This year will mark the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon severing America – and the world – from its last tie to the gold standard. The rapid devaluing of the dollar is the most obvious result. But another consequence has been an enormous national debt that continues to grow at a staggering pace. Most people don’t realize it, but this is a direct and intentional result of the current fiat money system.
During testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Treasury Secretary-nominee Janet Yellen talked out of both sides of her mouth. She acknowledged that too much debt is problematic, but in the same sentence, insisted we need to “act big” to rescue the economy.
Peter Schiff recently explained how the Federal Reserve has rigged the US Treasury market. Well, the European Central Bank has taken bond market manipulation to the next level.
According to a Bloomberg report, the ECB is buying bonds to control the yield spread between debt issued by various EU countries. As a result of this central bank mechanization, the spread between the yields on German and Italian bonds has remained “remarkably stable” despite the Italian government teetering on the verge of collapse.
The US government ran the biggest December budget deficit in history last month.
The December budget shortfall came in at $143.6 billion. That compares with a $13.3 billion deficit in December 2019, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.
The last time I wrote about gold smuggling, I was impressed by the pain a man was willing to endure in order to hide gold from authorities. He literally stuck gold bars up his rear — two pounds of gold.
Ouch.
But today I have a different kind of smuggling story. It is impressive not because of the smugglers’ dedication and ingenuity, but their sheer laziness.
With the coronavirus pandemic serving as a backdrop, 2020 was a record-breaking year in many ways. And some of the economic records that fell were, shall we say, less than ideal. In fact, the impacts of these records will almost certainly ripple through the economy as we move into 2021.
Here are three records that fell last year that didn’t get nearly as much attention as they should have.
It’s time to bid a fond farewell to 2020. Good riddance and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!
Of course, the New Year also means it’s time for — resolutions.
Confession: I’ve never been good at resolutions. In fact, I refuse to make them. Why set yourself up for failure? But get this; now I’m not only supposed to make resolutions for myself. I have to make them for my pets!
Ummm – no.
So far, the US has escaped negative interest rates as a matter of central bank policy. Back in May, many thought a Fed move to negative rates was a real possibility. Of course, much of the world has operated under negative rates as a matter of policy for years. The European Central Bank (ECB) launched negative rates in June 2014. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) introduced negative rates in January 2016. Both are still maintaining a negative rate policy today.
While the Fed has resisted the temptation of a negative rate policy so far, that doesn’t mean Americans have escaped the reality of below-zero real rates. In fact, the world is awash in negative-yielding debt.
The US government is stimulating everybody. Just not you.
Congress finally pulled together a stimulus deal. Both houses of Congress passed the $900 billion measure. It ranks as the second-largest “stimulus” bill in history, only behind the CARES Act passed earlier this year.
Have you heard about the guy who’s spent five years in federal prison because he won’t give up the location of about 500 gold coins he found in a historic shipwreck?
Yes. Five years.
How many years would you spend in prison for millions in gold?
