TRUTH – AND PASSION – AT A PREMIUM

In recent weeks, I have noted an extremely disturbing trend in the cumulative media consciousness – which in recent articles, I have referred to as “lazy”, “complacent,” and “indifferent” journalism. Perhaps this is why I so passionately railed against Twitter yesterday – which in many ways, is “replacing” journalism as a principal method of information dissemination. Even the mainstream media – whose ratings have been destroyed by the internet irrespective – has lost so much credibility due to such practices – and blatantly political bias, to boot – few are listening anymore. Heck, even the “modern Tom Brokaw,” Brian Williams, has turned out to be a  liar. In other words, the days of your parents sitting at the breakfast table, reading the New York Times and discussing the issues affecting our lives is decidedly over – in favor of entire families addicted to social media, gossip, online gaming, and other brain-draining nonsense.

Financially, there’s not a doubt in my mind that the parallel “deformation” of the financial communities’ collective analytical process has been caused by relentless Central bank market intervention – some of it overt, but increasingly more so, covertly. Heck, it seems like a lifetime ago since I stopped looking at technical charts; or, no disrespect to Ted Butler, analyzing fraudulent COMEX data. I mean, this whole ado about JP Morgan’s supposedly surging physical silver inventory makes me want to puke; as honestly, how can anyone in their right mind believe a word they say? JP Morgan – and countless other TBTF banks and politically cozy corporations – have become de facto government “partners” in fleecing the “99%” with all manner of corrupt, unregulated practices; and given their maniacal, sociopathic desire to maintain a status quo in which they remain “the 1%,” they will say and do anything to appease, assuage, cajole, and deceive.

And nowhere more so than paper Precious Metals, where for the past 15 years the Cartel has mastered the art of creating hope – and then, like Lucy with her football – violently yanking it back. Monday and Tuesday’s seemingly un-catalyzed PM surges – albeit, as blatantly capped as usual – were perfect examples of such “carrot-dangling”; as following an horrific GDP report and mega-dovish FOMC statement Wednesday, which would have accelerated PMs’ momentum in freely-trade markets – gold and silver prices were, of course, smashed. And here we are Thursday morning – following a better than expected, “island of lies” weekly job claims report, and a horrific personal spending and consumption report – watching gold being again blasted back under the Cartel’s maniacal, two-year “line in the sand” at $1,200/oz. Meanwhile, the “oil PPT” relentlessly pushes crude higher despite relentlessly bearish data, in order to prevent the collapse of America’s only profitable industry; whilst the “stock PPT” and “bond PPT” try to prevent confidence from declining toward the actual level of economic activity – at least, for the 1% that own the majority of financial assets.

I mean, for the past six months we have been relentlessly propagandized how gold will collapse when the Fed “raises rates” – despite the fact that they, and essentially all Western Central banks, have been stuck at the zero bound since 2008; including major players like the ECB, which just launched a 20-month QE program last month; and the BOJ, which this week claimed that even considering an exit from Abenomics would be a “nightmare” scenario. Meanwhile, even heavily book-cooked U.S. GDP has been flat for three years, at levels well below historical averages; and this, despite seven years of ZIRP, and countless trillions of QE – with yesterday’s 1Q GDP number putting 2015 on trend to be still lower. For two months, we were told the Fed was getting closer to raising rates because they substituted “considerable time” with “patient” in their policy statement – even though the Fed explicitly claimed they meant the exact same thing. Then, because they got rid of “patient,” this was supposed to be bad for gold, too – even though they explicitly claimed that removing patient did not mean they were now impatient. And now, yesterday – amidst an uber-dovish statement, in which the Fed essentially admitted it’s cluelessness about what’s wrong – they stopped predicting when rates might be raised altogether. And yet, not a peep from the financial media at all – and yet another gold attack. And what ticks me off most is that during this time of extreme, unprecedented market manipulations, the PM newsletter writer community – desperate for subscriptions – become an even more virulent force of misinformation then the Cartel itself. Between petty analysis of meaningless charts – often claiming “proprietary expertise” – LOL; flimsy logic, that an average ten-year old can spot; and eternal promises of the riches to be made after the upcoming “bottom,” the spirit – and integrity – of Precious Metals investing has come under attack from even the supposed “good guys.”

One such writer, infamous for claiming the stock market would double between 1999 and 2008, and collapse between 2011 and 2014, claims gold is falling due to ongoing “deflation” – despite global stock markets, and seven billion peoples’ cost of living – hitting all-time highs. Despite the fact that not a mining company on the planet would exist – amidst an environment of record demand, no less – he has the cajones to espouse a belief that gold could fall back to $200/oz! Another “analyst,” who last summer vehemently claimed gold’s bottom was in, has since changed his mind – claiming it will now bottom below $1,000 “in June,” before rising to $5,000. Apparently, he expects “deflation” for just another two months – but have no worries, he expects the industrially sensitive Dow to double, whilst industrially sensitive commodities like oil and copper collapse. Makes a lot of sense, right? And last but not least, an analyst infamous for going to jail for financial fraud says gold will fall well below $1,000, before rising to $5,000 “at the most” – when inflation causes average wages to be $5,000/week. Yes, the average person will earn $250,000/year – but no, that’s not hyper-inflationary enough for gold to rise past $5,000. In other words, gibberish as far as the eye can see; with even the best analyst in the sector refusing to acknowledge the biggest pink elephant in the history of pink elephants; i.e., the Cartel that relentlessly suppresses gold and silver prices – such as the attacks that occurred as I wrote this article; what a shock, right at the COMEX open.

Yesterday’s MUST HEAR Audioblog discussed how no one is even listening to the Fed anymore; or, for that matter, their “mouthpiece” Jon Hilsenrath at the Wall Street Journal, whose 15 minutes of infamy are officially over, now that everyone realizes that not only are his articles written by the Fed, but contain more misinformation and propaganda than truth. Again, it’s now gotten to the point that the only thing people care about now are the markets themselves, whose actions have become so counter-intuitive – care of 24/7 manipulation – it’s become useless trying to “analyze” them; particularly paper markets like stocks and bonds – which unlike physical markets like gold, silver, and oil – can be infinitely manipulated with relentless printing press funded buying and naked shorting.

In gold and silver, such manipulation has caused record low sentiment here in the States – contrary to the rest of the world, which has seen strong gains based in plunging local currencies. Meanwhile, relentless PPT equity support has created history’s greatest financial moral hazard – yielding record high valuations, margin debt, and sentiment at a time when the global economy is at its worst level in generations, with an equally ugly outlook. To wit, the deformation has become so all-encompassing, options incentivized corporate managements are spending trillions of dollars “financially engineering” their stocks each year, and nearly nothing on sustaining capital expenditures. In Europe, the entire monetary and trade union is in danger of collapsing; but care of relentless Central bank support, the consensus has now become that QE is capable of offsetting a PIIGS collapse. Heck, I even read today how collapsing Chinese steel companies have been investing what little cash they have in the stock market!

Am I angry, disheartened, disgusted, frustrated, and enraged? You bet I am, as are David Schectman, Bill Holter, and the rest of the Miles Franklin team. I may be a paragon of logic, and a relentless, passionate fighter for what’s right – but I’m also a human being, who has put in more time, effort, and zeal into the 26 years my career has spanned than most people put in in a hundred. I never asked to be a freedom fighter, or a leader in the cause of truth; but simply, a successful businessman making a good living for my family. By most standards, it would be hard to dispute that I have. However, the amount of money the Cartel has stolen from me over the past 13 years – not to mention, sleep (until I sold my mining shares four years ago), peace of mind, and credibility, is immeasurable. Not to mention, I haven’t truly taken a day off in years; as not only do I feel obligated to “handhold” readers and listeners – from dozens of countries – but my innate fear of financial failure causes me to work harder when times are tough. And mentally speaking, times have never been tougher – no matter how powerful, confident, and right-sided our articles and podcasts are.

Hopefully, this outpouring of emotion turns you more on than off. I find it empowering and heartening – as based on what I noted above, truth – and passion – in the staid financial world should be at a premium in today’s times of mass criminality and inequity. To that end, we promise that no matter how hard TPTB try to avert their inevitable destiny with evil, amoral market manipulation – the Miles Franklin Blog will remain your rock in stormy waters, and sounding board against the relentless lies and propaganda attempting to separate you from your money.