Core inflation since the election of Donald Trump has risen to a five year high. While inflationary pressures continue to rise, I believe the Fed will not dare to get ahead of the inflation curve with these proposed “gradual” moves higher in the Fed funds rate. This should guarantee negative real rates for perhaps years to come, driving more investors to park investment capitol into bullion. –

 

Like it or not, we are living through a major inflectionary point in human history; on more fronts; with more lasting, and dramatic changes than any before it.  Yes, there have been hundreds of humanity-altering wars throughout history.  However, never have so many people been impacted by current events; as, for example, there are 7.4 billion people today, compared to 2.3 billion at World War II’s onset.  And while WWII shaped the culture, economic and monetary, and physical borders for generations; in hindsight, until recently, the post-war Era has been “more of the same.”  Only this time, global economic leadership switched from one Western power, the UK, to another, the U.S.; as evidenced by the “reserve currency,” in an increasingly global world, switching from the Pound to the dollar.

Other than the nuclear bomb, which enabled the war to end – technology advancement was not a significant by-product of the war.  To that end, the global fiat currency regime that took over for the previous system – i.e, hundreds of privately-managed fiat and/or gold-backed fiefdoms; was hardly a “technological breakthrough.”  Frankly, it wasn’t until the computer was invented – and exponentially advanced – six decades, and five billion people later, that the world dramatically changed.  Mostly for the better; but as regards technologies’ impact on said fiat regime, it took something inherently bad, and made it a thousand times worse.  In practical terms, the equivalent of a financial nuclear bomb, “weaponized” to wreak maximum political, economic, social, and monetary destruction.  Which is exactly where we stand today – as for all the technology that went into creating it, the world’s most diabolical “financial rocket scientists” couldn’t figure a way to counteract its fatal, historically hubristic flaw.  I.e., no matter how much money printing, market manipulation, and propaganda is applied – using the most advanced financial engineering, high frequency algorithms, and “fake news” sources; fiat money, by nature, is a Ponzi scheme that must – and always has – failed.  Only this time, it is doing so on a global scale, after having bankrupted hundreds of nations, thousands of institutions, and billions of individuals.

This is why the handful of “leaders” with access to such “weapons of mass financial destruction” – ironically, a term coined by Warren Buffett, a “general” in the fight against the “99%,” deployed as a wolf in sheep’s clothing to assuage the fears of those being terrorized – have declared “all out warfare” against the financial markets, as they attempt to carry out their natural mandate of gauging the rot in the underlying, collapsing global economy, political structure, and monetary system.  To the point that anything considered a threat to the inevitable – and in many cases, imminent – destruction of the terminally ill, world-destroying status quo is quickly stamped out.

As regards the Precious Metal “market,” it has always been a focal point of such efforts to mask monetary reality; albeit, never on such a global scale.  Clearly, said “leaders”‘ fear of real money is as powerful as ever; as it should be, as it won’t be long before said billions permanently lose faith in the fraudulent “money” that has destroyed their lives; and instead, turn to alternative means of financial salvation.  To that end, I have watched the “Cartel” – i.e., the U.S. government led effort to protect the dollar’s dying “reserve status” – for 15 years now, tick for tick.  Yet, despite these efforts, gold prices in nearly all currencies are either near, at, or above previous all-time highs, even if it is still 35% below its 2011 high here in the Ground Zero of Financial Manipulation; let alone, when accounting for inflation.  To that end, silver remains 83% below the high set 37 years ago, and far more so in terms of inflation; at a time when both metals’ supply/demand fundamentals have never been stronger, with nowhere to go but up.

Look no further than last night’s latest salvo in the “200 week moving average war” – when the Cartel did this as gold moved to within $15/oz of this key technical level ($1,251/oz), with not a single outside market budging.  As you can see, the most “systematically dangerous threat” to TPTB fought its way back; and as I write, the dollar index is back below 100 – this, despite the potential collapse of the Euro in the coming months; whilst the ten-year Treasury yield is back below the economic “line in the sand” of 2.5% (above which, economic decline accelerates); as the “odds” of a June rate hike retreated below 50%, under the weight of the utterly massive evidence of accelerating economic collapse.

Of course, when I say “all out warfare,” it’s clearly a multi-faceted battle, on multiple fronts.  Which fortunately, is a losing cause, as the “allies” are rapidly closing in on the “axis of evil” represented by major Western’ nations political, financial, and media complexes.  Which frankly, are becoming less “allied” with each day, in an “every man for himself” environment of political and economic survival, as discussed in yesterday’s MUST READ “US against the world.”

Economically, the war is all but lost, as the pace of collapse is accelerating so rapidly, it can no longer be hidden by rigged financial markets; or for that matter, economic data, as evidenced by the Fed, LOL, raising rates – and thus, inflicting further catastrophic damage – on the very day industrial production was reported to have declined for the tenth straight month; whilst its own GDP forecast, for the current quarter, was reduced to below 1%.  Heck, this week alone, it was reported that used car prices plunged 12% year-over-year – i.e, the worst plunge since late 2008, with a massive backlog of soon-to-expire leases and historically high dealer incentive spending.  This, as department store sales declined a whopping 15% year over year; and retailers in general, 13% week-over-week.  Heck, the San Francisco Fed itself, where Janet Yellen worked before ascending to the title of world’s top economic arsonist, wrote yesterday that “the labor market may not be quite as tight as the headline unemployment rate suggests.”  I mean, we are not one week past Wednesday’s rate hike, and not only did her “home” institution blatantly contradict her comical assertion of “full employment,” but fellow FOMC voter Charles Evans, of the Chicago Fed, said yesterday that he “sees more upside possibility in uncertainty” than in recent months.

 

And then there’s the dying “oil PPT” – which yesterday, was dealt another death blow, when Iraq’s oil minister basically confirmed the “production cut” deal will not be re-upped when it expires in three months.  This, despite a desperate, pathetic attempt to jawbone prices higher with conflicting headlines.  This, as global production continues to surge, putting in jeopardy dozens of overleveraged, energy export dependent nations; as well as thousands of energy companies, and tens of thousands of vendors and suppliers.

Sorry to sound a lot like yesterday, but the amount of dramatic, real-time topics depicting “all out warfare” are too numerous to be ignored.  And ironies, such as the top four U.S. banks hitting a cumulative $1 trillion market cap – with the final 30% occurring post-election, led by Goldman Sachs, and its six White House appointments; on the very same day that the world’s “systematically most dangerous institution,” Deutsche Bank, let the world know just how insolvent it is.  Or LOL, the fact that, just as institutional long positions on crude oil hit record highs last month – just before prices plunged; institution shorts on Treasury bonds hit record highs two weeks ago, just before Treasuries surged, en route to what I believe will be one of the biggest Treasury rallies in years; as by year-end, the Fed once and for all, will likely be forced to give up its fraudulent, four-year propaganda scheme of pretending it has an “exit strategy.”  Which just happens to coincide with the “alternative currency destruction” Cartel raid of April 2013 – when PMs were pushed below said 200 week moving averages, one day after Obama’s infamous “closed door meeting” with the leading “too big to fail” banks.

Politically, said war is equally intense – frankly, on the verge of going thermonuclear.  As noted yesterday, Trump officially declared World Currency War I at this weekend’s G-20 meeting; prompting the, for lack of a better term, “deep state” to fight back en masse – as evidenced by yesterday’s FBI (yep, James Comey again) conclusions that Trump’s wiretapping and election fraud allegations are baseless.  Not to mention, the Attorney General of New York State – I kid you not – hiring his “top public-corruption prosecutor” to “focus specifically on issues involving the Trump administration.”  This, as the increasingly suspect – as “fake news” – Gallup Organization put out a patently unbelievable report, suggesting Trump has a national approval rating of just 37%!

Perhaps that’s why consumers have gone on strike; and yes, with each passing day, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that what I said on day one – that none of Trump’s campaign promises would be enacted, is the most likely outcome.  However, to believe the nation at large has turned on Trump less than two months after Inauguration Day is pure lunacy.  Let alone, in light of the fact that the supposed “Trump-Flation” rally still has the (PPT-supported) stock market sitting near its all-time highs.  Then again, now that oil, base metals, Treasury yields, the dollar, and the vast majority of non-large cap stocks are deflating – whilst Precious Metals steadily climb – the MSM hasn’t written of “Trump-flation” for some time, has it?  Partly, because it’s being exposed as the lie it always was; and partly, because the “evil Troika” of Washington, Wall Street, and the MSM is flat-out trying to destroy Trump.  To that end, I now believe it unlikely Trump will survive a four-year Presidency; as frankly, the evil forces trying to oust him are becoming more virulent and blatant each day, amidst the backdrop of an historically weak economy; overvalued markets; and political, social, and monetary turmoil.

Heck, even Trump’s meal ticket Goldman Sachs admits the Ponzi is on its last legs, per yesterday’s shocking comment that it is “lowering its 2017 forecast of corporate equity demand by $100 billion, given our Washington, D.C. economist’s expectation for a delay in corporate tax reform.  However, corporations will remain the primary source of US equity demand this year.”  I mean, WOW!  So not only is it throwing in the towel on said campaign promises already, but admitting the “market” is indeed nothing but a Fed-sponsored casino, in which the “primary source of demand” is not individuals, but corporations borrowing free Fed money to buy back their historically overvalued stock.  This will decidedly NOT end well – per yesterday’s MUST LISTEN podcast I taped with Bix Weir, “PRECIOUS METALS, CRYPTO-CURRENCY, AND MAINSTREAM INVESTMENTS – RISK VS. REWARD.”

Lastly, I’d like to conclude with the “bombshell” Zero Hedge is reporting, proving the “all-out war” is as much political as it is economic.  I.e., “secret polling” in France suggests Marine Le Pen is not only leading the “favorite” Emmanuel Macron – i.e, the 39-year old, snot-nosed, silver spoon Finance Minister who has run France into the ground under the tutelage of his boss Francois Hollande – but doing so by a wide margin.  To which I can only respond, that I have for the past year predicted she would win; just as I predicted, against all odds, the BrExit and Trump victories.  Only this time, it won’t just be a “BrExit times ten,” but a BrExit times 100 – in terms of the mortal wounds it will inflict on the dying monetary system; and likely, the gold Cartel.

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