This week Trump’s approval rating falls to historic lows considering his term length. The downturn comes after the healthcare fail, his latest sweeping cuts to environmental protection.
Trump Pivots on Healthcare Reform, Now Courting Dems and Moderates
- Republicans pulled the healthcare bill from the table after being unable to garner enough support to pass it.
- Trump vowing to work with the Democrats and dissenting Republicans to craft a new bill.
- House Speaker Paul Ryan on co-partisan effort: “I don’t want that to happen,” according to Reuters.
An enormous gold coin weighing as much as an NFL linebacker and worth millions was stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin at about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning. The massive 221-pound (100-kilogram) gold coin, which measures 21-inches in diameter and is 1-inch thick, is worth over $4,000,000, according to Christian Science Monitor.
The British Royal Mint has just released a new 12-sided £1 coin designed to combat counterfeiters and to replace an estimated 45 million fake coins currently in circulation. The new features of the anti-forgery coin include a “12-sided bimetallic design, a hologram, and fine lettering,” according to Bloomberg. The coin also includes some secret features not disclosed to the public.
Investors may be seeing the first signs of the stock market bubble beginning to pop. Bloomberg is reporting a 5-month increase in retail investors in the S&P for any “like stretch since 2014”. At the same time, hedge funds, corporations and executives are starting to back out of equities.
Even though Trump and the Republicans haven’t delivered on their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, it’s clear Trumpcare would have been a slight improvement over the former. However, a truly successful bill would have been repeal and then … nothing. The main goal of any proposed legislation should have been to remove the government from the healthcare market place completely and allow market forces and competition to take back control of cost and quality.
This week, Trump’s taking to social media to transform his Twitter followers into a grassroots movement to get the TrumpCare bill passed. FBI Director James Comey sets his sights on the Trump campaign as well, dropping the bombshell on Monday that the Bureau would be investigating possible Russian collusion.
America’s westward expansion owes much to the search for gold. Strikes in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California set off some 300,000 explorers looking to transform their lives. Although few actually found their fortune directly in gold, other entrepreneurs “struck it rich” by establishing banks, saloons, grocery stories, and more to provide goods and services for prospectors.
American “gold fever” still lives on in our culture with reality television shows like the Discovery Channel’s “Gold Rush” and PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow,” which appeal to many lost treasure seekers. With such a high demand, it’s no surprise that another form of gold rush reality “show” has sprung from the eccentric mind of 85-year-old millionaire Forrest Fenn.
The annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) was released recently and shows 1 in 4 workers surveyed have less than $1,000 saved for their retirement. The RCS, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, measures statistics taken from 1,000 individuals aged 25 and over about their retirement confidence, planning strategies, and savings amounts. The survey’s results show a disconnect between US worker confidence in their ability to retire comfortably and their actual preparedness.
State Senator from Maine Eric Brakey recently introduced Senate Bill 664, which attempts to provide sales tax exemption for precious metals purchases of “gold and silver coins and bullion.” Passing Brakey’s bill would align Maine with many other states that think taxing precious metals is bad business and discourages consumers from protecting their wealth.
The current attitudes towards taxing precious metals comes from whether they’re perceived as a regular consumer good like Starbucks coffee, or a type of investment or currency.
This week, Trump laid out his big budget adjustments and issued a loud silence about the Fed’s decision to hike rates for the second time since Election Day. In the same week, he’s also changed opinions on unemployment numbers, which he once lambasted and is now using to prove his effectiveness as a leader on economic matters.
Rate Hike Aftermath: Trump Proves His Bite is Weaker than His Bark
- “We’re not going to comment on the Fed’s decisions,” a White House spokesperson said.
- Trump’s silence goes against his campaign rhetoric blasting the Fed for being too “political”.
- Trump may be biding his time until new members are appointed to the Fed.
Many investors are looking for an opinion on the rate hike from the President along with a coherent picture of how he wants to change the financial institution.
Trump seems to have two different opinions of the Fed’s role. In May of 2016, he actually complimented Yellen’s decision to keep rates at historic lows for the long term. However, he’s also explored the notion of returning to the gold standard and true commodity-backed currency.
