Do you believe your eyes? Or do you believe your ears? That’s the dilemma you face as you try to make sense of the latest Federal Reserve meeting and Jerome Powell’s messaging. It’s also a question to ask yourself if you’re evaluating the performance of gold over the last year. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explores this dilemma in both contexts.
Most people believe the Federal Reserve stabilizes the economy and our money. In reality, the central bank incentivized debt and destroys wealth. Is there a way to sidestep the destructive forces of central banking and fiat money?
T.W. Thiltgen believes there is a freedom train we can escape on — gold.
Is the Federal Reserve easing off the accelerator on its inflation fight?
The answer depends on whether you believe your eyes or your ears.
Gold mine production was up modestly in 2022 as mining operations normalized post-pandemic. But mine output still hasn’t returned to the peak we saw in 2018, boosting speculation that we have possibly reached “peak gold.”
Federal Reserve officials insist they can still shrink the balance sheet significantly more than they already have.
You can file this assertion under the same category as “inflation is transitory,” and “the problems in the subprime mortgage market are contained.”
In other words, Fed officials have detached from reality — again.
Strange activity continues at the Comex!
Delivery volume for February was a little less than half the contracts open at first notice. 6,005 contracts were delivered with 7,370 remaining in open interest. This was a much larger relative delivery than December which saw less than a third of contracts delivered on the first day. Things seemed suspicious back in December, but this month had a potentially bigger red flag.
Why is there a labor shortage in the US?
In a nutshell, a lot of people have simply dropped out of the labor market. They’re not working.
But why?
Gold demand grew by 18% to 4,741 tons in 2022, the highest demand in 11 years, according to data compiled by the World Gold Council.
Massive central bank purchases coupled with strong retail investor buying and slowing outflows from ETFs drove overall demand higher.
There is a relentless push to raise the minimum wage, both at the state and national levels.
Minimum wage advocates somehow think that their wishful thinking can override basic economics. But no matter how much they tell you otherwise, supply and demand are a thing. Raising the cost of labor will mean less labor employed, all other things being equal.
But every so often, we get an economic study that claims basic economics has been overturned.
The mainstream is optimistic about both the economy and the Fed’s fight against inflation. In his podcast, Peter Schiff took apart the mainstream narrative, explaining that the economy is much weaker than most people realize and the Fed is nowhere near victory in the war on inflation.
