The "Horrible Headline" That Stands Out Above the Rest

It’s not fair!  Whether I write five, three, or two pages of text, there isn’t enough space to cover the runaway train snowballing avalanche out of control pandemic that is the “terminal phase” of history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme.  On any given day, there are anywhere from a half dozen to multiple dozen topics worthy of entire articles.  Each of which, depicting how close to the “brink” we have come; and how urgent the need to PROTECT YOURSELF, whilst you still can.

To that end, on this Saturday morning, following the post-FOMC bloodbath that in my view, put the world closer to said “brink” than any time in the post-2008 “economic zombie era,” I’m simply going to “sample”the news past 48 hours’ news.  This way, you can not only “share my pain,” but put the state of the world into perspective – politically, economically, and socially.  Sadly, these articles are just a, let’s say, “three” on the Defcon scale – compared to the “ones” I anticipate next year, after the “peace and joy” of the holiday season pass.

And when this rapid-fire listing of a mere sample of the world’s ills is done, I’ll highlight the “horrible headline that stands out above the rest” for you to ponder.  Thus, let’s start with the horrible economic headlines of the past two days, which in some cases I paraphrased to drive their poignancy home.  Also, italicized words are my comments.

1. WTI Crude falls to $34.50/bbl – Storage bulging, heading to $20/bbl
2. OPEC members in jeopardy – How long can they hold out? (many members’ “fiscal break-evens” are around $100/bbl)
3. Something strange taking place in the Middle Atlantic Ocean – Oil-filled tankers crossing the ocean, turning around and heading back home
4. The Other Energy Bust – Natural Gas prices fall to all-time inflation adjusted low (storage levels 35% above historical averages!)
5. Just wait for the bankruptcies – The natural gas market is in real trouble
6. 2016 commodity collapse winner – Molybdenum, down 49%
7. Deflation Alert – Chinese tanker speeds (which closely track GDP growth rates) down 25% since 2008
8. Global Deflation Alert – Even Goldman takes the axe to its iron ore forecast
9. Global Deflation Update: Japan November Exports fell 3+%, 8+% to China, Asia
10.  Restoration Hardware CEO mocks Yellen’s view of “recovery”
11.  Caterpillar Depression turns three – 36 months of declining year-over-year sales (compared to 19 during the 2008-09 recession!)
12.  Money velocity crashing – here’s why
13.  Unemployment hits seven-year high, as Brazilian courts mull impeachment bid
14.  Philly Fed collapses to lowest since Feb 2013, as ‘hope’ crashes
15.  Kansas City Fed survey collapses, new orders crash most since 2008
16.  U.S. current-account deficit hits highest level since 2008 (higher rates will make it rise further)
17.  “Services will Save Us” meme collapses, as Non-Manufacturing PMI plunges to  2015 lows
18.  Microsoft chops Xbox prices in half for the holidays (17-day sale!)
19.  Puerto Rico should default to shock U.S. markets (I thought they already did)

Next, the political…

1. Putin threatens to shoot down Turkish jets, calls Erdogan an a-s kisser
2. ISIS Axis assembles – Turkey to establish a military base in Qatar
3. Islamic blitzkrieg coming to Germany, arrested jihadist warns
4. Congress fumes, says Iran violated U.N. ban on test-firing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles
5. Congress just passed a second Patriot Act, and nobody noticed
6. Japan prepares missile blockade to halt Chinese maritime aggression
7. Ukraine (backed by the U.S.-led IMF) defaults on $3 billion bond to Russia
8. Spain’s generational divide will be on full display in this weekend’s elections

And “last but not least,” the financial…

1. High yield bond market blowing out again
2. Markets brace for more fund liquidations, as record outflows slam debt funds
3. This junk bond derivative index is saying something scary about defaults
4. Moody’s downgrades Glencore to lowest Investment Grade rating, as its Credit Default Swaps trade at multi-year highs
5. Transportation stocks trounced to 20-month lows, as bear market builds
6. The average stock (down 20%) is now in a bear market
7. Slump in the smallest stocks, versus the biggest, is getting worse
8. Dow slumps 700 points from the post-Yellen highs, amid policy error fears
9. That’s not supposed to happen – Post-FOMC, yield curve flattest in nine months
10.  First post-hike reverse repo removes $105 billion of liquidity from 49 banks
11.  Citigroup resizes infrastructure after Fed rate hike, slashes 2,000 jobs
12.  South African Rand hits all-time low – More pain coming?
13.  Canadian dollar crashes to 12-year low, after collapse in consumer prices
14.  Indonesian central bank ready for additional easing
15.  China weakens Yuan for 9th consecutive day, longest streak since 2008
16.  Argentine Peso collapses 29%, after government devaluation
17.  Japanese jawboning (of a 10% increase to their $25 billion/year equity monetization scheme) fails, as Nikkei crashes 1,000 points from overnight highs
18. Congress’ half-trillion-dollar spending binge – Budget austerity takes a back seat as the House passes nearly $700 billion in unpaid-for tax cuts.

All that – and yet, the article that “stands out above the rest” comes from Steve St. Angelo of the SRS Rocco report; titled “Breaking News – U.S. Silver Production Plunges.”  In it, he notes that U.S. silver production, already down 50% from its 1998 high, declined by a whopping 20% in September 2015 versus September 2014.  This, amidst an accelerating trend of plunging worldwide production – from both primary and byproduct sources.

Unquestionably, peak silver was reached last year; as with more than three quarters of the year’s data available, it’s looking like a 5%-10% decline in 2015 production is likely.  And this, before primary silver miners start taking the ax to production estimates due to year-end financial reviews; and before copper/lead/zinc miners – which cumulatively, are responsible for 55% of global silver production – start shutting down mines en masse.  In other words, making the potential 25%-50% production decline postulated in last year’s “Miles Franklin All-Star Silver Panel Webinar” – featuring Steve St. Angelo, David Morgan, Bill Holter, Harvey Organ, and myself – looking significantly more likely.  And this, as the entire world starts to realize that only silver – and gold – have monetary history behind them, as the world’s Central banks hyper-inflate Precious Metals’ “competitors” to oblivion.