Bailouts are the name of the game right now. It seems like everybody is in line for a bailout. Airlines. Movie theaters. Small businesses. Hospitals. Not to mention the fact that the Federal Reserve has resorted to directly buying corporate debt.
Conventional wisdom tells us this is necessary. After all, the government shutdown put tremendous stress on businesses. Doesn’t the government have a responsibility to help them out?
The Federal Reserve serves as the engine that makes all of the US government’s unconstitutional spending possible. Without the Fed, the entire system would collapse.
Just consider this: in March and April of this year, the Federal Reserve effectively monetized 100 percent of the new debt taken on by the U.S. government.
Last month we reported that the Chinese government has launched a pilot program for a digital version of the yuan. The virtual currency ups the ante in the war on cash and creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending.
China isn’t alone in using COVID-19 as an excuse to push people away from physical cash. Other countries are pushing narratives to drive the movement toward a completely digital economy – one where governments can track and even control what we buy. The war on cash has been going on for years, but the pandemic has put efforts on hyperdrive.
Peter Schiff has called the Federal Reserve’s response to the economic “a monetary hail mary.” The central bank has printed trillions of dollars out of thin air through QE infinity, taking the Great Recession quantitative easing programs and putting them on steroids. And the Fed has gone beyond the “standard” extraordinary policy of the 2008 crisis, plunging its hands into the corporate bond market.
Peter has argued that none of this is actually helping the economy. In fact, it’s hurting, furthering distorting an already over-leveraged economy.
On June 9, the national debt surged above $26 trillion. Just over one month before that, the debt eclipsed $25 trillion. And 28 days before that, the national debt stood at a mere $24 million. May’s budget shortfall came in at a staggering $398.8 billion, pushing the fiscal 2020 deficit to $1.88 trillion
And there is no end to the borrowing and spending in sight.
Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the food, the fireworks and the parades. And the message of independence has always resonated with me – ever since I was a little kid.
Unfortunately, Fourth of July festivities have been canceled in most cities and counties – by governments. Which is painfully ironic.
Gold just finished Q2 at its highest level in over 8 years, wrapping up its best quarter since 2016. The Fed monetary policy in response to the coronavirus pandemic has put a strong tailwind behind gold. But as host Mike Maharrey details in this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, gold has been on a bull run for quite some time – long before COVID-19 reared its ugly head. Why? And what might this tell us about what’s ahead?
Gold just had its best quarter since 2016 and finished at its highest level in over eight years. But Q2 2020 wasn’t an anomaly. Gold has charted gains for seven consecutive quarters.
That represents the longest quarterly run of gains for the yellow metal since the 2008 financial crisis.
Don’t expect the Federal Reserve to pull back on its monetary Hail Mary anytime soon.
The central bank released the minutes from the June meeting yesterday. There were no big surprises, but they did reaffirm the Fed’s commitment to continuing its unprecedented monetary policy into the foreseeable future.
Gold just wrapped up a strong quarter, up 13%, and finishing at the highest price level in over eight years. On the year, gold is up about 16% and many mainstream analysts are starting to eyeball record gold prices in the coming months. But there has been some drag on the gold market, particularly sluggish consumer demand in the East – particularly in India.
That could be changing.
