US productivity numbers for the first quarter of this year were disappointing, to say the least. Analysts expected Q1 productivity to rise by point 0.7%. Instead, it came in at nearly half that, rising by 0.4%. This was only a slight improvement over the 0.3% increase in the final quarter of 2017.
There wasn’t a whole lot of chatter about sluggish productivity in the mainstream financial press, but in his recent podcast, Peter Schiff pointed out that it could have significant ramifications for the economy – and on your pocketbook. If you’re counting on productivity to keep a lid on consumer prices, you have a big problem.
The Texas Bullion Depository officially opened for business this week. The creation of the facility represents a power-shift away from the federal government and sets the foundation to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
Countries that stockpile gold create a foundation of stability for their monetary systems. This is precisely why China, Russia, Turkey and several over countries are increasing their gold holdings. But it’s not just countries looking to gold to provide political clout and economic power. Texas recently laid the groundwork for its own gold depository. The reason? To wrest some economic power from the Federal Reserve by bringing some monetary autonomy to the Lone Star State.
This week, I want to talk about scams.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Mises Institute president Jeff Deist recently interviewed Danielle Booth, a veteran of the Dallas Fed and author of Fed Up: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America, to discuss whether—or if—the Fed can ever return to “normal” monetary policy.
After hitting the highest level in more than a year last month, gold continued to flow into ETFs in May. But regional trends have reversed with European and Asian funds adding gold, as the yellow metal flows out of North American funds.
Global gold-backed ETF holdings added 15 tons of the yellow metal in May, boosting total holdings to 2,484 tons, according to the latest data released by the World Gold Council.
Are you depending on Social Security and Medicare for your retirement?
You might want to rethink that plan. These government retirement programs are going broke even faster than expected.
SchiffGold’s It’s Your Dime features “straight talk” interviews with movers and shakers in the world of precious metals, investing and economics.
In this episode, host Mike Maharrey talks with SchiffGold managing director Matt Malleo. They discuss a wide range of topics including the current state of the precious metals market and what potentially lies ahead. They also discuss asset bubbles, the national debt, the potential upside for silver, the future of the dollar, and how gold and silver have historically preserved wealth. Finally, Matt provides you with a quick precious metals Investment 101 lesson.
The US debt continues to skyrocket and it’s costing Uncle Sam more and more money just to make the interest payments.
The US public debt hit a record high of $21.145 trillion on the last day of May. Meanwhile, the cost of servicing all that debt also spiked, increasing by $26 billion through the first seven months of the fiscal year (October-April) compared with the same period last year.
A lot of seemingly positive economic data came out last week, but in his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff said it is just feeding into a delusional economic narrative that ignores the most fundamental storyline – debt. Everybody is talking about a new era of prosperity, but Peter said it’s a phony prosperity and it isn’t going to last.
