whilst the increasingly fragile political supports under the
fallacious “Trump-flation” meme are rapidly being kicked out; let alone, now
that the debt ceiling has returned, setting up the government to literally
run out of cash by Memorial Day.
By now, it is widely known that the “best-case scenario” regarding the
potential timing of any tax cut or fiscal stimulus packages – which in my
view, are not politically viable under any circumstances – is next
year. Moreover, both Trump and Congressional leaders alike have made it
crystal clear that neither is even debatable until a “repeal and
replace” of Obamacare is passed. Which puts the powers that be in the rapidly
closing box they are in now; as after yesterday’s fiasco, in which the House
didn’t hold vote on the Trump-Care bill because Republicans knew it
wouldn’t pass, they have exactly one day to pull off a miracle; and
thus, give the manipulators a few more can-kicking inches to work with.
As if they can’t, and the bill in fact doesn’t survive the vote that will
be held today, all hope of America’s economy being “great again” anytime
soon will die. To wit, while I had initially thought March 23rd
would mark the “end
of Trump-flation,” its “Minsky Moment” now appears likely to be today,
March 24th. And by the way, please ignore the fact that either
way, America’s healthcare system will be the world’s most expensive –
with nowhere to go but up, as its horrifying demographics
and escalating socialistic structure ensure dramatic cost escalations for
decades to come.
Irrespective, the Tweetmaster General himself, just one day removed from
returning to the White House with his tail between his legs, has issued his
second “ultimatum” to his “peers” in Congress in three days. The first,
on Wednesday, that they would not be re-elected if they didn’t vote for
Trump-Care – was loudly ignored. Thus, this morning’s “ultimate”
ultimatum – that if they don’t vote for Trump-Care at today’s vote,
which will not be delayed a day longer, the issue will be forever
dropped. In other words, just two weeks into his Presidency, the
promise to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, which from day one I said was
impossible, will be dead. And with it, one of the last remaining pillars
of the “fraud meme” of Trump-flation, which the powers that be have solely
relied on to support history’s most overvalued financial markets, and
undervalued Precious Metal markets.
