President Trump recently signed a $2 trillion stimulus bill, ostensibly to support the economy through the coronavirus crisis. Pundits hailed it as a great bipartisan accomplishment that will help ease the pain of this economic slowdown. Of course, there will still be pain. And the government stimulus may actually cause more pain than it eases in the long run.
The Federal Reserve launched QE infinity this week. The Fed has committed to buy an “unlimited” amount of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. But that’s not all. The central bank also announced it will buy some corporate bonds for the first time ever.
In effect, this is money-printing on a massive scale. And of course, pumping trillions of dollars into the economy will have ramifications. We may well be on the path to hyperinflation.
As the stock market reeled, the Federal Reserve cut rates by 50 basis points this week. It was the first time the Fed has cut rates between meetings since December 2008, when it made a similar move in response to the financial crisis. But that wasn’t enough for President Trump. Immediately after the announcement, the president took to Twitter calling for more cuts.
Last year, an Australian family found a gold nugget just laying on the ground. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen every day. In fact, finding a gold nugget is quite unusual – even a small one. But every once in a while, somebody discovers a massive nugget. The biggest nugget ever discovered was over 600 pounds!
In the most recent Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Mike Maharrey talked about the fact that the Federal Reserve has increasingly engaged in more and more extraordinary monetary policy. As he put it, extreme has become the norm. Despite what pundits insist is a “great” economy, interest rates are extremely low by historical standards and the Fed is engaging in quantitative easing to the tune of $60 billion a month.
While stock markets continue to make record highs and the economy continues to grow, the question is how long can this last?
Silver tends to get lost gold’s spotlight but there are reasons to consider adding silver to your portfolio as well. The silver-gold ratio remains at historically high levels. Practically speaking, this means silver is on sale. The supply and demand dynamics also look good for the white metal. Demand is up and global mine output fell last year.
There have been financial commentators, pundits, and asset managers who have stated that during periods of stagflation — low real GDP growth and high inflation — silver has underperformed gold. But as Dan Kurtz of DK Analytics shows, that conventional wisdom doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
The war drums have quieted for the time being. But while the threat of a hot war seems to have diminished, economic warfare continues. President Trump announced another round of economic sanctions on Iran.
We have written extensively how about how the US weaponizes the dollar and uses it as a foreign policy tool. This is one of the reasons many central banks are buying gold. The flip side of that equation is also true. The US government uses the military to support the dollar – specifically by controlling oil resources.
As economist Thorsten Polleit pointed out, inflation has pernicious effects on the average person, while tremendously benefiting the chosen few. Inflation the money supply is a policy intentionally carried out by central bankers around the world. Polleit calls this an “inflation scam.” With the Federal Reserve signaling that it is willing to let the inflation monster run loose, you should be prepared to see the value of the dollar erode even further in the future.
In essence, inflation facilitates a transfer of wealth from the average Joe and Jane to the politically connected. You can’t talk about wealth inequality without pointing a finger at the Federal Reserve. After all, it is the central bank that generates inflation by effectively creating money out of thin air.
The Fed has indicated that it won’t hesitate to let the inflation Jeanie out of the bottle. As Peter Schiff put it in a recent podcast, the central bank is willing to resurrect the inflation monster that former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker slew.
Even if the Federal Reserve wasn’t set to allow inflation to run hot, it targets 2% inflation as a matter of policy. In simple terms, the central bank intentionally devalues your money by 2% every single year.
As economist Thorsten Polleit explains in an article originally published at the Mises Wire, inflation has pernicious effects on the average person, while tremendously benefiting the chosen few. Polleit calls inflation an “inflation scam.”
Stocks have pushed to record highs in recent weeks. If you read the headlines, you’d think it was all about optimism for a trade deal. Or maybe just some general bullishness on the US economy. But Peter Schiff has said that’s not the real reason stocks have continued to climb. In fact, there are a lot of things that should be causing them to go down, but only one thing causing them to go up — the Federal Reserve.
