Whenever an election year rolls around, domestic manufacturing becomes a more central theme of discussion. Candidates from both sides, who seem to disagree on almost everything else, never waver in their commitment to auto manufacturers in Detroit and the steel industry. Republicans and Democrats never forget to remind the American public that they will try to keep these specific jobs on American soil. These very tangible and traditional markers of American industry seem to hold an outsize role in the American mind, especially considering that the steel industry, one of the most frequently mentioned industries, only employs 143,000 citizens.
The wizards at the Fed and US Treasury have been forced to acknowledge that their “transitory,” inflation is, in fact, quite “sticky.” And with the inflation elephant now acknowledged by the circus of high finance, Treasury yields keep inching up, recently reaching 4.7% — the highest since November. The Fed is stuck: It needs to raise interest rates to tame inflation and make Treasuries more attractive. But the Fed can’t afford higher rates, with an already-untenable cost to service the existing debt and loan-dependent industries teetering on the brink.
The solution to a problem shouldn’t make the problem worse.
But apparently, California’s policy makers missed that memo.
On April 1st, the state instituted a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, the highest in the US. With California’s absurdly high cost of living, the policy appeared to make life more manageable for low-income residents. Unfortunately, as the adage goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” California’s new minimum wage is poised to hurt the same fast-food workers it aims to help.
The monetary battle of the 20th century was gold vs. fiat. But the monetary battle of the 21st century will be gold vs. bitcoin. With Wall Street jumping into the game with bitcoin ETFs, a bitcoin halving recently splitting the block reward for miners in half, and both gold and bitcoin hovering near their all-time highs, it’s a great time for a sober look at which asset would come out on top in a genuine, full-blown hyperinflationary financial collapse.
What is Nvidia? If you’re a committed gamer the question may sound like nonsense. Nvidia, which was founded in 1993, is a tech company that makes GPUs and other products. It originally specialized in making products for the video game industry, that assisted in 3D rendering. If you were a committed gamer, you probably owned their products. If you weren’t, you might not have heard of them.
With the AI boom and green energy push fueling fresh copper demand, and with copper mines aging and not enough projects to match demand with supply, the forecasted copper shortage has finally arrived in earnest. Coupled with persistently high inflation in the US, EU, and elsewhere, I predict the industrial metal will surpass its 2022 top to reach a new all-time high this year:
America’s trust in its institutions has rapidly eroded over the past 20 years. We have a lower level of trust in our judicial system and elections than most European countries. Some of this is natural, as Americans are uniquely individualistic, but much of it arises from repeated government failures.
Decades of negative interest rate policy in Japan have ended. That could mean the end of the $20 trillion “yen carry trade,” once one of the most popular trades on foreign exchange markets, and a chain reaction in the global economy. The yen carry trade is when investors borrow yen to buy assets denominated in higher-yielding foreign currencies, like the USD, where interest rates are higher.
With a hot CPI report casting a shadow of doubt on the likelihood of a June interest rate cut, all eyes are on the Fed. But they’ve caught themselves in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” moment for the economy — and the news for gold is good regardless.
It’s no secret that the American public is wildly ignorant of many issues that are central to the success of our nation. Just a generation ago it would have been unthinkable that less than half of the American population could recognize all three branches of government. America is in most cases far less educated about its government than citizens of even less freedom-oriented nations.
