America has turned into a consumption economy. The problem is, economies can’t run on consumption. Peter Schiff explains in this clip from a recent interview.
Consumption economies are bubble economies.”
Joe Biden unveiled his massive infrastructure spending plan complete with tax increases this week. The president says it will create “opportunities.” But what about the opportunities that will never be realized because Biden and company went on a spending spree with our money? Host Mike Maharrey talks about it in this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, along with the latest precious metals and Fed news.
China made a big splash when it rolled out its digital yuan and it got a boost when China’s biggest online retailer announced it has developed the first virtual platform to accept the Chinese digital currency. But China isn’t alone in exploring the possibility of digital money. Sweden has developed a digital currency of its own and the European Central Bank is pushing for a digital euro.
We’re told digital currency should replace unwieldy physical cash. It will be more convenient and help governments stop criminals. But there is a more sinister motive behind this government pivot toward digital currency.
The Federal Reserve has created trillions of dollars out of thin air and injected it into the economy over the last year. As a result, the money supply has grown at a record pace. This is by definition inflation. As Peter Schiff has pointed out in recent weeks, signs that this inflation is finding its way into prices are all around us. But mainstream economists tell us we really don’t have to worry about the massive increase in the money supply because the velocity of money is so low. This is simply the number of times a dollar changes hands in a given amount of time. Conventional wisdom holds that as long as the money velocity remains low, the central bank can increase the money supply without any significant corresponding increase in price inflation. But as economist Frank Shostak shows, the conventional wisdom doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
It’s been a crazy, volatile week for precious metals. The Reddit Raiders pushed silver to over $29 an ounce and the white metal took gold up with it. But the run was short-lived and we saw a big sell-off in both metals later in the week. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey tries to cut through all the smoke and mirrors and talks about the underlying fundamentals in both the gold and silver markets.
Commodities are booming. A lot of people seem to think this is a sign of pending economic growth. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff said it’s really a sign of inflation.
Most of the investment world continues to focus on the stock market and they’re not really paying attention to what going on in the commodities markets. And as Peter put it, that’s going to have a big impact on what happens in the supermarket.
Everybody was happy to get 2020 behind them. We figured it can’t get any crazier. Then 2021 showed up and said, “Hold my beer!” During the first full week of 2021, we had surprise election results and protests that went sideways in Washington D.C. That produced strange reactions on Wall Street. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about a wild week one of the new year and ponders what might be coming down the pike.
A lot of people have a vague sense that too much inflation might be a bad thing. But in a world where central banks and governments promote and implement policies intended to increase inflation by 2% annually, most people don’t seem to really understand just how much inflation erodes their purchasing power over time. After all, 2% doesn’t sound like a lot.
But you have to remember that this decrease in the value of your money compounds over time and it ultimately devastates savers and those on fixed incomes. Looking at Social Security benefits drives this reality home.
Peter Schiff spoke with Jay Martin backstage at the Cambridge Gold Summit. During the discussion, Peter and Jay took a step back from the immediate market volatility and news of the day to look at the big picture. Gold was a topic of discussion and Peter emphasized that the yellow metal has stood the test of time when it comes to preserving wealth.
The Dow Jones cracked 30,000 this week and stocks continue to surge generally upward as investors are embracing risk-on sentiment based on high hopes a vaccine may put an end to the coronavirus pandemic. But there’s more to it than that. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey takes a deeper look at what’s really driving this market mania, and he also takes down the myth that printing more money means more wealth.
