Do you feel stimulated? Congress got the deal done on a $1.9 trillion stimulus package this week. But the markets continue to behave as if there is no inflation threat with all this borrowing, spending and money printing. On this week’s Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey breaks down the stimulus bill. He tells you what’s in it and who will pay for it. He also talks about rising prices the mainstream can’t seem to find.
The Labor Department released February’s CPI numbers on Wednesday. The mainstream spin was “no inflation, nothing to see here.” But what will we find if we dig a little deeper into the numbers?
CPI was up 0.4% in February. That follows on the heels of a 0.3% rise in January. The rise was in line with expectations.
On Wednesday, the House gave final approval to coronavirus stimulus bill 3.0. For those keeping score at home, that brings total stimulus spending approved during the pandemic to $5 trillion.
So, what exactly is all of this money going to be spent on? And who is going to pay for it?
We’re told we’re on the road to economic recovery. The $1.9 trillion stimulus is all we need to get us over the hump. But the truth is, Americans started spending like they were over the hump months ago. In fact, American consumers high on stimulus have been on a spending spree since last summer. The Federal Reserve printed money. Uncle Sam handed it out. American consumers spent it on imported goods.
This isn’t the formula for a genuine economy. It’s the formula for a giant bubble.
There’s an economic myth out there. As the story goes, governments can print their way to prosperity. Just run the money printing press, hand out cash for consumers to spend and the economy will hum. In this clip from a podcast episode, Peter Schiff calls it “The Kelton Myth” named for economist Stephanie Kelton. At the root of this tale is the notion that people can consume what they don’t produce. As Peter explains, this simply isn’t possible.
Imports into the US of gold, silver and other precious metals surged last year.
The value of precious metals pouring into the US hit a 19-year high in 2020 and doubled the volume of 2019, according to an analysis of census trade data by USA TODAY.
The markets seem to think the Fed is going to fight inflation. They believe that the central bank will pivot to tighter monetary policy sooner than expected as inflation heats up, even though Jerome Powell keeps insisting inflation isn’t really a problem. In a recent podcast, Peter Schiff said that the truth is the Fed is between a rock and a hard place. It couldn’t fight inflation even if it wanted to. Doing so would kill the economy. The only other choice is to surrender to inflation.
The federal minimum wage hike didn’t make its way into the coronavirus stimulus bill passed by the Senate last week, but it is an idea that won’t die. With Biden in the White House and Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, the issue will almost certainly come up again sooner rather than later.
Proponents of a $15 per hour minimum wage claim it will help pull people out of poverty. And it will help some people. But it will hurt others. The real minimum wage is always $0 and no law can change that reality.
The Labor Department released its February jobs numbers on Friday. The numbers were better than expected and the official unemployment rate ticked down. The mainstream spun it as more good news and another sign that the economy is on the upswing. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff broke down the numbers and came to a completely different conclusion – this was not a strong jobs report.
Do you know what’s pretty ballsy? Stealing from a professional wrestler.
Yeah, I know pro wrestling is fake. (No, really, it is.) But that doesn’t change the fact that pro wrestlers are big, strong athletes.
In fact, before he went into fake wrestling, Kurt Angle was a real wrestler and won an Olympic gold medal in the sport. And that brings us to a WWE fan with sticky fingers and apparently not too much common sense.
