I’ve written sever Fun on Friday articles about gold scams. Usually, the victims are elderly folks and you can kind of understand how they might get fooled by scammers. But you know who I wouldn’t expect to get conned in a gold scam?
Pawnshop owners.
And yet, here we are.
Peter Schiff has been saying that the economic problems we face weren’t caused by the coronavirus pandemic — at least not directly. We were already in deep trouble long before COVID-19 arrived on the scene. In this special episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey takes us on a journey back through time and lays out exactly how the Federal Reserve and government policies got us here and how the “cure” for the economic meltdown caused by government lockdowns is really just more of what made the economy sick in the first place.
We’ve written extensively about the “war on cash.” Government officials and academics offer all kinds of plausible rationals for moving toward a cashless society. Most of them involve consumer convenience and the ability to battle drug dealers and big-time criminal organizations. But make no mistake, governments love the idea of eliminating cash for more a more sinister reason — it would make it possible for them to track every single purchase you make. And it would also allow them to exercise a tremendous amount of control over individuals.
Last month, gold broke its all-time record price. As we have explained, to really understand what’s going on, you need to flip the equation. Dollars are at an all-time record low compared to gold. Simply put, the recent surge in gold prices is all about currency debasement.
We were on this path long before coronavirus reared its ugly head. After all, this gold bull market started back in 2015. But the government response to the pandemic put the process in hyperdrive. In March, the Federal Reserve embarked on a policy of money printing to infinity and beyond. And there is no end in sight. The Fed is apparently even willing to turn the other way the inevitable result of printing money – price inflation – begins to become apparent in the economy.
It’s easier to understand gold’s record-breaking move up if you look at it from the other side of the equation. The dollar is now at its all-time low compared to gold. In simple terms, the dollar is losing value and dollar debasement is driving up the price of gold.
This isn’t a narrative you don’t typically hear on the mainstream financial networks, but there seems to be a growing awareness that the dollar and the system based on it might be in trouble – even in the mainstream investment world. We’ve seen Warren Buffet make a bet on gold, and Goldman Sachs recently warned that the dollar could be in danger of losing its reserve status. Now, Wells Fargo has weighed in, warning in a report that the bull run in gold signals “a growing lack of trust in the world’s monetary system.”
New home sales blew away expectations in July, coming in at the highest level since 2006. A lot of people take this as a sign of a strengthening economy. Peter Schiff begs to differ. In his podcast, he argued that surging homes sales are actually a sign of a weak economy.
Single-family new home sales rose 14% between June and July to an annual rate of 901,000, according to Commerce Department data. Sales were up 36% on a yearly basis.
According to a report by an Indian TV station, the board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering significantly raising its gold reserves.
According to the report, the RBI is mulling upping its gold holdings from the current level of 6.5% of total reserves to 10%. As part of the move, the Indian central bank would also lower its holdings of US Treasuries.
Peter Schiff recently spoke at the “virtual” Los Vegas Money Show and explained why we are near the endgame for the dollar.
Peter opened up his talk speculating that the Money Show could be close to the end of its run.
I think the money that most people have, or at least what they think is money isn’t going to be money much longer.”
Vitaliy Katsenelson serves as the chief investment officer at Investment Management Associates in Denver. In an article he wrote for MarketWatch, he admits his company has resisted buying gold in the past.
But the company is buying gold now.
Why?
The Nasdaq and S&P500 made new all-time highs last week. That leads many people to believe the economy must be doing OK. But as Peter Schiff explained in his podcast, the very thing that’s helping Wall Street boom is crushing the actual Main Street economy.
