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Our Fearless Predictions for 2025


Like a fruitcake that keeps being re-gifted, showing up again and again, it’s time for our annual predictions for the New Year.  Read all ten predictions and at the end you’ll discover a little surprise about our list!

10.  The Federal Reserve won’t stop managing the monetary system to benefit the banks that created it to serve their interests in the first place.

9.  Foreign central banks won’t increase their dollar holdings, although they will increase their gold holdings.

8.  Congress won’t reduce federal spending; it won’t stop creating trillion-dollar deficits; and it won’t make a serious attempt to reduce the $36 trillion national debt.    

7.   The Washington establishment won’t hold most of its members to the same legal standards that it applies to the ordinary people.

6.  Washington Republicans and Democrats won’t stop trying to divide the people to win elections.  They will, however, concentrate their attention on smaller divisive issues while the fundamental issues of America’s freedom and prosperity go unaddressed.  

5.  The establishment’s lapdog press won’t bother to report accurately on the fate of the dollar.  Nor will their reporting on gold be accurate.

4.  The establishment lapdog press won’t blame the nation’s monetary problems on the Federal Reserve and the nation’s money manipulators.  It will blame the people instead.   

3.  While Washington may commission a study, launch a new bureau, or even appoint a bureaucrat, nothing meaningful will be done about the declining lifespan of the American people. 

2.  Monetary and fiscal policy won’t stop shrinking the American middle class.

1.  In a crisis, you won’t see people standing in line to exchange their gold for paper money like dollars.  It’s always the other way around.

Now here is the surprise…

These are basically the same predictions we made last year at the beginning of 2024!  And at the beginning of 2023.  And the year before that, at the beginning of 2022.  And at the beginning of 2021.  And 2020.  And 2019!  

Well, actually, they aren’t exactly the same.  As the debt continues to climb, we have to make a change every year to number 8.   Last year this national debt was closing in on $34 trillion.  Now it has passed $36 trillion.  Which proves the point of the prediction, that Washington won’t stop creating trillion-dollar deficits!  DOGE may succeed in getting spending cuts made, but we don’t underestimate the power of the crony lobbyists and vote-buying politicians.  We hope that we can admit defeat on this prediction and will do so cheerfully this time next year – if we must!

Perhaps we will have missed the boat on life expectancy.  Expectancy fell so hard during the pandemic that the CDC says it may have recovered somewhat.  In any case, we can be sure that American life expectancy will continue to fall behind other high-income and some middle-income nations.  We don’t mean to be negative, and we wish Robert Kennedy the best in making America healthy again.  But it will probably be a long-term project.

Because these predictions have worked out so well, we dusted them off to re-issue them for 2025 and we will probably do so again next year.  How accurate do you think these predictions will be when we look back on them at the beginning of 2026?  

In the meantime, all we can say is buy gold, and have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!


More Important Things About Gold and Silver

Things to reflect on in the new year!


It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights.

-Ludwig Von Mises


Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold.

 — Robert Kiyosaki


. . . of silver no one ever yet possessed so much that he was forced to cry “enough.”

—Xenophon


In contrast to political money, gold is honest money that survived the ages and will live on long after the political fiats of today have gone the way of all paper.

—Hans F. Sennholz


The Fed took a dollar and eliminated 98% of its purchasing power and they’re doing that more rapidly than ever but it just hasn’t been fully discounted. When it is, gold is going to be much, much higher.

—Ron Paul


Gold was not selected arbitrarily by governments to be the monetary standard. Gold had developed for many centuries on the free market as the best money; as the commodity providing the most stable and desirable monetary medium.     

—Murray Rothbard


In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. 

— Alan Greenspan


Gold will be around, gold will be money when the dollar and the euro and the yuan and the ringgit are mere memories. 

— Richard Russell


Gold’s superior nature is honored in our daily usage of terms like gold prizes, golden ages, the golden rule, golden mean, and good as gold. In the East gold figures prominently in holy places and sacred occasions: rituals, festivals, and marriages.

— Jim Clark, Real Money for Free People


If you don’t own gold, you know neither history nor economics.

— Ray Dalio


This Special Time of Year

This time of year, with holiday gatherings and celebrations, many of our thoughts center on family.    

For wealth protection, from generation to generation, nothing endures like gold.  In fact, someone called gold and silver “the superheroes of wealth preservation.”

Gold is one of the least reactive chemical elements;  it does not tarnish or rust.  It is handy to think of that as a metaphor for the fact the gold’s core value is impervious to corruption by the actions of its issuer.  The value of an ounce of gold is not dependent on whose picture or name is inscribed on it.  Nor does it depend on any government; governments come and go, but the value of gold persists.

If you had your choice of putting some government’s paper money in a box under the Christmas tree, or gold, to pass along to your children and grandchildren, you would be wise to choose gold.  This is especially true today, now that the Biden inflation brigade has unleashed the highest inflation in 40 years and the latest price data show inflation is once again bouncing back!

Gold ownership has traditionally been prized as a means of passing wealth along in families, in discreet, private ways.  

It is the only financial asset that is not someone else’s liability, not dependent on someone else’s promises.  

Gold’s special virtues have been recognized around the world and throughout the centuries.  So honored is gold that the wise men who followed a star made it among their gifts to a child born in a stable more than 2,000 years ago.

So, this time of year, while so many of our thoughts center on family, choose to protect your family and all that you’ve worked for.  Find out why gold is the money of the ages, and why it makes a perfect gift for family members and loved ones.  

Speak with an RME Gold specialist today.  

And Merry Christmas from all of us at Republic Monetary Exchange!


Things Worth Remembering About Gold and Silver: 2024 Edition

Each year, we like to wrap up the end of December with some important quotes about gold and silver. This year is no different… here is our list of things worth remembering about gold and silver…

●●●

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem…  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.  And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

  • Matthew 2

●●●

There has been a significant increase in demand from central banks to replace dollars with gold, and we’re just at the beginning of that trend. Gold will go up and the dollar will go down, so you’d be better off keeping your investment reserves in gold at this point.     

  • John Paulson

●●●

In order to back all outstanding currency with gold reserves, the price of gold would have to reach $8,800 per ounce, roughly five times higher than it is today.

If gold were to cover all money created by the Federal Reserve (which is equal to its current liability of $8.4 trillion) the price of gold would have to be upwards of $32,000 per ounce (nearly eighteen times the current price of gold).

  • Alex Gloyy, Eurasian Review

●●●

“True, governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late and to bring about a depression.”  

  • Ludwig von Mises

●●●

“We now understand better how little we understand about inflation.”

– Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

●●●

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, gives each of his grandchildren a gold coin for every holiday and birthday. The yellow metal is the best way to get young people excited about saving, he says.

But the gift comes with special instructions. “They can’t spend the gold coin. They have to save that gold coin and only use it in an emergency,” he tells Barron’s. “In their lifetime, the goal is to pass the coin onto their kids.” 

Dalio says the gift helps the next generation appreciate the value of saving.

  • Barron’s

●●●

Gold’s superior nature is honored in our daily usage of terms like gold prizes, golden ages, the golden rule, golden mean, and good as gold. In the East gold figures prominently in holy places and sacred occasions: rituals, festivals, and marriages.

  • Jim Clark, Real Money for Free People

●●●


China Back to Buying More Gold


SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s central bank resumed buying gold for its reserves in November after a six-month pause, official data by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) showed on Saturday.

That’s the story.  China is serious about gold and that is not going to change even if the People’s Bank appears to be out of the market for a while.  China remains both the world’s largest official sector buyer of gold and the world’s largest gold producer.

Reuters reports that China’s central bank bought 160 thousand troy ounces of gold in November.  The official institutions of China may not have been entirely absent from the gold market during the reported pause.  It is widely believed that in addition to its central bank, the Red Army, the Communist Party, and other nominal owners may be stockpiling gold outside of the official numbers. 

When Chinese authorities got tired of impoverishing and punishing their population with communism, Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese reformer, cracked open a door to the middle class for a great number of the world’s people.  It was at that point that China became a powerful force in the global commodities markets.  That means that it became an important source of demand for the things that things are made of: copper for power lines, steel for automobiles, aluminum for refrigerators and other appliances, zinc for paint, and lead for batteries.

And gold for money!

India, with an economy now growing at an enviable 6.5 percent rate, gets it too – about gold that is!  It is the second largest gold market.  Even if we leave central bank buying out of the equation, Asia accounts for 60 percent of gold demand.

View the Chinese Panda Bullion Coin
China Gold Coin Incorporation (CGCI) minted Gold Panda coin

An recent on the global financial news portal FX Empire stated that “a growing consensus of Wall Street’s most powerful institutions believe China is planning to increase its Gold holdings by an estimated 15%, if not 20%, of its total bullion reserves by 2028.”

Even as China adds to its gold holdings, its US dollar reserves keep shrinking.  With President Trump’s tariff fanfare and the weaponization of foreign dollar holding by the US State Department, China is clearly positioning itself for troubled waters in the months ahead.

When China is in the market to buy gold, we want to be buying gold as well! 

Now, with gold price dipping in response to the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate cut and  premiums low, is a very inviting opportunity to acquire gold for the inflationary months ahead!   


Living Through Times of Mega Turmoil

Gold for Wealth Protection!  Silver for Personal Protection!

Times of turmoil destroy prosperity and separate people from their wealth.  In times of mega-turmoil conditions are even more severe.  

Because we don’t want you to think we are alone in describing the approach of mega-turmoil, here is a brief excerpt from famed market commentator and investor Doug Casey’s newsletter International Man:

We’ve just entered what may be the most turbulent period in US history—potentially more dangerous than the 1930s, 1940s, and even the 1860s.

Severe crises are brewing on multiple fronts, and they’re all converging now.

Almost everyone stands to lose money in the chaos ahead. Those relying on conventional financial advice could see their nest eggs decimated.”

The whole system will have a complete reset, and soon.

The coming financial volatility will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before…

It could be the BIGGEST thing, not just since the Great Depression of 1929 to 1946.

It could be the BIGGEST thing since the founding of the USA.

Almost EVERYONE could lose money in the ensuing chaos.

Hedge fund superstar Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, is noticing the same things.  Dalio told the Financial Times that he sees a 35 to 40 percent chance that we could have a civil war. 

“We are now on the brink,” he said.  

Ron Paul believes as well that the developing economic crisis, the ending of the dollar’s global reserve status, unpayable debt, and the Fed printing money to cover for the Washington scoundrel’s spending will be the triggering event for what many expect is to come.

“This will result in massive public unrest potentially resulting in violence, the rise of authoritarian movements on the left and right, and increasing authoritarianism,” says Dr. Paul.

In times of economic chaos, of revolutions, invasions, famine, monetary failure, governmental bankruptcy and collapse, owning gold and silver is not merely important…  

It’s crucial!

Gold and silver are the best ways we know to protect yourself from the unexpected.  And the expected!


U.S. Debt Jumps Big Time

Massive Increase in Debt Signals Another Reason to Buy More Gold

This is serious.  “Trillions are flying by so fast they’re hard to see!”

That the description of the skyrocketing national debt  from Wolf Richter at WolfRichter.com.  He is right.  The US national debt just topped $36 trillion.  It broke through $35 trillion just four months ago!  It flew past $34 trillion like a bat out of the hot place only 11 months ago!

It’s not just serious.  It’s deadly serious!

The astounding thing is, says Richter, “that the government has been racking up these huge debts despite the strongly growing economy. No one wants to even imagine how this debt would balloon if there’s ever a recession with falling tax receipts and surging outlays. It’s just nuts to have this during the good times.”

Let us repeat that last point.  What happens in a recession?  Government tax receipts fall.  Social spending increases.  Deficits explode.

Right now, the average interest rate on Uncle Sam’s $36 trillion debt portfolio is 3.30 percent.  It is that low because much of the debt was issued when lower interest rates prevailed.  But as those old debt instruments mature and are redeemed, they have to be replaced by new borrowings at now higher interest rates.

Bear in mind that as recently as 2001, the average interest rate on Uncle Sam’s debt portfolio was 6.5 percent.  That is almost twice as high as today’s average rate!

Some people believe that the late-Everett Dirksen, a senator from Illinois from 1959 – 1969, remarked of escalating government spending, “A million here and a million there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money!”  

Others think he must have said, “A billion here and a billion there…”

But thanks to inflation, we have to employ “quotation inflation” as well.  Today it would be, “a trillion here and a trillion there…”

A statement from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget makes an important point about human psychology: “It’s often said that the more times you say a word over and over, the more it starts to lose its meaning. With so many trillion-dollar debt milestones in recent years, it’s easy to forget that each of them has real-world consequences.”

As we have said many times, the debt has now grown so huge that it can only be paid by inflation – legal counterfeiting of ever more dollars that devalue every dollar already in existence.

And that is a certainty.  The monetary superiority of gold, throughout the ages and around the world, is an unchallengeable certainty as well.

You will need it as debt continues to grow “out the wazoo!”


Silver Shortages and Warfare

In a recent post, Silver Shines, we asked if you are ready for the silver shortage.  

We have repeatedly cited leading financial institutions that foresee big moves in silver.  Among them are calls for silver to trade at $38-$40 and $40 per ounce by mid-2025.  We think these market calls from major banks have silver’s direction exactly right, but they seem to have underestimated the power of the markets.  Throughout the year we have warned that they would have to raise their silver price targets, and many of them have. 

Our friend Robert Kiyosaki just told his millions of Rich Dad Poor Dad followers that silver is the best asset buy today: “Buy it before it hits $50.00.”

More recently in our post WAR AND SILVER, we made the point that war is bullish for silver.  That is thanks to its dual role as both a monetary and an industrial commodity.

Coincidentally we saw a recent report in the Jerusalem Post that focused on military applications for silver, a story we felt we must bring to your attention.  It made points that are often under-reported or omitted from official data:

The hidden military demand for silver could potentially outpace industrial applications as we progress through time and technology advances. Escalating geopolitical tensions and potential conflicts may drive this increase, making silver’s role in military applications increasingly significant. This shift could have a substantial impact on the overall silver market, potentially influencing prices and supply dynamics.  


A recent (Oct. 29) Wall Street Journal headline makes our point clear again:

Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges

“Large number of interceptors used to strike missiles, drones in Middle East raises concerns about U.S. military readiness in Pacific”

So even  if you are following silver closely, and you are also only too aware of the spread of kinetic warfare, you may not be getting the whole picture.  But following silver and watching a shortage as it begins to develop is not enough.  You must act as well!

Resolve to speak today with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist about establishing a profit and protection portfolio.


Fed Keeps Moving Left!

Now there is even more evidence of the Federal Reserve’s left-wing tilt.  Like we need it!

In GOLD SKYROCKETS! (March ‘23} we wrote the following about Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto:

For every Republican economist at the Fed there are 10 Democrat economists.  The institution is so far left that it endangers the spinning of the Earth on its axis.  Surprised?  Of course not.  The very idea of a central bank is a communist dream.  

Karl Marx long ago included it as one of the 10 essentials of creating a communist regime: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

So of course, the Fed is thick with leftists.


We made the point again in January in a post called THE FED TILTS THE SCALES!  TO THE LEFT, OF COURSE!

It’s not too complicated.  The very existence of a central bank is a left-wing dream come true.  It was on Karl Marx’s shot list.  So, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are 10 Democrat economists for every single Republican economist at the Fed.

Now a mainstream think tank has taken a look at the Federal Reserve and its directors and verified not only its leftward bias, but that it keepS moving ever further to the left each year.  And predictably there has been an increase of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activism among directors.

The new investigation by the Manhattan Institute called Moving Left A Study of Ideological and Demographic Change Among Federal Reserve Bank Directors reports:

Directors have leaned increasingly left ideologically… [and] are also now less likely to have had the crucial banking experience needed for some of their oversight roles. These changes have inhibited the ability of the Federal Reserve Banks to provide strong and dissenting voices on monetary or regulatory policy….

The share of directors donating only to right-leaning candidates decreased from 2010 to 2023 and has dropped from 24% in 2015 to less than 8% in 2023. There has also been a decline in bipartisan donations and an increase in exclusively left-wing donors, who now make up 34% of all directors.


So what has the Fed done to the purchasing power of the US dollar since its inception? It’s not a pretty picture! 

As the purchasing power of the dollar goes down, the nominal price of gold goes up.   

Few things seem as self-evident from history as the certainty with which leftist governments – socialists, communists, collectivists of all stripes – destroy the value of their currencies and wealth at large.   

As US monetary authorities continue to move ever left at breakneck speed, the case for owning gold and silver becomes ever more compelling.


War and Silver

We Hope You’re Watching!

You may have heard about the popular poster back in the 1970s that read “War is not good for children and other living things!”

But war sure seems to be good for silver.

It was good for silver in the 1970s.  And you may have noted how silver prices took off after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 7,023.  Silver had closed on the trading day prior to the attack at $21.72.   As we write, it is almost $10 per ounce higher and has traded as high as $35.   

The following chart shows the performance of silver during that period.  You will note that the silver price was below the 200-day moving average at that time and has been mostly above since.

With that in mind, here’s a quick description of the gathering of war clouds now.

After Biden gave Ukraine the go-ahead to fire missiles into Russia, Ukraine launched US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory.  Russia says the use of those long-range missiles from Nato risks nuclear war, and it has fired off its new hypersonic ballistic missile.

Meanwhile the US has evacuated its embassy in Kiev and is providing Ukraine with widely-banned anti-personnel mines.  The US has newly opened a missile defense base in Poland, which Russia has declared is “yet another provocative step in a series of deeply destabilizing actions by the Americans and their allies in NATO in the strategic sphere.”

Warfare drives people to seek protection in gold and silver as a monetary safe-haven to begin with, but silver is also essential to the weapons of modern warfare: in radar systems for detecting and tracking targets; for secure and efficient military communication hardware; in guidance systems; and in sensors and drones.

The threat of wider war on several fronts is real.  Things are grim and escalating fast.  You would probably push the STOP button if you could, but you can’t.

In the meantime, take steps to protect yourself and your family with silver.

Silver’s uses in modern warfare and technology grow year after year.  Couple that with the safe-haven demand for precious metals in times of war, along with a silver supply – demand deficit year after year, and you will agree that silver has an important place in your investments.  

With missiles flying and war clouds gathering, it’s time to add silver to your holdings.


When People Line Up to Buy Gold and Silver

Beware the next round of big bank loses!

America’s biggest banks are sitting on mountains of distressed and non-performing commercial real estate loans.  They have squeezed their eyes tightly shut, hoping the problem will somehow just go away, a strategy called “extend and pretend.”

A report inside the Federal Reserve describes this practice of delaying the recognition of losses as a buildup of “financial fragility.”

From the report Extend-and-Pretend in the U.S. CRE Market:

The post-pandemic period is characterized by a deterioration of CRE valuations and monetary tightening. In this environment, banks have to manage their CRE loan portfolio while seeing their marked-to-market capital being eroded by losses on securities. 

We document that, since 2022: Q1, banks have extended the maturity of their distressed CRE mortgages coming due and pretended that such credit provision was not as risky to avoid further depleting their capital.  

Consistent with this interpretation, we find that this extend-and-pretend behavior is driven by banks with weak marked-to-market capitalization, is absent before 2022:Q1, and is also present in bank lending to REITs that hold large CRE portfolios.

Or, stated more succinctly, “The delayed recognition of losses exposes banks (and all other holders of CRE debt) to sudden large losses which can be exacerbated by fire sales dynamics and bankruptcy courts congestion.”  [Empasis ours.]

Fire sales.  Bankruptcy courts.  When people start to notice the cracks in banking, some make cash withdrawals, others close their accounts completely.  

The farsighted line up to protect themselves with gold and silver.   

We’ve seen it before.  In March ’23, Silicon Valley Bank went under just 14 days after the Big Four accounting firm KMPG gave the bank a clean bill of health.  During the spate of bank closures, our offices were crowded early to late day after day with people taking steps to protect themselves with gold and silver.

They were doing the right thing.  Gold is up about 45 percent since then; silver has soared, too, up 50 percent.

Now the Fed’s own report “Extend and Pretend” (or as we like to call it, kicking the can down the road in the hope that something will magically solve their problem) has us on high alert.  Warren Buffett may be another leading indicator of bank troubles brewing.  At our last check Buffett had sold more than 266 million shares of Bank of America stock just since July.

Avoid the rush.  Come see us at Republic Monetary Exchange today.  


How Do They Get Away with “Printing” All Those Dollars?


And how have they made gold prices climb for almost 100 years (with more to come)?

The Federal Reserve pretends to be the fire department that puts out the fires.  But, as you will see, they are the arsonists who start the fires to begin with.

It’s really a mystery, how the authorities have gotten away with it all these years.  Printing trillions of dollars, that is.  It puts spending power in the hands of Washington, allowing them to get away with all sorts of mischief that they couldn’t otherwise pay for.  But what they spend is really just taken from the spending power of the people.

Think about that!  The Federal Reserve’s activities act exactly like a tax.  It gets revenue from you, with out a law, hearings, debate, or vote.  So much for what the Constitution says about how Washington is supposed to operate.

For almost a hundred years the Fed has engaged in this mysterious money printing sleight of hand.  It has made gold go higher and higher, and the purchasing power of the US dollar sink for a century.

Now, learn what almost no Americans understand.  In this video from the Mises Institute, PLAYING WITH FIRE:  Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve, you will learn how it all works and why gold will keep reaching new highs.

Enjoy!


A Hole So Deep They Can’t Climb Out

…But they will keep digging!

A few years ago we warned that the Republicans and Democrats were acting like they had signed a mutual suicide pact!  That’s because they were digging us into a debt hole so deep that eventually they wouldn’t be able to climb out.  

Our advice at the time:  “STOP DIGGING!”

But they didn’t. 

Total US debt has jumped by $473 BILLION over the last 3 weeks alone, to a record $35.8 trillion. What is your share?  Well, at the risk of shocking you, your share of America’s debt has climbed by $1,450 in just the last three weeks.  

How about interest on the national debt?  

The US now holds a record $103,700 of debt for every American. That means you!  In 2024, interest on the national debt soared to $1.16 trillion.  That’s the first time it has raced above $1 trillion.  Uncle Sam now owes $103,700 for every American citizen, including you, and paid interest of $3,360 for every citizen in the just finished accounting year.

So after decades of falling interest rates, the worm has turned.  With exploding levels of unpayable debt around the world, interest rates have begun rising.  That means the cost of servicing America’s debt will climb.  Your cost will climb.

What is the long-term plan here?   There isn’t one!

This episode tells us something very unpleasant about our country today.  And about our leaders.  A debt crisis like this is the stuff of third-world banana republics (like Zimbabwe, Argentina, Venezuela) and advanced economy kleptocracies (think Germany 100 years ago).  

Now we are like them.  And our leaders were either too stupid to see where we were headed, or they just didn’t care.  

We don’t know which is worse.  Maybe it doesn’t matter.

Former US budget director David Stockman says the national debt will reach $36 trillion in the next few weeks, and $40 trillion sometime in 2025.  “Needless to say, figures of those stunning magnitudes imply Roman Empire style financial ruin.”

To repeat ourselves, what is the long-term plan here?   

There isn’t one!  There is no central plan or government playbook to get this problem under control.  We are waaaay past that!

The only conceivable plan to deal with this is your plan for yourself.  Call or stop by Republic Monetary Exchange to learn why your personal profit and protection plan must begin with gold and silver.


The Dollar Scam Will End Badly

“Time Bomb Ticking” (which is why you need gold now)

 Just so you know, even though we have been warning that this is where we are headed, it’s now no longer just us saying that the dollar scam will end badly.  We hope all the government grifters, Fed flimflammers, cronies and crooks, Washington wastrels and political pilferers have gotten everything they wanted, because the whole system is close to blowing up.  It will take them down with it.

And now that it’s getting close to game-over, others are beginning to read the writing on the wall.  Including at the International Monetary Fund, which says the government debt problem is “worse than in looks.”

That’s pretty scary considering it looks pretty damn bad already.  

Bloomberg News headlines its account this way: “World’s $100 Trillion Fiscal Timebomb Keeps Ticking.”

In short, we’re looking at government debt exceeding $100 trillion, or about 93 percent of global gross domestic product by the end of this year!

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in a speech last week:  

“Our forecasts point to an unforgiving combination of low growth and high debt — a difficult future.  Governments must work to reduce debt and rebuild buffers for the next shock — which will surely come, and maybe sooner than we.”  

Let’s see.  “Time bomb.”  “Worse than it looks.” “Unforgiving.”  “The next shock.”  “Sooner than we expect.”

It’s almost like something we would have said, although we said it when you had more time to prepare.  

Now the time bomb is ticking.  Time is running out.


Here’s a succinct description of the inflation scam from Bill Bonner:

Inflation is a form of theft. But it only ‘works’ as a federal policy so long as someone gets robbed. The feds ‘print money,’ pretend it is valuable, distribute it to people… who are then ripped off by it. 

In 1971, for example, a saver might have worked hard his entire career to lay aside $100,000. By 2024, his money would have been devalued by about 90%. In other words, he was cheated out of $90,000.  

That’s why an inflationary system is unstable. People try to protect themselves. And if they succeed, the policy fails. Or, to put it differently, inflation is just an underhanded way to tax people. But it only works as long as someone ‘pays’ the tax. 

That’s the story in a nutshell except for one thing.  How do people protect themselves?  

As they have done in these situations for thousands of years, they protect themselves with gold and silver, the enduring money of the ages.

To find out more, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional while you still can.

Tick… tick… BOOM! 


Silver Shines!

Are You Ready for the Silver Shortage?

In conditions of inflation and war very much like we have experienced that last few years, silver roared to a record high of $50 an ounce in January 1980.

The US dollar has been substantially cheapened by money printing, whether actual paper or digital dollars, since then.  That is why it costs so much more today to buy the same products.  The nickel candy bar has long since disappeared.  So much has the purchasing power of the dollar been diluted that $50 in 1980 is the equivalent of $144 dollars today.  In other words, in today’s cheaper dollars, or as we say in constant dollars, silver would have reached $144 an ounce forty-four years ago.

silver bars

So with silver trading in the low $30 range, it represent a real bargain.  In fact silver traded at about $50 an ounce again in 2011 and 2012.  So by many points of historical comparison silver is trading at bargain prices.

All this is a prelude to describing the opportunities we see in silver today.  Here are a few impactful developments.

A recent Citibank research note titled Commodities Flows reflects a clearly bullish silver environment, with a year-end target of $35 which we are already rapidly nearing, while expecting silver to reach $38-$40 by mid-2025. They cite the Chinese energy demand for solar and EVs, in addition to a more recent jump in retail demand, as a store of value in response to weak property markets, consumer sentiment, and record-high gold prices.

Russia and China are both credibly reported setting their sights on the acquisition of silver.  According to a recent piece in the Jerusalem Post, “… Russia’s Draft Federal Budget outlines plans to significantly bolster its holdings in precious metals over the coming years.  Notably, the budget includes plans to acquire gold, platinum, palladium, and, for the first time, silver.”

“The inclusion of silver in the State Fund’s acquisition strategy marks a departure from recent trends. While central banks around the globe, particularly Russia, have set records in gold purchases following international sanctions, silver has largely remained off their radar. This latest development suggests that silver’s role in Russia’s financial strategy may be evolving.”

Silver American Eagle Coin
U.S. Mint American Silver Eagle Coin

As we reported in September (China’s Silver Takeover), China has also been adding to its silver reserves.  Higher volumes in silver trading and premium prices being paid in Asian markets are evidence of a new focus on silver, and what has been called a strategic effort to drain away the West’s resources.

We may have saved the most important point for last.  A new report by Metals Focus, a London-based independent precious metals research firm (a synopsis here), points out that between surging demand in our digital and solar era, and dwindling mine production, only existing above ground silver stock will be able to fill the gap between supply and demand.  That is a classic recipe for surging prices.  

Are you ready for the silver shortage?  Consider this an invitation to speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional to position yourself for the future of silver.


Can You Survive Dollar De-Dollarization?

You’ll need Gold and Silver to Do it!

 It’s the question the mainstream financial media should be asking but doesn’t.  While they remain behind events unfolding, year after year the Mises Institute takes dead aim at the economic realities others prefer to ignore.

This month a Mises article asks “Can America Survive Global De-Dollarization?”  We will share a couple of important points, but we prefer to reframe the question, asking if you and your family can survive de-dollarization.

The article focuses on the obvious threat that between purchasing power loss – inflation, depicted on the adjoining chart – and the use of the dollar as a tool of US foreign policy by means of sanctions rendering some foreign-held dollars useless, we could see an avalanche of de-dollarization.

We not only think it is likely as we have been warning, but we also see it as inevitable and indeed already underway.

The loss of the dollar’s preferred status as the preferred unit of global trade, what a French finance minister dubbed an “exorbitant privilege,” it spells reduced demand for dollars, making things more costly for those that need that issue dollar-denominated debt. It will cost the American people dearly:

This would shock the United States economy with massive price increases on consumer goods while crippling the local, state, and federal governments because deficit spending will no longer be possible if no one buys the debt. In this scenario, states like California and New York might find themselves turning to the federal government for some type of bailout while smaller states with more balanced budgets might find themselves wondering why they should be paying the bill for someone else’s reckless spending that they had no part of, which in turn could create a crisis of unity among the United States of America.

As the world repudiates the incredible shrinking dollar, what will replace it?  In truth there is no governmental or national currency that is any more reliable.  We recall one author telling us years ago that when the dollar fails, people will turn to the International Monetary Fund’s sketchy “Special Drawing Rights.”

Not bloody likely.

Deceived by one phony, unbacked made-up currency – the dollar – it is not even conceivable that the SDR, with which people are unfamiliar and which depends on backing by the poor American taxpayers anyway, will rise by acclamation instead.

And in fact, the Mises article notes that another monetary unit is rising instead:


Part of what is propping up the US dollar’s dominance is the fact that there is not an alternative ready to replace it. However, there has been speculation that gold—whose price is up 25% this year—could be that alternative, and the price increase is a reflection of the demand from other countries buying it to fill their central banks.

As the article notes, the end of fiat money, money made of nothing but thin air and a few digital bookkeeping entries will be at hand.  How will you and your family do in this era of a failing currency and declining American solvency?  If you have prepared with gold and silver, as foreign central banks and astute trend watchers are doing, you will have taken prudent steps to insulate yourself as much as possible from the dramatic shift away from the dollar’s exorbitant privilege.  It may have been nice while it lasted and with honest management it might have lasted longer.

But today, it is what it is.  And what it is is over!


Don’t Let These Guys Anywhere Near Monetary Policy

The disastrous economists are a signal to buy gold!

Like other disasters, hurricanes are bad for the economy.  So are most Washington economists.  The destructive effects of both are frightful and when these “disastrous economists” are making monetary policy, it is a very good time to own gold!

Year in and year out, statist economists and their followers are like an echo chamber with this nonsense touting the economic stimulus to be had from natural disasters and wars, and the benefits of rebuilding.  Some examples:

  • Let’s start with former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman and New York Fed President William Dudley who explained on CNBC a few years ago that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma actually would lead to increased economic activity over the long run: 

“The long-run effect of these disasters unfortunately is it actually lifts economic activity because you have to rebuild all the things that have been damaged by the storms.”

“I would expect that by the time we get to the end of the year and early 2018, the transitory negative effects of this storm I think will be over and we actually will start to see some of the benefits of the rebuilding efforts in terms of boosting the economy,” Dudley said.

  • No one can illustrate this class of reasoning more effectively than Larry Summers, himself a former World Bank chief economist, U.S. Treasury secretary, Harvard president, and Kennedy School professor. After the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Summers went on display:

“This is clearly going to add complexity to Japan’s challenge of economic recovery. It may lead to some temporary increments ironically to GDP as a process of rebuilding takes place. In the wake of the earlier Kobe earthquake Japan actually gained some economic strength.”

  • Every disaster brings these no-nothings out.  Bush administration Labor Secretary Elaine Chao gave voice to the same view in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

“There is a bright spot in that new jobs do get created. And in the rebuilding.  New Orleans, for example, is going to see one of the biggest construction booms that they have ever seen. So in the aftermath and the rebuilding of a devastated area, there will be a tremendous array of new jobs that are being created. And that is going to help the economic development.”

  • President George Bush expressed the belief that spending on his elective Iraq war was good for the economy, saying, “I think actually the spending in the war might help with jobs . . . because we’re buying equipment, and people are working.” 

Who are these people?  These disastrous economists pop up every time there is a natural disaster to proclaim how wonderful its impact in stimulating economic growth will be.

When government economists, Fed economists, academic economists are disastrous economists, when they are in charge of monetary policy, it is time to run, not walk, to stock up on gold!  Because they are out of their minds. 

It stems from a childish misconception as Frédéric Bastiat, the French economist and statesman, explained in an essay written more than 150 years ago.  Bastiat wrote that destruction is not profit in an easy to understand a piece known as The Broken Window.  

Bastiat’s reasoning, applied to the above situations, is this.  Before the hurricanes, the homes, the bridges, the power lines, and the roads were intact.  The money that will be used to rebuild them could have been used for new things, for additional wealth in the form of additional homes bridges, power lines, and roads.  But now it is used merely to restore what already existed.

Before the earthquakes and the tsunami in Japan, the places destroyed by them already existed.  The capital that went to rebuild those places was no longer available for additional infrastructure.  

After New Orleans was devastated by the floods, the money that went to rebuild New Orleans was no longer available to be used for new projects.  Before the flood there were both the intact city and the capital.  After the floods, the city was rebuilt, but the capital was spent on replacement bricks and mortar, on replacement lumber and asphalt, on replacement bridges and sewers, on replacement schools and homes that were in existence but were destroyed in the floods.  That capital merely restored the status ante quo, the prior state of affairs.

Before Bush’s elective war in Iraq, the schools, homes, hospitals, roads, sanitation facilities, and other infrastructure that were ultimately destroyed were in existence.  Making the US taxpayers rebuild what the war destroyed – schools, homes, hospitals, roads, sanitation facilities, and other infrastructure – left Americans with a mushrooming national debt.  

That burden of that debt doesn’t simply disappear because the disastrous economists don’t notice it.

When these people are in charge – and they dominate in both Republican and Democrat circles and administrations – you can be sure that the money system will be fraudulent, and the currency will be on a trajectory to zero.  People who think destruction creates wealth are the same people who think they can create wealth by printing more dollars.

Buy gold and silver to protect yourself from disastrous economists!


When Things Fall Apart… Gold!

It’s like the pandemic all over again with shortages of toilet paper, bottled water, and other consumer goods.   

Friends in Tennessee describe bare shelves in big warehouse stores as people load up on goods for those in trouble in neighboring North Carolina. Same thing in Florida.

But it’s not just because Hurricanes Milton and Helene has washed away homes, bridges, and roads leaving a death toll in the hundreds.  People are grabbing provisions not just because of floods and impassable roads.  

While parts of Tennessee, like North Carolina and Florida, were inundated, hundreds of Tennessee national guardsmen that should have been available for disaster assistance, were just deployed to the Mideast.  Add to the picture the threat of the dockworkers strike and the spread of war.  Check out social media with people expressing their fear of forthcoming shortages of medicine and perishable food as well.  

Although the dockworkers strike has been settled, or at least delayed for now, it puts a sharp focus on the vulnerability of our supply chains.  Why shouldn’t people be concerned?  The establishment media are megaphones for the government, assuring us that everything is under control.  Under whose control?  Biden’s?  Washington’s?

Please!


Here’s a story on the financial news website ZeroHedge that encapsulates what we are describing:

America Last: After Spending $640 Million On Migrants And Billions Abroad, FEMA Suddenly ‘Broke’

The Biden-Harris administration’s ‘America Last’ policies have left the country vulnerable. Between draining the strategic petroleum reserve, sending hundreds of billions in cash and equipment to Ukraine (such as electrical transformers that are now needed for Hurricane Helene), and FEMA spending $640 million to help migrants, the agency tasked with emergency preparedness is now ‘broke,’ and doesn’t have enough money to get through hurricane season which typically lasts through November.

We wish we could tell you it’s just a one-off event from the hurricane, but America’s infrastructure is in disrepair everywhere.  That’s because we spent trillion destroying and rebuilding counties like Iraq.  

The Rutherford Institute:

A water main breaks every two minutes somewhere in the U.S., resulting in contaminated drinking supplies and boil water notices.

One out of three bridges in the U.S. needs repair, endangering hundreds of millions of commuters. More than 42,000 bridges across the country, carrying about 167 million vehicles each day, are in disrepair.

It is estimated that 300 million people could face power outages across the United States between 2024 and 2028, due in large part to widespread power grid failures.

While the dockworkers were getting ready to walk, and floods ruled Asheville, and with America’s wars spreading, Bank of America customers experienced widespread shutdowns during which they couldn’t access their accounts or balances.  The company called it a “glitch.”  Maybe so.  But who can be blamed when the know that BofA has been closing branches like crazy this year.  And those that follow the financial news know that that Warren Buffett just sold $1.5 billion dollars of BofA stock.   

What are people supposed to think?  Are we supposed to wait for the New York Times and the Washington Post to figure things out?

Please!


The problem is that trust in all our institutions is failing.  After covering up Joe Biden’s cognitive incapacity for years, and now trying to portray Kamala Harris as the smartest woman since Madam Curie (and by the way, Kamala was never the border czar no matter what we said when we called her the border czar!) the media’s credibility is a joke.

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

We think it was Bill Bonner who once said, “When the money goes, everything goes.”  It is true.  The American monetary system has been dishonest for generations and now it is catching up with us.  That’s why we’ve just experienced the worst inflation in 40 years, and people around the world are de-dollarizing.  Our commentaries here on the Republic Monetary Exchange blog are like a play-by-play account of the money going bad and everything falling apart.

Now another wave of Fed money printing is on the drawing board just as it appears that inflation is beginning to tick up again.

Are you ready?  


Debt, Dollar, and Destruction

Washington keeps piling on unsustainable costs for Americans.  Owning gold now “increasingly important!”

A new fiscal year for the Federal government began on October 1.  The acknowledged US national debt has now hit $35.6 trillion.

Let us tell you what happened during the fiscal year 2024.  It began at the beginning of October 2023 with a national debt of $33.442 trillion dollars.  Then, just days ago, on October 1, 2024, when the new fiscal year got underway, the national debt had reached $35.668 trillion.  

That means that the nation debt grew by $2.226 trillion during the just ended fiscal year.  

You can track these numbers for yourself as they change at the US Treasury’s “Debt to the Penny” website.  If you prefer you can track the change between September 30, 2023, and September 30, 2024.  But either way that’s a lot of red ink!

It’s not just because Washington is incontinent – it won’t restrain its spending – but in part the deficit explosion is now out of their hands.  Higher market interest rates have led to a near doubling of interest on the debt over the last two years.

In other words, things are starting to get real!

What you don’t see!  Death by a thousand regulations!

It’s not just the overt spending that burdens the economy and takes money from the pockets of the American people.  Regulatory costs quietly raise the price of everything so that the consumer dollar doesn’t go as far.  And under that category, regulatory costs, the Biden-Harris administration has set new world indoor records.

From a new report by The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Majority Staff:  

Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has imposed an estimated $1.7 trillion in new federal regulatory costs2 in its effort to push its left-wing agenda. To place this staggering figure in context, even the highest available estimate of the cumulative costs of regulations imposed by all administrations comes in at $3.079 trillion through 2022. This means that the Biden-Harris Administration has imposed over half of cumulative federal regulatory costs—and it did so in less than four years.

As one study recently reported, the Biden-Harris Administration is on pace to impose in just four years nearly double the costs the Obama Administration imposed in its entire eight years in office.8 In present value, the Biden-Harris Administration’s excessive regulations impose costs of $47,136 per U.S. household—a shocking toll that promises to harm, not help, American households and the U.S. economy.


Someone sent us this response from an AI source on owning gold.  It’s not bad:

In light of this exploding federal debt, owning physical gold becomes increasingly important as a hedge against potential economic uncertainties. Gold has historically served as a store of value and a safe-haven asset during times of economic turmoil and currency devaluation. As the national debt grows, there are concerns about the long-term stability of the U.S. dollar and the potential for inflation. Physical gold provides investors with a tangible asset that is not tied to any government’s fiscal policies or debt obligations, offering a means to preserve wealth and protect against the erosion of purchasing power that may result from excessive government borrowing and potential currency devaluation.


To learn more about wealth and personal protection with gold and silver, visit with a Republic Monetary Exchange professional today.  Because, as we said. Things are starting to get real!


“The Day the Dollar Died” Is Coming!

What’s your plan for the cataclysmic reckoning?

“Only a dwindling number of denialists doubt that a cataclysmic reckoning, including double-digit damage to Americans’ income growth, lies ahead. It’s past time to prepare.”

It sounds like what we have been increasingly warning about.  Only this time it didn’t come from us.  Somehow it made it onto the Opinion page of The Washington Post.

By the time the WP notices something like this, the hour is drawing nigh!

The column didn’t pussyfoot around about the coming crisis.  Written by Mitch Daniels, a former governor of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, and co-Chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, it bore a serious title:  ‘The Day the Dollar Died’ is coming. What’s the plan?”

Of course, there is no plan.   

Here is how Daniels frames the issue:

With debts already about to surpass the nation’s entire GDP, and adding close to $2 trillion more this year, only a dwindling number of denialists doubt that a cataclysmic reckoning, including double-digit damage to Americans’ income growth, lies ahead. It’s past time to prepare….

Maybe the most likely of many possible triggering events is the day when — not if — tens of millions of Americans are told that the trust funds are not trustworthy, and that the safety-net benefits they have been receiving are about to be reduced, perhaps drastically.

Daniels says more hopefully than realistically that this country doesn’t need another gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole or other muckety-muck meeting at Aspen or Sun Valley next year.  He’s calling for a gathering of serious, responsible people to plan what Federal assets will have to be sold, who among Uncle Sam’s countless creditors gets paid, how much of a haircut US bond holders will have to take, and what happens when there is no money for Social Security benefits and Medicare.  

Oh yes, and how to explain to the poor unsuspecting American people how this was allowed to happen. The sense of naked betrayal is likely to provoke “violent reactions.”

Of course, the perpetrators of this outrage are all right there in plain sight and have been for generations.  The are in the universities, and in think tanks, and on TV panels and running for re-election in every state in the Union.  And they will slip the dragnets and run away into the night like the thieves they are.

And most of the American people, their lives turned upside down, will wonder how this happened to them.  Our hat is off to Daniels for making clear that the money is running out.  Our only objection is that there can be no collective, political, government “plan” at this point.  Deferring to government plans is what got us in this mess.

The only hope rests in the plans of individuals, the private plans by farsighted people to arrange their own affairs themselves, and not to wait for a big central plan to ride to their rescue.

Those individual plans must rely on real money, gold and silver, because phony paper and deceitful digital dollars will be among the first things to go.

Begin making your own plan today.  Consult with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist about gold for wealth protection and silver for personal protection.


Inflate or Die!

It’s really just Economics 101.  Normally if there is a huge bumper crop of oranges next year in Florida, or if the weather is great and it’s a record year for corn growers in the farm belt, you know that prices of oranges or corn will go down.  

Since interest rates are the cost of borrowing money, how exactly does the Federal Reserve make the price of money go down?  They have to make more of it.  Whether by old fashioned printing, by digital methods, or by some other means, they have to somehow increase the supply of money and credit.  A bumper crop of printed dollars.  Economics 101.

So that is what the Fed committed to doing last week in contriving lower interest rates.  It is inflating (expanding) the supply of money and credit.  That’s where we get the term “inflation.”

Now some of the reasons for inflating are publicly discussed by officials.  When a slowdown looms, they want to “stimulate” the economy.  But stocks and residential real estate are at record highs.  Why a rate cut at all, much less a big one?  You would not be wrong to notice that we are less than two month from the election.  We are on record repeatedly advising that the Fed would cut rates to benefit Democrats.  Anyone who thinks the Fed wouldn’t act in a partisan way simply doesn’t know much about the historical record.

But there is another reason the Fed has chosen to inflate, and that it will continue to do so that they don’t talk about:  Washington has to inflate or it is game over.  Richard Russell, the late market analyst and Dow Theory Letters author, famously boiled Washington’s options down to this phrase: “Inflate or die!”

What does that mean?  

Today the US debt is so huge – $35.4 trillion! – that paying the interest alone costs Uncle Sam $3 billion per day!  Driving interest rates lower help keep a lid for now on the compounding debt.  After all, imagine if the underlying interest rate on that debt doubled.  The interest cost would double!  But lowering the rate marginally is a band aid fix that won’t last longer that a summer housefly.  The underlying debt keeps growing anyway.  This fiscal year the debt will increase by more than $2 trillion!  (Sorry for all the exclamation marks and the italics, be want to make clear that these numbers are in the gargantuan order!)

In plain language the US national debt is metastasizing.  High rates are part of the problem.  So Russell is right:  There is just no way for Washington to pay its bills honestly.   It can declare bankruptcy.  But that’s game over; that is the die part.  Or it can inflate, drag things out by trying to keep their interest expense down with lower rates, and try to keep the interest paid with cheaper inflated dollars.  Ergo, inflate or die.

That’s just a brief description.  It is why you need to protect yourself from the dollar.

Under the circumstances, Russell also said something else very important:  “It’s always a good time to buy gold!”


Secret Gold Buying?

Saudi Arabia joins China in quiet gold acquisitions!  Have you thought about doing the same?

There appears to be a sharp rise in secret, off-the-books gold buying by foreign central banks.  

Based on World Gold Council reports and other sources, Saudi Arabia has cranked up its gold buying machine.  Since 2022 the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority appears to have added 160 tons of gold.

Much of this activity is unreported, secretive gold buying, only able to be pieced together by comparing gold movements from elsewhere with other reported financial data.

You can be sure that with the US freezing dollar assets of sovereign nations like Russia, other countries are doing what the Saudis are doing and moving assets out of jeopardy and into non-dollar alternatives.  And much of it could be unreported.

China is leading the world in off-the record gold acquisitions, according to those that track its activities closely.  But these days it takes a little sleuthing.  And why not?  Prudent individuals like to keep their investments private, too.  Especially when theft is proliferating.

It was not that long ago that the currency reserves of many of the world’s central banks was reasonably well reported.  Those countries that didn’t disclose much didn’t matter much.  Think China before Deng Xiaoping. 

But in the decades since then China’s reserves matter very much.  Not only because it is a formidable world economic power, but also because Uncle Sam in dependent on foreign nations like China to lend him money.  

One thing is clear.  China’s US dollar reserves are shrinking.  And its gold reserves are growing.  There was a time that China held $1.3 trillion of US government debt.  This summer that number slipped to $780 billion.  Meanwhile its gold holdings have gone way, way up.

As we have reported in the past, besides what is transparent in the Peoples Bank of China, gold is being secretly held by the army, the Chinese youth league, and the Communist party.

This is an object lesson for the individual American investor.  Countries are rightfully afraid of the US stealing its assets.  Uncle Sam’s record with its own people, from bank holidays to gold confiscation, is grim as well.  But that is only a concern in times of economic and monetary stress… like these!

Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist today.  It’s a matter of prosperity and wealth preservation.


Take a Look at the Gold and Silver Bull Market!

A picture is worth a thousand words!

The gold bull market has outperformed both stocks and fixed income indices for the past two years.  And the silver story in one word:  Wow!

As we write these observations, spot gold is $2,673.  

Here is a chart showing the history of gold prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange during that two-year period. It reflects a move of about 65 percent.  

It’s not hard to understand what is driving the gold market.  The highest inflation in 40 years has added to gold’s luster, not to mention Wahington’s blow-off spending and devil-may-care debt.  But it is not just domestic concerns behind the bull market.  There are global dynamics.

The turn to gold and the move by foreign central banks to de-dollarize their reserves clearly demonstrates that we are entering a new global order.  The world realizes that the dollar is not just a monetary risk, it is a political risk as well.  With that in mind we continue to warn you that global de-dollarization is still in its early stages.  It will continue to eat into the dollar’s purchasing power and do great damage to the American standard of living.

That brings us to a discussion of war.  We appear to have inched much closer to a global nightmare.  Although the mainstream media remains impervious to reality – as usual – the best-informed sources report that we are in the riskiest position we have been in since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Spot silver as we write is $31.98.   It’s high this year is $32.63.   

Silver typically lags the gold market.  That happens in the early stages of the bull market.  But when silver, which is by nature more volatile, gets going it often outperforms gold itself, often dramatically!  

Here is a two-year silver chart from the CME.  It reflects a move of 75 percent over the two-year period.  To repeat ourselves:  Wow!  75 percent!

But take note of this.  Even with its dramatic climb over the past two years, silver is still far below its all-time highs of $50 per ounce.  Stated differently, the opportunities in silver, like gold, remain substantial.

One last picture to clarify where we are headed.  Here is a long-term gold chart, beginning in 1970, just a few months before President Nixon repudiated America’s promise to redeem its paper money with gold.

 The long-term consequences continue to unfold and will do so until at last the irredeemable US paper dollar is nothing but a historical curiosity.

A 50+ year trend!

GOLD FROM BEGINNING OF 1970 UNTIL NOW


Goldman Sachs Says “Go for Gold!”; ING Says “Just Getting Started”

The Gold and Silver Bull Market is Just Warming Up!


There is no puzzle to the strength of the precious metals markets this year.  It’s really very simple.  And if you understand it, you will agree with the experts we cite herein that the bull market is just getting started.  
In fact, their forecasts could be in the rear-view mirror in no time!

Gold is the preferred near-term long, and the favorite hedge against geopolitical and financial risks of Goldman Sachs, the influential investment banking giant.  It expects gold to reach $2,700 next year.  

Sachs says, “Go for gold!”  It cites Fed policy, emerging market central bank buying, a tripling in central bank purchases since mid-2022, and expectations of continuing structural US sovereign debt issues for its gold target.  

Nomi Prins, former Goldman Sachs managing director and author of the best-selling book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World, shared the bullish Goldman Sachs outlook with her subscribers.  Prins writes, “For gold, something new is emerging…. Unlike the last several years, Western capital from the U.S. to Europe has been shifting back into the gold market. If gold has experienced a notable rally without this shift, it’s reasonable to suggest that, driven by Fed rate cuts, this pattern could unlock even more momentum in a post-Fed-rate-cut world.”

ING Group, the Dutch multinational financial services firm, shares Goldman Sach’s outlook.  It says the bull market is “just getting started.”  Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist at ING, expects gold to average $2,580 in the fourth quarter.  

The fourth quarter doesn’t start for weeks and as we write that price is just a whisker away!   

“Gold’s upward momentum will continue next year with 2025 prices averaging $2,700,” said Manthey. 

They may all need to update their forecasts soon!  

We noted in a recent post that author Doug Casey says once gold gets going, $200 silver is easy to foresee.

It can all be explained easily.  The most widely used currency here in the US and around the world is the US dollar.

But the management team responsible for the dollar actually quietly works for something other than the resilience of the dollar.  The Federal Reserve was created by the money center banks to serve their interests.  That is why no matter how inept and costly their policies are to you, the Fed races to their creators’ rescue at the expense of the American people.  If the Fed needs to print trillions of dollars – creating sticker shock at the grocery stores for you and me – it will do so to bail out the banks and their plutocrats from their own practices.  And we might note, so that those in the upper echelon of the crony banks get their bonuses, too.  It’s been very, very good for the richest people in America as is evident from this chart comparing the net worth of the top one percent to GDP.

Along the way, the Fed has to serve the interests of the elected classes as well.  It is always willing to print trillions for their vote-buying schemes and their elective wars, too.

To put it differently, when the dollar was reliable, that is to say when it was gold, there was no need for the Fed to pump and dump dollars into the economy, or to raise rates to fight the inflation that it caused in the first place.  In the worlds of David Stockman, “The dollar was convertible into gold and that was all the anti-inflation machinery that was needed.”

So, a lot of digital ink gets spilled by market watchers – us included – to keep our followers abreast of what’s coming next, but much of it is unnecessary.  If you watch the recklessness of Washington and the Fed, curators of the dollar, a long-term gold and silver bull market is pretty easy to foresee.


Attention! Deficit Disorder!

No Wonder Gold is Flying High!

Things are out of control and won’t get better!  That’s why gold is up more than 34 percent in the last 12 months!

Washington’s fiscal year ends in just a couple of weeks and it’s going to be a doozie!  No wonder gold is flying!

Bloomberg News:

The US federal budget deficit surged in August with one month to go until the end of the fiscal year as higher interest costs continued to weigh on the overall balance.

The $1.9 trillion gap for the 11 months through August was up 24% from the same period last year, Treasury Department data released Thursday (9/12) showed. For the month of August alone, the deficit was $380 billion.   

That story comments on the official deficit news through the end of August.  However now, only weeks later in the middle of September, the annual deficit is already over $2 trillion!  That means the Federal government is spurting red ink at the rate of $5.50 billion per day!

That is a serious deficit disorder!

Economist Stephanie Pomboy commented on X, “QE infinity coming soon. No wonder gold is flying.”

Make no mistake about the seriousness of this situation.  Uncle Sam now has to borrow money to pay the interest on its debts.  Imagine if you had to borrow money on your MasterCard to pay the interest on your Visa.  

The gross national debt is about $35.4 trillion.  That’s 123 percent of the total productivity of the US economy (GDP).  That’s a world indoor record!  It’s higher than the World War II debt to GDP ratio.  And that was the result of a war.  You know, Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, the Normandy invasion, the Battle of the Bulge.  

The main battle now is the one with the politicians buying every vote they can so they can get re-elected.  Only in their self-important dreams can that compare with Okinawa, the Battle of Manila, or Anzio. 

In 1980 the debt was less than 35 percent of GDP.  Even in 2000 it was only 56 percent.  Now, to repeat, it’s 123 percent. 

One of the little-known reasons the Fed has to lower rates:  Its rate hikes over the last two years have sent interest costs on the national debt soaring.  Today the interest expense on Washington’s debt is a staggering $3 billion per day. That is not just a meaningless number.  It is money that the American people have to come up with.  They pay it by one means or another:  by taxation, inflation, or shifting as much of the debt burden as they can onto their kids.  Last year interest expense on the US debt amounted to $2,868 for every person living in the US. 

But as the announcers say on the late-night TV commercials, “But wait!  There’s more!”

Despite the mind-bobbling irresponsibility of Washington’s letting things get out of hand, please bear in mind that we’re not even talking today about the hidden US debt, which is now up to about $219 trillion.  That is money Washington has promised to pay to widows and orphans, and disabled veterans and retirees.  Those are unfunded promises Washington has made to people who count on those promises to make ends meet.  

Let there be no doubt about what we are saying.  There is going to be a lot of pain. Suffering that is immeasurable is headed the way of people for relying on the most scandalous governing class this nation has ever seen.

Please get out of the way of this train wreck by keeping your wealth in the real and enduring money of the ages, gold and silver.  You won’t be able to avoid some of the flying debris of a nation undergoing a high-speed collision with monetary reality, but you will have highly desirable monetary assets in the crisis.

Most people won’t.


This Isn’t What “Land of the Free” was Supposed to Mean

Why we get deficits, debts, inflation, and why gold goes up!

“Free stuff!  Step right up!  Get your free stuff now!”

Washington politics has become nothing less than a bunch of carney barkers!  

“Quick grab your Obama phone and hurry!”

The House Budget Committee has gone through the Harris-Walz economic proposals, and it is a grab bag of goodies that would put your typical Washington wastrel to shame.  And that’s pretty hard to do!

The report notes that “since the Biden-Harris Administration assumed office, the average family of four must pay an additional $17,169 per year, or $1,431 per month, to purchase the same goods and services.  But Kamala has more of the same in store for you.

Here’s a link so you can go through their analysis for yourself if you have the stomach for it.

To save some time, here are just a couple of the free stuff bullet points selected by the Committee to Restore Prosperity:

  • Free Child care: Kamala cosponsored S. 1806, the Child Care for Working Families Act, which would create new federal entitlement programs for child care. Cost: $600 billion over the next decade.
  • Free parental leave: Kamala supported a plan to create a government-mandated parental leave, which she would have paid for by imposing new payroll taxes on families.
  • Free Health Care: In 2019, then-Presidential candidate Harris rolled out her Medicare for All proposal, which included coverage for more than 11 million illegal immigrants. Projected to cost $44 trillion over ten years.
  • Free College: In 2017 Harris was an original cosponsor of Bernie Sanders’ plan for free college, S.806, College for All Act of 2017. Cost: $600 billion over the next decade.
  • Free Child Rearing Expenses: Harris proposed Expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and making it fully refundable (a cash grant) of up to $6,000 in first year of life. Cost: $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
  • Free Down payment on Home Purchase: Kamala would provide a tax credit of up to $25,000 to first-time homebuyers, further boosting demand for home ownership and lead to higher home prices. Cost: $100 billion over the next decade.

And that doesn’t even include free sex-change operations of illegal aliens.

Somehow, we don’t think that when Francis Scott Key wrote that line in our national anthem about the land of the free that this is what he had in mind!

But that is what we have become.  Now do you think the paper dollar can last?  


Boom or Bust!


True, governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late and to bring about a depression.  

-Ludwig von Mises

Where are we in the inflation, artificial interest rate, money-printing game right now?

We’re right in the middle of it.  Which is why we are in a gold bull market.

The great economist Ludwig von Mises who provided us the epigram above, is who people think of when they think the Austrian hangover theory.  It is a cogent and easily understood explanation for our modern inflation.

And it will shine a light on where we are going!

It’s actually called the Austrian malinvestment theory or business cycle theory.  But a hangover is pretty easy to understand.  It’s an explanation that fits the bill perfectly.  It likens central bank monetary management to the bouts of drug and alcohol addicts. 

In the early stages a little inflation seems to have some pleasurable effects, so central banks like the Federal Reserve print money to juice the economy.  They even call it stimulating the economy. 

Luwig von Mises and Friedrich A. Hayek

But in truth, when interest rates are artificially low, lower than the abundance of capital would provide, or near zero, people overextend.  Borrowers borrow more.  The stimulated economy looks like it will run forever.  Never mind that the signals that are being broadcast throughout the economy are misleading about real conditions of money and credit.  Businesses expand, stocks roar, homebuyers buy bigger more expensive homes.  

It’s like a first-time user.  He may experience a novel high or get blindingly drunk.  But then comes the hangover.  The free, loose money, or artificially low interest rates will eventually end.  The bubble will burst and it can be very painful.  We have seen it before:  when the stock market has been fueled by unsustainably cheap credit; when people have purchased homes that they couldn’t normally afford; when builders have built more homes than can be sold under normal conditions.   And inevitably the bubble bursts. 

The hangover is the economy’s effort to liquidate or correct unsustainable conditions.  The economy is clearing excesses and returning to normal conditions.  A recession is a correction of those excesses, as consumers tighten down and companies lay off workers.   

But during the hangover, in the aftermath of the binge that should never have happened to begin with, the pain of withdrawal is so great that Wall Street/Big Banks/consumers/politicians plead for another fix:  Lower interest rates again!  Give us another hit of monetary stimulus!  More inflation? Sure, who cares?

Rather than letting the toxic effects of the binge get metabolized, the addict takes another fix; for the alcoholic, the hangover is answered with another drink. For chronic addicts the old doses eventually lose the desired effects. 

You can see where this is going.  The old dosages don’t give the user the same high.  

When you read about some celebrity dying of an overdose it’s usually the same sort of thing: bigger and bigger doses to get the same high they got when they first started. In the economy, bigger doses of monetary easing are required try to re-inflate the bubble.

So the Fed puts the pedal to the metal.  And starts lowering rates to offset the pain caused by its prior monetary interference.  The addict takes another hit.

And that is where we are today.  We are staring at a recession.  Credit card debt is running away as consumers try to pay the higher prices engineered by the last round of inflation.  Consumers saving are in the tank because 44 percent of respondents in a recent survey said they aren’t making enough take-home pay to cover their daily expenses. 

The Fed wants to avoid the painful consequences of its own policies.  So it will compound the problem with more of the same policies.  It has telegraphed that it will start cutting rates – inflating – pronto!    

The gold market has been setting new all-time highs because it sees exactly where this is headed.


China’s Silver Takeover


If you own silver, wish you owned silver, or are thinking about owning silver some day, the headlines in a recent Jerusalem Post story should grab your attention and not let go:

CHINA’S STRATEGIC SILVER TAKEOVER: A CALCULATED MOVE TO DRAIN THE WEST

China hoarding silver, price 10% higher than West. Secret weapon or economic warfare?


Here’s the lead:

A Hidden War for Economic Dominance

While the world has been focused on the geopolitical tensions between China and the West, a more subtle battle has been unfolding in the global financial markets. China, through a series of calculated moves, has been quietly accumulating vast quantities of gold and silver. This move has signaled a potential shift in the global economic landscape and highlights the developing countries’ need for exorbitant amounts of resources.

Silver: China’s Secret Weapon

In addition to its gold hoarding, China has also been strategically increasing its silver reserves. The Shanghai Metals Exchange has seen a significant surge in silver trading volume, with prices consistently higher than those on Western exchanges. This suggests that China may be deliberately driving up the price of silver to drain the West’s resources.

China has a silver stockpile of 71,000 metric tons.  America is seventh on the list of silver stockpiles with only 23,000 metric tons.  

Peru, because it is “the silver-producing powerhouse,” is in first place with silver reserves of 98,000 tons.  China is next, followed by Poland (65,000 t0ns), Russia (45,000 tons), Australia (27,000 tons), and Chile (26,000 tons).

The Post article points to the possibility of a silver squeeze similar to the one in 1979-80 that sent prices racing to new highs: “If investors begin to panic and rush to buy silver, the price could skyrocket, causing significant disruptions to the global economy.”  

Author and commentator Doug Casey says he’s very bullish on silver based on its technological applications and the relatively small size of the silver market.  “When gold really gets underway,” he says, “silver could easily go to $200 an ounce.

If Samsung’s recent breakthrough in silver solid-state batteries matures, we think that price estimate is woefully low.  One analyst forecasts that the Samsung technology will deliver a battery with a 600-mile range and a nine-minute charge.  It would, he estimates, require as much as one kilogram of silver per vehicle.

If you own silver, you may want to add to your position.  If you wish you owned silver, or are thinking about owning silver someday, we advise you to wait no longer.

Find out more about profit and personal protection opportunities with silver by contacting an RME precious metals specialist today.


When Russia Made Paper Currency Worthless to Its Citizens

The failures of government currencies are the rule.  They are not the exception.  There are more paper and other government money failures than we could possibly cover, but we’ve taken a close-up look at many of them over the years including the big ones like the German inflation a hundred years ago.  Or the Zimbabwe inflation.  That was one for the record books, too.

But there’s one currency failure that we haven’t written about.  The one in Russia that took place after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  One of our favorite journalists, Matt Taibbi was there, a working reporter on the scene, when it happened.

Here are some of his memories from his Substack newsletter:

In Moscow on the morning of July 24th, 1993 I fixed a cup of tea, rubbed the hangover out of my eyes, and walked out to look for breakfast. I was living then above the Metro station at VDNKh, the ex-Soviet equivalent maybe of New York’s World’s Fair grounds, and saw right away something was wrong. Old women on the street were bawling, a group of men was shouting at a beat cop, and sidewalks were full of people walking in a daze, as if a neutron bomb had gone off.

The government of Boris Yeltsin had decreed it was withdrawing all old rubles from circulation. Russians who’d stuffed rubles in mattresses for decades would be wiped out, unless they could fight through huge bank lines to exchange bills. Worse, the maximum amount was 35,000 rubles, or roughly $30-$35, about 60% of a Russian’s average monthly salary of 58,700 rubles. Those who exchanged the full 35,000 had passports stamped barring all future exchanges. I’ll never forget seeing a burly woman yelling, to no one in particular: “Vori, blyad!” (“F…ing thieves!”).

“Black Saturday” is remembered as a breaking point in the arc of post-Soviet history, the moment when many Russians stopped believing a glorious new democratic future was just around the corner, if it was coming at all. A week or so after the event, on August 6th, 1993, then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin burned his name in the nation’s history books. An aphorism-spewing figure whose unique place in Russian lore is like a cross of Yogi Berra and Spiro Agnew, Chernomyrdin said one of the most purely Russian things of all time: “Hoped for better, turned out as always.”

It’s always the same basic scene.  It happens when people seem least to expect it, although the signs of trouble are everywhere.  People in panic.  Crowding into banks and official offices.  Flooding into store to buy goods with currency no one wants because it has no intrinsic value.  Angry mobs with no direction.  Crime lords getting rich on sweetheart deals from their government cronies.  Old people and young alike, crying at the betrayal, wondering how they will make ends meet.

Taibbi:

With inflation above 2500% the previous year of 1992, Russia was beginning a long period of economic suffering that wouldn’t hit climax until 1998, when the country defaulted and plunged into a crisis presaging the rise of Vladimir Putin. It’s hard to describe the disaster of the nineties in terms that will make sense to Americans. Life expectancy for men dropped seven years almost overnight, from 64 in 1990 to 57 in 1994. Deaths from disease doubled. An already heavy-drinking country saw alcoholism rise by 60%. The Lancet estimated Russia that decade saw seven million “excess deaths,” whatever that means. I know what it looked like: mass poverty, spiraling crime, and sharply rising levels of fury toward the West, largely seen as a primary culprit in designing Russia’s crony-capitalist hellscape.

The Western press, like the New York Times, called it a transition to capitalism.  But it was mostly designed by a handful of liberal Harvard academics, most of whom knew little if anything about the functioning of markets and capitalism.  How could they?  Most of them learned economics from clowns like Paul Samuelson, a central planning socialist and author of the establishment’s preferred textbook on the subject.  Samuelson is the bozo that told the students using his textbook, Economics – ubiquitous on America’s college campuses for decades – that the Soviet’s economy was going to bypass the US economy.  

Right!  

And did I mention he was a Nobel prize winner?

As we say, most of them understood nothing about markets and capitalism.

Taibbi writes that he didn’t see any capitalism; what he saw was cronyism, the creation of Russia’s famous oligarchs.  They stole everything that wasn’t nailed down.  And they tried to steal everything that was nailed down, too.

It’s cronyism by another name.  It may have been called privatization by the American lapdog press, but the Russian people had another name for it: prikhvatizatsia, or “grabitization.”

“I saw nothing that resembled capitalism or democracy in my travels,” says Taibbi.  “Competition was managed by politicians who doled out zones of commercial operation like racketeers…. This was a mafia state.”

Taibbi is older and wiser now than he was in 1993.  Today he says, “After witnessing a historic financial collapse in the former Soviet Union, I thought bad advice from Western economists was a root cause. Now I think failure was the plan.”

Yep.  The Deep State wanted Russia as a perpetual enemy even then.  And the Deep State never sleeps.

There are a million stories in the world of currency collapses.  This was just one of them.


Understanding Price Controls in 7 Easy Steps

Price controls are back on the table.  They always are when inflation has done terrible damage to the average household budget.  

Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren may try to dance away from price controls between now and the election, but if given power, they will use them.  They are a congenital part of the leftists’ agenda.  The left always works toward government controlling prices.  Because that is a most efficient means of controlling people.    

Here is everything you need to know about price controls.  The whole cycle in seven easy steps.

#1

Politicians spend money they don’t have.  They do that to buy votes and to shovel goodies to their donors and other influential cronies.  


#2

The treasury, or in our case the central bank, creates new money digitally (just by making bookkeeping entries) or by printing it.  It also artificially contrives interest rates to help the state borrow more cheaply and to goose Wall Street and the money center banks.


#3

This made-up (legally counterfeited!) money enters the economy driving prices higher.  Wall Street likes it when it inflation drives up stock prices.  But consumers don’t like it at all when the cost of everyday living gets out of control.


#4

So the beleaguered consumer screams in pain, demanding that the politicians do something.  But the politicians already did do something.  They created the inflation in the first place.  Never mind that.  They rush to help their unhappy constituents…


#5

By introducing price controls.  But with the price of the staples of life set below their production cost, producers stop bringing goods to the market.  Life begins to resemble Soviet conditions.  There are nice, low prices on groceries, but the shelves are empty.  You can buy meat from the butcher at bargain prices.  But he’s all out.


#6

Consumers are up in arms at the shortages they encounter everywhere.  It’s like a wartime economy out there!  So the politicians rush to their aid with…


#7

Rationing.  Of course, rationing does nothing to increase the amount of goods that are available, which is how prices are really lowered.   Goods are still in short supply, but giant bureaucracies and new police powers spring up to support rationing.  Black markets, favoritism, cronyism, bribery, influence peddling become the order of the day.  Otherwise law-abiding citizens are forced to become law breakers just to survive.  Crime becomes rampant.  The rule of law becomes a thing of the past – except when it is used to punish dissent and the state’s critics.


And that is the time-tested cycle.  It is a cycle that is now playing out in America, a coup de grâce for a once noble, free, and prosperous people.  In fact, we are already in the FOURTH step. 

As this cycle continues to unfold you will be very glad that you own gold and silver.  People in places that have gone through this predictable madness in other parts of the world have found that they could feed their family for a month with one silver coin.  Or pay off a mortgage with one gold coin.  

Good luck!


Why Gold is Outperforming Nearly Everything

What’s the deal with gold?  What’s going on?

Yahoo! Finance pointed out the other day that “The yellow metal has forged meteoric gains this year.”

Jared Blikre, Yahoo’s finance editor sought to explain it in an article whose headline we borrowed for this piece, “WHY GOLD IS OUTPERFORMING NEARLY EVERYTHING!”

Here is some of what he wrote:

According to BofA Global Research, gold funds just absorbed the largest inflows in four weeks, attracting $1.1 billion. Yet, the broader trend has actually seen $2.5 billion in outflows year to date, suggesting that underlying strength is coming from outside traditional fund flows.

Central banks — especially those of developing countries — have been buying the barbarous relic at a record clip. According to the World Gold Council, central banks have purchased 290 tonnes in the first quarter alone, beating out the prior Q1 record from 2023 and setting CBs on a path to record gold purchases in 2024 that are estimated to easily eclipse 1,000 tonnes.

“Not only is the long-standing trend in central bank gold buying firmly intact, it also continues to be dominated by banks from emerging markets,” wrote

In that regard, Turkey tops the buy list this year with 30 tonnes purchased in the first quarter — lifting its gold reserves to 570 tonnes. China bought 27 tonnes in Q1, making it the 17th consecutive quarter of purchases and also bringing its holdings to 2,262 tonnes. Other notable purchasers include India, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Oman, and Singapore.

The central bank buying spree has solidified gold’s status as a reserve asset. According to BofA, gold has now surpassed the euro to become the world’s largest reserve asset second only to the US dollar, representing 16% of the reserve pool.

The precious metal’s performance can be attributed to its unique position as a real asset with one of the lowest correlations to stocks across asset classes, making it a safe haven from market swings and inflation.

The popular financial press doesn’t like to write about gold, and often when it does it uses disparaging terms like “gold bug.”  There are several reasons for that.  One is that Wall Street and the major banks provide the financial press and bubblevision TV channels with most of their revenue.  And big Wall Street and the banks don’t like you to own assets like gold that you take into your own possession.  The prefer you to keep your assets “on account.”  They can make money hypothecating your stocks to others and they have more opportunities to churn adjust your portfolio when your assets are in house.   

So, we are glad for the attention we get from articles like the one above.  It’s pretty hard to ignore gold as this point anyway.

We have been calling de-dollarization the most important monetary megatrend of our time, so we don’t blame others writing about gold for featuring it.  But that is the effect of our corrupted, unbacked, irredeemable fiat monetary system.  Sure, the central bankers of the world are moving to gold.  But they are doing so not just for a change or to keep busy.  They are moving to gold because they now recognize that the US dollar will go the way of all fiat currencies.  

Or to put it differently, the dollar will return to its commodity value which is paper and ink.  Used paper and ink.


The Economy and Civil Unrest in America

We’ve already had Third World inflation, endless wars, defund the police, socialist leaders, and a currency that the whole world is backing away from! So why not be prepared? 

Consumer prices are up 39% since 2012.  If you retired in 2012 after carefully planning your household budget, too bad for you!  You could say, as we did, that consumer prices are up 39% since then, but you could also say the dollar isn’t what it used to be.

Both are right.  Bear that in mind if you are trying to plan your future retirement right now.

If you watched the endless parade of no-win American wars – wars that were never declared like the Constitution demands – maybe you wonder about all we could have done in America with all those trillions of dollars.  Or better still, what you could have done with your own money had they not taken it from you in the first place.

Maybe you watched American cities burn under Biden and Harris.  Maybe you didn’t agree with the Vice President and the rest of the Left about defunding the police.  

Maybe you are watching the rise of American socialism and the world moving away from the global dollar, and you are asking yourself:

“What’s next?”

Here’s your answer.  Civil unrest.  Just like the burning cities of a couple of years ago.  Except everywhere.  And regardless of who wins the White House.

Hedgefunder Rayn Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, wonders what the next economic downturn will be like.  “Disparity in wealth, especially when accompanied by disparity in values, leads to increasing conflict and, in the government, that manifests itself in the form of populism of the left and populism of the right and often in revolutions of one sort or another,” says Dalio.

Look at the evidence in the UK.   Like here, political protests are treated like a crime.  Crimes are treated like political protests.  Riots spread across the UK after ten people were attacked, with three young girls stabbed to death in Southport, attacked by the offspring of immigrants.  Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, the son of Rwandan immigrants, is accused of the murders.  The government is calling protests against migrants “far-right thuggery” with Prime Minister Keir Starmer looking to silence dissent and threatening protestors with “the full force of the law.”

It doesn’t take a Nostradamus to foresee that open borders bring chaos, even here in the US:  from drugs, human trafficking, economic displacement, and increased demand for taxes, to providing immigrant medical care, education, housing, welfare, and policing expenses.  Just last year it cost an estimated $150 billion and that is after taking into account whatever taxes illegals might have paid.  

That is just one among many examples of the dry tinder awaiting a spark in today’s political environment.  Protests everywhere, faltering economies, wars and rumors of wars.  

Here’s some more fuel for the fire.  The consumer has been pounded senseless by inflation.  US credit card debt has risen by more than 48 percent since the first quarter of 2021.

A woman in Dayton, Ohio offered this comment to Fox News:  “I just want the younger generations to have a future… that’s what I’m most worried about… just because I feel like America and the world is kind of all on fire.” 

There was a time that the prosperity of the country provided money to be wildly thrown at problems to keep a lid on things.  There was the Great Society, the War on Poverty, and a host of other boondoggles and wealth transfer programs.  

Some politicians are stuck in time and think this is the same prosperous country that it was back then and the problems can be bought off.  Wrong.  But they keep proposing more spending anyway.  

Nobody ever says how it will be paid for.  But for a government irretrievably in debt like our own, it has to be by inflation.

In the US, Martin Armstrong from Armstrong Economics says, “We are looking at serious civil unrest regardless of who wins in November.”  That stands to reason.  44 percent of respondents in a recent survey said they aren’t making enough take-home pay to cover their daily expenses. 

Hello?  Read that last sentence again!  44 percent!  That’s how many aren’t able to cover their daily expenses.  

And that is now, before the recession hits.

What used to be assumed to be a social contract between the governing classes and the governed has gone the way of the winds.  As far as we can tell, the governing classes are focused on stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.  Government cronies keep asking for and getting more, more, more.

Because there is no one to stop them, much less to even insist on an honest accounting for where all the peoples’ money is going, chaos is growing.  

What should you invest in to protect yourself from civil unrest?  From economic chaos?  From monetary chaos?

If thousands of years of human experience from all around the globe are any indication (and they are for good reason), the answer is gold and silver.

Enough said.


Price Controls Are Making a Comeback

Kamala Harris is cooking up price controls!  

We’re not surprised.  If you wanted to destroy the American economy, you’d come up with price controls. 

Price controls lead to shortages.  Shortages lead to rationing.  And rationing is total, top-down control by the state.  Cronyism and corruption reign supreme.   

So price controls are the road to ruin.  To the chronic shortage economy.  To Soviet-style grocery stores – remember them?  To currency destruction.  And to wiping out the middle class.  

But don’t just ask us.  Ask the people in Venezuela.  Ask the broken nations that tried them after World War II.  Ask the ancient Romans.  

Or just ask someone who remembers the empty grocery store shelves under Nixon’s price controls.

Unfortunately, Kamala Harris isn’t the only one falling for price controls.  At the beginning of the year, we ran this chart showing that a majority of the American people – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents! – support government price control as a means of controlling inflation.  

Of course, if the government really wanted to control inflation, it would stop inflating, expanding the supply of money and credit.  But instead, the government is about to start inflating more.

Since we are students of monetary history, we were more than a little concerned about the willingness of the American people to fall for it.  Here is some of what we wrote at the time about this poll:

Price controls really aren’t about controlling prices.   Prices have no volition of their own.   Instead, price controls are about controlling people.   They forbid free people from engaging in noncoercive commercial activities.  Instead, politicians institute price controls to wreak their economic toll by creating either surpluses or shortages.   

Government bureaucrats and bureaucrats have no special knowledge of the ever-changing conditions of supply and demand at any given moment.  So, when they set prices artificially, prices that aren’t free to move on their own, they are bound to be either too high or too low.  If they set prices too high surpluses result.   That is because producers attracted by the inordinately high prices produce more, while the inordinately high prices drive buyers to alternatives.

If they set prices too low, shortages result.  Producers who can’t make a profit cut back on production, while buyers buy more at the artificially low prices.

Shortages or surpluses.  Empty store shelves touting nice, low prices, or government warehouses with mountains of surplus government cheese.  Take your pick.

What does all this have to do with owning gold?  Everything.  We live in a world in which Fed bureaucrats believe they can set the price of money.  That is what interest rates are, the price of renting or borrowing money.  If the bureaucrats set interest rates artificially low, bubbles result.  Bubbles in home prices, bubbles in bonds, bubbles in stocks.   If they set interest rates too high, the bubbles they create pop, leaving behind unemployment, recessions, and depressions.

It is very possible that price controls are in our future.  Even as we write this, the Fed is plotting more inflation.  Because the American people are okay with price controls, we’ll get them during the next bout of rising prices… no matter who gets elected.

You still have time to protect yourself with gold and silver.  But you may not have long.   


Best Practices for Buying Gold

At Republic Monetary Exchange, we built our business with a policy of putting our clients first.  Our Best Practices Policy is designed to protect you.  

We have warned for years about gold dealers that pop like mushrooms when gold prices are rising.  As we have warned, some pop-up dealers ask customers to pay for their gold and silver now, and then… to wait until who knows when for it to be delivered.

We strongly recommend that you do not do that.  

We recommend Best Practices for your protection when you invest in precious metals.  

At Republic Monetary Exchange we are the industry leader in Best Practices for our clients.  We always make sure to have inventory on hand for your purchases.  Other dealers have made their clients wait for weeks on end to get delivery.  We don’t do that.  We make delivery immediately.   Right then and there.  No delays.  No excuses.

That’s why we are Arizona’s Premiere Gold and Silver Dealer.  For our valued out-of-state clients, we ship immediately, too.  Our signature service includes five-star packaging, fully insured, and expedited shipping.  No delays.  No waiting.

At Republic Monetary Exchange, we’re always surprised to learn that some people buy gold and silver from nameless, faceless voices somewhere.  That must take a lot of guts… to send money off to a boiler room 800 number somewhere.

Right now, there seems to be an explosion of these 800 number boiler rooms with call lists.  They may have even gotten your number.  The pitch changes, but right now the popular approach is for the voice on the other end to pretend you have spoken with them before, and they are calling with a special offer for new clients.  

What we have heard of their “special offers” don’t sound very “special” to us. 

But it seems to happen when gold is showing new strength. Calls from boiler rooms, splashy TV ads, companies that just opened their doors or just got a post office box, emails from people you don’t know, phone calls during dinner.  

We are also hearing complaints about warehouse stores that are trying to sell gold.  People are unhappy that the warehouse stores will not buy back the gold they sell!  

That is not a Best Practice!

At Republic Monetary Exchange, we think everyone should own gold and silver.  But this is real life.  Things happen and some time you may need to sell your gold and silver.  At Republic Monetary Exchange we will buy back your gold and silver even if you did not buy it from us!

And of course, since we follow Best Practices, when you need to sell, we make immediate payment.  Same day.  On the spot.  No risk, no waiting.  Best Practices always.  

One more thing.  Sometime one form of gold or silver will represent a significantly better value than another.  That’s just the way markets work.  Some day Coke is more or less expensive than Pepsi.  Or one cut of beef may be a better value than another.  We like to help our clients get great values when they occur.  But people tell us that the big warehouse store doesn’t give you a choice.  And they can’t even answer your questions about the markets and about buying gold and silver.

At Republic Monetary Exchange you can get all your questions answered by experienced professionals.  

We think our clients have a right to reliable information.  It’s just another part of Best Practices.  And that is how we have built our business.  

If you would like to learn more about investing in precious metals for wealth protection and profit, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional today. 


America, We Have a Problem

The pilots flying don’t know how to fly!

We don’t know how to say it nicely.  Besides, your wealth and prosperity matter too much to pussyfoot around about stuff.  So here you go:

Far from the fabled “best and brightest,” of yesteryear, today’s Washington clowns have no idea what they are doing to our economy.  But it’s not good.

All eyes have been on Jackson Hole lately were government economists gather every August.  But it is not a gathering of great minds.  It’s a gathering of pilots who don’t know how to fly the plane.  

We remember Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole a few years ago insisting that inflation was transitory.  

Hello, must we remind anyone about inflation hitting double digits in Phoenix?

We remember the Obama economic advisor enjoying the Grand Teton weather not that many summers ago where he went to explain that all we needed was more government spending.  

Hello, let us introduce you to the $35 trillion dollar US debt!

The latest huge – and costly embarrassment – was the employment report.  Just last week (8/21) the Bureau of Labor Statistics discovered that 818,000 fewer jobs were created than it had announced. That’s a pretty big miss by any standard.  From 2.90 million to 2.082 million jobs.   And the BLS was even incompetent in releasing the news of its incompetent miss on the job number, as Zero Hedge pointed out.  As it noted, many on Wall Street began to suspect that with the inflated job numbers the Biden administration was trying to cover up a labor market recession.

In any case, market participants don’t like to trade based on faulty data.  And the Fed is setting policies based on unreliable data.

Well, it wouldn’t be the first coverup of bad economic news.  But here’s the other shoe.

Biden’s commerce secretary Gina Raimondo told ABC News that she was “not familiar” with the BLS.  (She runs the US Bureau of Economic Analysis).  Not familiar?  It was unclear from the conversation if she was unfamiliar with BLS or unfamiliar with the biggest jobs revision in 15 years.  Either way, not great.

Raimondo is another player who described Joe Biden, before his decision to remove himself from the race as “sharp, focused and insightful.”  Now she’s hot off the Democrat convention circuit telling us the Kamala Harris is “pro-business.”

 The people at the Committee Unleash Restore Prosperity beg to differ.   “Harris-Walz is the most anti-business ticket by a major presidential party in our lifetimes and perhaps in American history,” they say.  

Here is their evidence:


 Kamala Proposes $5 Trillion in New Taxes – the Biggest Tax Hike in the History of the World


The Harris tax plan would:

Raise the corporate tax from 21% to 28%

• Quadruple the tax on stock buybacks from 1% to 4%

• Double the global minimum tax from 10% to 20%

• Raise the top Income tax rate from 37% to 39.6%

• Raise the corporate alternative minimum tax from 15% to 21%

• Raise the capital gains tax from 24% to 43.5%

• Impose the first-ever tax on unrealized capital gains at 25%

• Double the number of Americans subject to the death tax


One more thing that we think nails down out case that the Washington pilots do not know how to fly the plane.  We want to show you once again Jared Bernstein, the president’s chief economic advisor, about how monetary policy works.  See the utter confusion for yourself:


America, we have a problem.  We hope we have made the case for you how dangerous this widespread cluelessness is to your wealth and prosperity.  If so, reach out to us without delay to implement a plan to protect yourself and your family with gold and silver.


Staring at Stagflation

Stag + Flation + Gold


Time to brush up on what it’s like to live in a stagflationary economy once again.  Here are the three most important points:

  1. STAG –  That’s the part that describes the economy as stagnant.  It means either slow or no growth, and even economic contraction.
  2. FLATION – That’s the part that means inflation, that the money is losing value because the central bank is making more of it out of thin air. 
  3. GOLD – That’s not in the word stagflation, but as we experience in the textbook stagflation of the 1970s, gold goes up.  Way up.

So what is going on now?  Let’s start with STAG.  According to a report on CNBC, 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. is currently in a recession.  They arrive at that conclusion not by looking at the Washington statistics machine, but by looking at conditions in their own lives.  Economic growth is hard to spot.  Home Depot just warned that consumers are reining in their spending, and the company is seeing wider-than-expected declines in same-store sales.

You might want to factor in rising credit delinquencies, in both credit cards and auto loans.  Of course, the high inflation we’ve experienced under Biden makes it harder for people to pay their debt.  So much for growth.

Or you might want to consider that the average household has lost about $2,000 in spending power since Biden moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  And since Harris moved into the Naval Observatory.

How about FLATION?  The gyrations in the stock market lately will have thoroughly spooked the Federal Reserve.  Have you ever heard the term “regulatory capture”?  It means that regulatory agencies end up captured by and doing the bidding of the industries they are supposed to regulate.  The pharmaceutical industry is a perfect example of regulatory capture, but so is the Fed.  Instead of serving the people, the Fed serves Wall Street and the big banks, bailing them out time after time.  This time is no different.  The Fed will cut rates on behalf of Wall Street whether their inflation targets have been met or not.

And how does the Fed cut rates?  It buys bonds with – here it comes! – made up inflationary money!

James Rickards agrees: “The Fed will be throwing in the towel on inflation in order to calm stock markets. The Fed may end up with the worst of both worlds – continuing inflation and recession known as ‘stagflation.’”

And finally, GOLD.  You may remember two years ago when the New York Times admitted that inflation happened “more quickly than economists expected.” Government economists, that is.  And Fed economists.  For the rest of us, it was clear where Bidenomics would take us.  

Markets are pretty good and taking into account new developments before they are widely recognized.  Already the gold market sees what is coming.  That is why gold has been setting one new high after another this year.  

Stagflation is on the horizon.  Take steps to prepare for it now.  Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist today!


What Tension in Iran Means for Gold

WAR!  Better be ready!  Things are getting pretty dicey on the world stage and the Biden administration doesn’t even know how to spell diplomacy!

Amid rising geopolitical tensions on multiple fronts, we’d like to make a single point.  

Iran’s leadership has been virtually assuring the world that it will retaliate for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.  Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insists Iran has a right to respond to aggression.  Whether it will do so, we do not know, but this much is clear:  the region is becoming increasing unstable.  Economic warfare with Iran has been US policy for some time, The US has now bolstered its military presence in the region.  Cruisers.  Destroyers.  Fighters.  Escalation is a clear possibility.

What is Iran’s defensive leverage?  The flow of energy.  Oil.  LNG.   The Strait of Hormuz.  Iran has long been clear that it will act militarily to close the Strait of Hormuz in the event of an attack.

The Strait of Hormuz is a sea-lane between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. It links the otherwise landlocked Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, providing access to the world’s oceans. Twenty-one miles wide at its narrowest, the waterway is a critical choke point.  88 percent of oil from the Persian Gulf moves through Hormuz.

The world economy will come to a standstill if the Persian Gulf erupts and Hormuz is shut down.  70 percent of the oil leaving the Gulf is headed to Asia.  Asia (and Europe) will panic. Energy prices will skyrocket.   

The price of gold will explode.

The US says it can swiftly reopen the Strait if it is shut down.  Maybe.  Maybe blowing up Nord Stream says something about what USGov can do.  But that’s not good enough, because oil tankers will not go there for a long time even if the Strait can be reopened in weeks or months.  Insuring them will become impossible.

We think the market may agree with our assessment.  Gold is a sensitive barometer of geopolitical risks.  Those with long memories will note the role the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the taking of 52 American hostages played in the skyrocketing price of gold. 

The threat to energy supplies from a war with Iran may already be factoring into new record gold prices.  Never forget that gold is the world’s currency of choice in times of crisis.

Much higher gold prices can be expected if the shooting starts.

Much higher.


You Know Its Time to Buy Gold When…

…core consumer prices are up 50 months in a row!

When stock markets are in chaos…

When Warren Buffet sells half his Apple stock…

When the commercial real estate market is a mess…

When phony paper currencies like the Japanese yen get crushed…

When central bank gold buying hits one record high after another…

When the Fed starts panicking…

When the debt explodes…

When people start remembering stagflation…

When socialism is spreading…

When credit card and auto loan delinquencies are climbing…

When Warren Buffet is dumping shares of one of America’s biggest banks…

When foreign wars are growing…

When Washington won’t stop spending…

When the economy is tanking…

When all that’s happening, it’s time to buy gold!

All that is happening now.  


The Biggest Buyers of Gold Continue to Buy More

Central Banks… the biggest monetary megatrend of all time!

The world’s central banks just keep on doing what you should be doing.  They keep exchanging U.S. dollars for gold!

The numbers are in for the second quarter of 2024.  Not only was total gold demand for the second quarter the highest on record, according to the World Gold Council, a trade association, central banks increased their gold purchases six percent over the same quarter a year earlier, acquiring 184 tons of gold in the quarter.  

The first half of 2024 also set a record for central bank gold buying.


Central banks are buying gold, “for portfolio protection and diversification,” said the WGC.

According to the 2024 Central Bank Gold Reserves (CBGR) survey conducted between 19 February and 30 April with a total of 70 responses, “29 percent  of central banks respondents intend to increase their gold reserves in the next twelve months, the highest level we have observed since we began this survey in 2018.”

62 percent of central banks said they expect the US dollar’s share of foreign exchange reserves will be significantly or moderately lower in five years.  69 percent expect gold’s share of reserves to be moderately or significantly higher in five years/

We have called central bank gold purchases the world’s most important monetary megatrend.  Their reluctance to be held hostage by the mismanagement of the US dollar should be a warning to individual investors as well.

To find out more, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional today.


Reading the Fed Tea Leaves

The Federal Reserve Banking System is a political institution.  It is not a philanthropic institution, nor is it an academic one.  Nor is an honest bank, one that takes in money from willing depositors and makes loans to willing borrowers to make a spread.

The Fed is a political institution.  Its politics are hard left.  Its very existence is a tribute to leftist economics.  And it will tilt the scales of the economy to help the Democrats at the ballot box in November.

We have made this point repeatedly and wonder how anyone can possibly dispute it.

Although still far from its goal – itself made-up, unsubstantiated leftist claptrap – of a 2 percent inflation rate, we warn that the Fed will move heaven and earth (and maybe a few data points) to goose the economy just in time to help the Democrats.  

That means we expect an interest rate cut in September.

Here is Fed chairman Jerome Powell a couple of days ago.  “We think the time (for a rate cut) is approaching. If we get the data that we hope we get, a reduction in the policy rate could be on the table at the September meeting.”

A rate cut will give Kamala Harris, Karine-Jean Pierre, and Joe Biden something to crow about until election day.  And the lapdog press will run their rah-rah machine at full volume.  In fact, they won’t just turn the cheering for Bidenomics up to 10.  They’ll run it up to 11.  

That’s one louder!

The practical effect of forcing rates down is more money-printing to fund America’s $35 trillion national debt.  Usually the biggest debtors (Washington is the biggest debtor in the history of time!) have to pay higher interest rates to offset the risk that they will have trouble meeting their obligations.  But Washington will force rates down instead, and will have to run the printing presses.

It all looks very familiar to us.  We remember the inflation of the 1970s.  It appeared to be coming down, so the authorities did everything wrong and inflation rebounded massively.  

Here’s a chart:

The dashed orange line represents annual changes in the Consumer Price Index from 1966 – 1983.  The inflation rate fell, only to explode back to double-digit territory.

The blue line is the CPI from 2015 until now.  

Look how closely they track one another.  Eerie, isn’t it?

Gold prices skyrocketed, just as we expect them to now when the Fed reignites inflation.  It’s the same old funny money story!


Going for the… Gold?

What happened to the gold in Olympic gold metals?

For hundreds of events, the 2024 Olympics handed out thousands of medals.  The Paris Mint made more than 5,000 medals, 2,600 for the Olympics and 2,400 for the Paralympics. 

When the modern Olympics began in 1896, the official US gold price was $20.67 an ounce.  

As the world’s athletes head home from the summer games (officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad from Paris), gold has been trading at over $2,400.  

Gold has increased by 11,666 percent.  Or you could describe it differently, by how much the gold purchasing power of the dollar has fallen.  The answer is that today’s dollar has less than one percent of its 1896 purchasing power.

The Olympic gold medals now contain only 6 grams of gold, less than one-fifth of a troy ounce that serves as the plating for the medal.  Since the Olympic gold medal weighs 529 grams, if it were gold, it would be worth more than $40,800.  But Olympic medals haven’t been pure gold since 1912.

This year’s medals are the design of French jeweler Chaumet.  The design includes an element of radiance, fine lines projected at regular intervals around the center to add a 3D effect and sparkle to a medal.  

At the center of each medal this year – gold, silver, and bronze – is a small insert of iron from the original iron of the Eiffel Tower, meant to remind the athletes of Paris and France.  

The silver medal weighs 525 grams with 507 grams of silver content.   Its value based on recent silver spot prices is approximately $450.

The bronze medal weighs 455 grams and consists of 415.15 grams of copper, 21.85 grams of zinc and 18 grams of iron. Its podium value is approximately $13.

Our congratulations to all the winners and participants.  And remember that the top prize is gold for a reason!  


Big Banks Risk Revealed

More evidence you need to get off the grid and own gold!

This is an important follow-up to our recent post about the global IT shutdown that crippled banks, airlines, stock exchanges, retailers, and public safety operations.

 The Office of the Controller of the Currency has found that many of the biggest U.S. banks are unprepared for cyberattacks and other serious operational risks.

According to Bloomberg News, a confidential OCC assessment discovered that 11 of the 22 large banks under its jurisdiction have an inadequate grasp of the risks they face and are insufficiently managed to handle them.

From the OCC report:

“Operational risk remains elevated as continuing cyberattacks and current geopolitical tensions contribute to a heightened risk environment. Cyberattacks continue to evolve and become more sophisticated and pervasive throughout the financial sector. Cyber risks pose significant financial sector and broader U.S. economy threats. It is essential that OCC banks maintain heightened threat monitoring and effective controls to safeguard against disruptive financial sector attacks.”

That report should add to the concerns for investors who have all their assets tied up in vulnerable institutions.  It underscores our emphatic recommendation to make sure you have money – real money, gold, and silver – off the grid and at your immediate disposal.  

Otherwise, you are at risk.

The Crowd Strike shutdown was the largest IT failure in history and should serve as an important wake-up call for our times.  Other recent events underscore our warning.  Only days ago, the SWIFT system for international trade and currency settlements was hit with an hours-long shutdown affecting high-value Bank of England and European Central Bank transactions across Europe.  

Only recently revealed are details about a massive hack of AT&T records in 2022.  NBC News reported that “A 2022 security breach compromised the data of ‘nearly all’ AT&T cellular network customers, with hackers stealing six months’ worth of call and text message records.”

The risks of cyber failure due to mismanagement, criminal, and even foreign attacks are only too real as these news stories reveal.

It is crucial to own gold and silver for your survival and wealth protection in emergencies. Real, actual physical metals you can get your hands on, not paper or title to metals held under unknown provenance.  Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional today.


Gold in the Weak Economy

Oh, What a Tangled Web!

Let’s see.  The mainstream media has been wrong about almost everything!

So, why should we be surprised they are clueless about the economy? 

We’ll begin with the obvious.  Despite the Biden/Harris administration crowing non-stop about the great unemployment picture (and the lapdog press echoing their every word), In the last year, the economy has hemorrhaged 1.6 million full-time jobs, replacing them with 1.8 million part-time ones.

Is that good news?  

Now, we’re going to get into the weeds just a bit, but you will quickly see what is going on, that the health of the US economy is being misrepresented.  And that is just one more reason to protect yourself with gold and silver before someone points out that the King (Washington) isn’t wearing any clothes (it’s broke!).

Here’s the headline:  U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% pace in the second quarter, much more than expected.  That’s from CNBC.  

This kind of stuff is frustrating for people who know something about the economy.  Former US Budget Director David Stockman saw the same story reported on CNN.  You might want to see his take.  He is virtually at his wit’s end with this stuff.  That’s because the number that is getting all the attention distorts the true picture of US growth.  He writes:

It’s been obvious as hell for a long time that CNN is completely in the tank for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). But this AM they outdid themselves—rolling out some nincompoop economic weather-girl to claim that the Q2 GDP gain of 2.8% was “incredible” and a “high-five” for the Biden-Harris economy.

Stockman is at his wit’s end with this kind of reporting.  That’s because the numbers CNN is so excited about “doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”

Stockman:

$71 billion or 44% of the allegedly awesome $260 billion increase in Q2 real GDP consisted of a large inventory stocking gain. Real GDP excluding the inventory swing rose by only $89 billion or a pretty limpid 1.6% at an annualized rate.

So it needs be recalled that the Commerce Department’s estimate of inventory gains and losses is one of the flakier components of the GDP in terms of its impact on the annualized headline number during any given quarter, yet its economic significance over any reasonable period of time is diminutive at best. That is to say, the impact of the inventory change figure on the headline number for quarterly GDP can be a big positive, a big negative, a nothing burger or anything in-between. Its impact on the longer-term rate of GDP growth, however, doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.

GDP numbers have plenty of other problems.  We have noted in this space for years that Washington likes to count government spending as part of GDP.  Stockman points to that as well, calling it “double-counting.”

So if you take out the double-counting that inflates GDP and inventory restocking, the economic growth picture is not something to rah-rah-rah about.

As it happened, the real government spending increase in Q2 2024 amounted to $30 billion or another 19% of the aforementioned $160 billion gain in headline real GDP. Again, therefore, if we remove the government double-count and the inventory restocking from the real GDP gain figures, the resulting increase in Q2 2024 is just +$59 billion.

That’s surely nothing to write home about. It represents just a 1.0% annualized gain from Q1 2024.

There’s more, including how the Commerce Department relies on unreliable inflation numbers in its GDP calculation.  We won’t go there because we’re already deep enough into the dismal science called economics.

However, the larger point is that the US economy isn’t what it was or should be.  Stockman points more dependable numbers that reflect the generational decline in America’s economic growth.

  • Between 1953 and 1973 the economy grew at 4.0% per annum. 
  • Between 1973 and 2001 the economy only grew at 3.1% per annum.  
  • Between 2017 and 2024 the economy only grew at 2.28% per annum.  

And today the media is cheering about economic growth that without the rose-colored Washington eyeshades, is probably only 1 percent.  And that is nothing to cheer about.

Because a weak economy cannot sustain a reliable global currency, much less a $35 trillion debt load, you will want to protect yourself and your family with gold and silver.


Sample Gold Forecasts

As students of monetary history, we have an advantage in the gold price forecasting game.  Based on abundant precedent we can simply say that at some point people will no longer refer to the dollar value of the gold they own; they will instead just refer to the number of ounces they own.

And what does that tell you about what will have happened to the unbacked, fiat, paper or digital, debt-laden Federal Reserve dollar?

In the meantime, here are some observations about gold prices making the rounds in the financial press.

GOLDMAN SACHS SEES $2,700 GOLD PRICE THIS YEAR!

From Investing.com:

Goldman Sachs underscores the significance of central bank gold purchases, which have seen a threefold increase since mid-2022.

While the Chinese market is sensitive to price fluctuations, the brokerage sees structural changes creating an “unshakeable bull market” for gold in China.

“We still see very significant value in long gold positions, and maintain our bullish $2,700 forecast (a 12% increase over current spot prices) for 2025,” they added.

MORGAN STANLEY SEES GOLD PRICE AT $2,650 BY THE FOURTH QUARTER!

From Investing.com:

Gold is approaching its record highs, rising 50% from its 2022 lows and 25% since mid-February.

According to Morgan Stanley commodity strategists, this surge is driven primarily by the physical market, with central bank purchases doubling in 2022/23 compared to previous trends. Retail buying has also increased this year, especially in China, where bar and coin demand is very strong….

While the recent rally has been driven by physical factors, strategists argue that financial flows will drive the next leg higher. They note this shift is “starting to come through,” predicting that gold prices could reach $2,650/oz by Q4 2024.

We note that the fourth quarter is just over two months away.  Our reader will also remember our report this time last year that Bank of America analysts called for silver to reach $35 an ounce this year.  That number is now well within reach.  At the same time they forecast $50 silver in the medium turn.  

J.P. MORGAN SAYS $2,500 NEXT QUARTER; $2,600 IN 2025! MAY OVERSHOOT THOSE TARGETS!

From JP Morgan:

“Amid fraying geopolitics, increased sanctioning and de-dollarization, we observe an increased appetite to buy real assets including gold,” said Gregory Shearer, Head of Base and Precious Metals Strategy at J.P. Morgan.

“Across all metals, we have the highest conviction on a bullish medium-term forecast for both gold and silver over the course of 2024 and into the first half of 2025…. “The direction of travel is still higher over the coming quarters, forecasting an average price of $2,500/oz in the fourth quarter of 2024 and $2,600/oz in 2025, with risk still skewed toward an earlier overshoot,” Shearer said.

We note that J.P. Morgan is an arm of JPMorganChase, the largest bank in the US and the world’s largest bank by market capitalization.  It’s chairman Jaime Dimon is on the shortlist for Treasury Secretary in a Trump administration.  

We also note that it is unusual, and we think a very bullish indicator when analysts warn that their forecasts for higher prices may actually be too low.

GOLD TO $2,700 NEXT YEAR SAYS UBS GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT!

From BNN Bloomberg:

Mark Haefele, CIO for UBS Global Wealth Management, expects the bull market in gold to continue with gold rising to $2,700 an ounce next year.

We’ve seen a lot of central banks buying in gold, which we think is going to continue because to some degree the dollar and US financial system was kind of weaponized around Ukraine and central banks realized they may want to have some alternatives,” he said.  

We take special note that the Bloomberg story points out the World Gold Council Survey finds about 20 central banks expect to raise their gold holdings.  That is a record high.  

$15,000 or $27,000 GOLD? 

Be sure to check in with Republic Monetary Exchange’s blog often.  Soon we will share the analysis of a noted gold expert who has raised his gold price forecast from $15,000 to $27,000!  You will want to see his reasoning for this stunning forecast!

AND ONE MORE.  THE TRAJECTORY OF AMERICA’S MONEY!


A Look at the Gold and Silver Charts

2024 has been quite a year for gold and silver.  And it looks like there is more to come.

Here is a one-year chart of the gold price:

Please note the bullish technical indicators, with the red line indicating the 200-day moving average price and the blue line the shorter term 50-day moving average.  Gold is trading above both trend lines.

Here is a one-year silver chart:

As did gold, silver made a strong breakout in March.  It has mostly traded above both the short- and long-term trendlines since April, although it broke below the 50-day moving average on Friday, 7/19, on profit taking.  

And finally, here is a one-year chart reflecting the ratio of gold and silver prices: 

Note that this is not a price chart.  It reflects the relative prices of the two precious metals.  The gold/silver ratio has been trending down since May.  You should speak with your Republic Monetary Exchange representative about this.  The ratio indicates that silver is still advantageously priced relative to the gold price and you continue to have an opportunity to trade gold for silver while silver is historically underpriced compared to gold and therefore poised for faster price appreciation.  But the gold-silver ratio is on the move and that advantage may not last.

Contact Republic Monetary Exchange today and learn more about this profitable strategy.

Is America Insolvent?

Is the United States insolvent?  By that I mean is it unable to pay its debts?

The honest answer is yes.  The formal answer is no.

Let us explain.

Better yet, let Ben Bernanke, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve System explain:

“The US government has a technology, called a printing press, that allows it to produce as many dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”

Dr. Bernanke was one of the great money printers of all time.  In other words, he was one of the great inflationists of all time:

“Under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and, hence, positive inflation.”

So, no matter how much debt the government has, it can print money to pay its creditors.  This legalized counterfeiting is a fraud.  You can’t pay off your creditors by doing the same thing without going to jail. But the government can.  Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a free lunch and there is a reason people go to jail for counterfeiting.  That is because it defrauds others.  Even when the government does it and calls it legal.

The new money the government prints takes on value or purchasing power to the extent that the existing money (your savings) loses value or purchasing power.  That loss of purchasing power is commonly called inflation.

The USGoverment ran a $1.3 trillion deficit for the first nine months of this fiscal year. It is about $1.85 trillion as we write this.   

It carries a gross federal debt of $34.9 trillion.  That is what we call the USG’s visible debt.  

(Below the waterline, like an iceberg, is the hidden debt, promises the government has made to its citizens that are not funded.  That is more than $200 trillion. Washington’s response to the hidden debt is “Never mind!”   So, we’ll move on.)

The USG’s debt today is 127 percent of the nations supposed productivity, what the government calls Gross Domestic Product.  Here’s a recent graphic illustration of the gross (visible) debt and its share of GDP.

Former US Budget Director David Stockman recently detailed what has gone on over the last 50 years that is reflected in the above chart:  “The public debt is up 89-fold, from $389 billion to $34.5 trillion. And its share of GDP or burden on the US economy has nearly quadrupled, rising from a post-war low of 36% in 1970 to an all-time high of 122% at present.”

And to circle back to the hidden USG debt, Stockman describes their growth path as well:

“Major entitlements are on a path from 10% of GDP at the turn of the century to more than 23% by 2050. And the overwhelming share of that gain will be due to a retired population that will grow from 50 million at present to 80 million by 2050, putting huge upward pressure on Social Security and Medicare outlays.”

The bottom line is that none of these debts, visible or hidden, can be paid except by the expedient of printing money.  That’s why the people on Capitol Hill seem so unconcerned.  They can spend all they want, and the Fed will make it possible by creating more dollars out of thin air.

That will destroy what is left of the dollar’s purchasing power.  It will destroy the middle class as well.  But as they say in Washington, “Never mind!”

Do you own gold?


Getting Off the Grid with Gold and Silver

The Crowstrike Outage Shows How Fragile Our Digital Infrastructure Can Be

The headlines captured the story this way:

It’s like Y2K, except it happened this time!

“Largest IT Outage In History” Sparks Disruptions Worldwide!

Unprecedented IT Outage Cripples Businesses Around the Globe!

The IT shutdown impacted major banks, stock exchanges, 911 services, media, and airlines. 

Here’s the lead from the financial site Zero Hedge:  “Early Friday, a global IT outage caused by an issue with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike disrupted flights, banks, retailers, stock exchanges, 911 call centers, and media outlets. Experts say this could be one of the largest IT outages in modern history.”.

The first question on many people’s minds was whether the outage was a terrorist strike or an act of war.  The only good news was that it wasn’t a security incident or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz.  

But it could have been.  It makes it a lot easier to ask, “what if,” doesn’t it?

Once again, we see just how vulnerable we are.  So, what happens to your ability to access your money when the internet goes down?  Or the power grid is attacked?  You are stuck unless you have money like gold and silver that is off the grid.

Oh, and do we need to drive the point home by mentioning that we also just learned last week about a massive hack of AT&T records in 2022?  

From NBC:  “A 2022 security breach compromised the data of ‘nearly all’ AT&T cellular network customers, with hackers stealing six months’ worth of call and text message records, the company said Friday.”

Here is what we wrote in 2019 (when gold was just over $1,300!:

Some people buy gold for privacy.  They would like to keep their financial affairs better protected.  Since the banks have become snoops for the government, reporting what you do, and since big corporations try to follow you in everything you do and anything you buy, just the peace of mind of having a little privacy is a very good reason to own gold.  

You may remember how a lot of things were shut down after 9/11.  Have you even wondered what would happen if the increasingly stressed national electricity grid went down, or if solar flares screwed up satellite functions and digital communications?

What would you do if ATM machines stopped spitting out cash?

I can tell you this.  In any of those circumstances you would be very happy to own gold and silver, the world’s most liquid commodities.

Visit with an experienced precious metal professional at Republic Monetary Exchange and learn about the importance of getting your wealth off the grid and into the world’s most enduring forms of liquidity, gold and silver.


What is the Actual Inflation Rate?

Is the Inflation Rate only the 3% that the Government says it is?

Here’s a wake-up call!  Yes, another one!  

The government tells us the inflation rate is currently 3.0 percent.  That’s the Consumer Price Index increase for the 12 months ending in June.  

Between January 2020 and last May, consumer prices rose 21.75 percent.  According to government numbers, that is.  

Sure.  Biden is at the peak of his game.  He’s never been better.  And consumer prices have only risen 21.75 percent over roughly the last 4 ½ years.

Why do we find this number so incredible?  

Simple.  It doesn’t square with our experience or the experience of anyone we know!

One fellow posted a TikTok video showing a Wal-Mart receipt for a grocery purchase he made in 2022.  The 45 items he purchased – he described it as a full month’s groceries – cost a total back then of $126.76.  Because the app has a “reorder all” feature, he found that the same purchase today would cost $414.39!

Hello?  Or as the fellow said himself, “Like, what?”

That’s an increase of 226 percent!  In two years!  For the same items!

Maybe Janet Yellen can deny experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store.   She has a car and driver, and a private Fed dining room.  

As off-kilter as the CPI is, the Fed prefers to use something called the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index to measure inflation.  Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute thought to ask an AI how that index is computed:

The BEA uses the same data that creates the quarterly GDP [gross domestic product] report, which measures U.S. economic output, but the PCE price index measures consumer purchases through different calculations. It converts the prices, which are still the producers’ prices, to the end price paid by the consumer. The PCE price index includes the broadest set of goods and services compared to other measures of consumer price changes. It measures changes in a basket of goods and services, but the PCE is based on data from businesses and trade organizations while the CPI is based on survey data from tens of thousands of consumers. The BEA normalizes the data via a price deflator—a ratio of the value of all goods and services produced in a particular year at current prices to that of prices that prevailed during a base year—to get the monthly PCE index: the average monthly rate of inflation (or deflation) for the U.S. economy as a whole.

Well, that’s one way to cook the books!  There are others.  Things like “core inflation.”  Core inflation doesn’t include energy or food costs, although I’d like to see the cost of buying anything – anything at all – that doesn’t depend in some way on energy and food.

It’s all “lies, damn lies, and statistics” as Mark Twain may or may not have said.  For us, the answer is to buy gold and silver to protect yourself from all the number fudging and money printing.  And if you want to know what’s really happening to your cost of groceries, save your receipts.  

Or get the Wal-Mart reorder app!


If the Economy is Slowing… Buy Gold!

We have shared our view that the Federal Reserve is anxious to cut interest rates before long to help elect Democrats in November.  (See our January post THE FED TILTS THE SCALES!  TO THE LEFT, OF COURSE!)

It’s not too complicated.  The very existence of a central bank is a left-wing dream come true.  It was on Karl Marx’s shot list.  So, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are 10 Democrat economists for every single Republican economist at the Fed.

The latest consumer price and producer price indices are somewhat contradictory, but the is ample clear evidence piling up that the economy is slowing.   That will give the Fed cover for cutting rates ahead of the election.  

Unemployment has begun to climb.  It has reached the highest level since November 2021, while wage growth has risen at the slowest rate in more than three years.   

But what about the Fed’s insistence that it would bring inflation down to 2 percent? 

Fuhgeddaboudit!

Here’s the way Fed chairman Powell put things in his recent congression update on monetary policy: Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.” 

Powell was giving himself running room.  Doug Casey says, “The Fed has effectively given up on bringing price inflation down even though the year-over-year change in the CPI remains around 3.3%, significantly higher than the Fed’s target of 2%.

“In other words, even with their crooked statistics and rigged game, the Fed has failed even to come close to their inflation target. It’s a massive failure.”

Evidence of slowdown:

To repeat:  a slowing economy and rising unemployment give the Fed the cover it needs.  Many Fed watchers are now expecting two rate cuts in short order, before the election for sure, and less likely in our view, one even as early as this month.  The price of gold seems to be confirming that view as it raced up to $2,400 on the unemployment news.

Bear in mind, too, that gold has climbed to new highs despite the Fed’s higher interest rate regime.  Now imagine what happens when the Fed forces rates lower, buying government bonds, and printing money to do so.

So, a slowing economy, more money printing, rising gold.  Sounds like the stagflation decade all over again!


“Real Money For Free People” Now Available on Amazon

Your Essential Financial Survival Briefing!  The American Gold Story!

Reviewers praise Real Money for Free People!  Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Robert Kiyosaki says Jim Clark’s book is “essential reading for anyone who values their financial freedom.”

New York Times bestselling author Charles Goyette says Jim Clark’s book “explains in easy-to-understand terms what the Founders knew, that honest money- gold and silver- means prosperity and freedom for both nations and individuals.” 

Skyrocketing prices, massive new spending programs, debt ceiling puppet shows, money printing, debt up the wazoo!

How did we get here?  Where is all this headed?  Here’s an excerpt:

Our governing classes and monetary authorities] have created the conditions for an explosion of impoverishment. They are the big spenders and reckless borrowers of both parties. They are the grand councilors and academic advisors of the almighty State. They and their statist epigone and media servitors are the inevitable offspring of connivers like Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, who stole the people’s gold and betrayed the nation’s good-as-gold dollar…

There is no turning back. They must now continue to print money until the system crashes. It is the endgame of their folly.

REAL MONEY FOR FREE PEOPLE is a fast-paced review of why the Founding Fathers, to assure a free and prosperous America, built the new republic on a solid monetary foundation of gold and silver.  Learn how later politicians, those of lesser character, have abandoned that foresight by handing America’s future and prosperity over to self-serving bankers and money manipulators.

In this book, Jim Clark pulls back the curtain to reveal what the mainstream media conceals:  how the unsustainable and reckless policies of the Federal Reserve are destroying the dollar and your savings.

More importantly, it tells you exactly why gold and silver – the world’s most treasured and time-tested forms of money – are your key to protecting your wealth and profiting in the years ahead!

NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON AMAZON.COM!  Click Here!


The Global Gold Picture!

Want to see something really bullish?

With this post, we hope to show you how seriously the rest of the world takes gold in this new era of de-dollarization.

The following bullet points are taken from an article by Sergei Glazyev, Commissioner for Integration and Macroeconomics within the Eurasian Economic Commission and a close Putin advisor, which appeared in Vedomosti, the Moscow business paper in December 2022.  

Our thanks to Alasdair Macleod for providing this translation on his Substack page.  Macleod stresses the importance of these remarks given the US sanctions and asset grabs and Russia’s presidency this year of the BRIC nations and as background for the major BRICs meeting coming up in October.

  • The sanctions imposed against Russia boomeranged on the Western economy. The geopolitical instability they provoked, rising prices for energy and other resources, inflation, and other negative factors put strong pressure on the global economy, in particular the global financial market.
  • Large gold reserves allow Russia to pursue a sovereign financial policy and minimize dependence on external lenders. The amount of reserves affects the country’s reputation, its credit rating and investment attractiveness…. In 1998, the lack of sufficient international reserves became one of the causes of the crisis, which ended in default for Russia. Now our country already has large gold and foreign exchange reserves, being fifth in the world (after China, Japan, Switzerland and India) and ahead of the United States. But this is not enough.
  • Over the past quarter century, gold has been flowing from West to East through the main hubs (London, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and others) with a capacity of 2000 – 3000 tons per year. Did the western Central Banks’ official gold reserves remain in their storage facilities? Or has it all gone through swaps and leasing? The West will never say, and Fort Knox’s audit will not.
  • Over the past 20 years, gold mining in Russia has almost doubled, while in the United States has almost decreased by half. By dismantling real wealth, the United States has lost its competence and interest in the production and processing of strategic resources (gold and uranium, etc.). The printing press funds the purchase of everything they want.

The world financial order has tolerated the printing press dollar since the end of World War II.  But the post-war order is coming to an end and the pace of de-dollarization will accelerate dramatically.  The dollar will eventually end up the “Old Maid.”  No one will want to be holding it when the game ends.  Prepare your own future accordingly. 


Inflation and the Confused Biden Administration

They’re even wrong about being wrong about inflation!

What a bunch we have running fiscal policy in our country.  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has distinguished herself for being wrong about inflation and virtually everything else.  And President Biden, well there’s no need to describe his abject confusion anymore.  Since everyone except a few shameless toadies in the media can see it, that would be beating a dead horse.

But their public positions are both utterly incoherent and incompatible.  When fiscal policy is this contradictory, it is time to seek refuge in gold and silver!

Yellen’s cluelessness and apologies for not understanding inflation are the stuff of legend.  But there is more, so much more…

Her support for a wealth tax, a tax not on income but on property people own, a tax on unrealized capital gains that would even require people to sell family businesses to pay, would have Karl Marx dance a commie jig!   

Equally destructive was her support for the administration’s crazy desire to have banks report people’s every transaction of $600 or more.  Imagine how utterly mentally vacant she must be to not have envisaged how much strangling bureaucracy that would have created.  Inconceivable!

Her failure to have the Treasury issue long-dated bonds before the Fed began raising rates is just one more component of our debt disaster.  Stanley Druckenmiller calls this “the worst mistake in the history of the Treasury.”

Then there is her assertion that the US can afford two wars at once.  “Absolutely!” she says.  That was eight months ago when the national debt was $33.56 trillion.  Today it is $34.68 trillion.  Up well over a trillion dollars in eight months!  

As for Biden, just as he wanders, squats, and mutters aimlessly at photo shoots, shadowed by handlers trying to cover for him, he bats about for something to say about inflation until he comes up with something his handlers prepared for him.  Bill Bonner describes him similarly: “Biden, the man, is just a cut-out… a place-holder. We’ve never heard an original thought pass his lips, nor an insight worth remembering. Instead, his pensée is just much-rehearsed blah-blah, sticking with whatever talking points his handlers suggest.”

So, what has his people had him saying about inflation?  Greed, of course.  

But greed has always been with us.  If greedy corporations are responsible for inflation, if they have the power to unilaterally raise prices, why wasn’t inflation out of control before Biden?  (Note that Washington never blames inflation on government greed!  It never points to all the money it shovels to its cronies and its favored interest groups.  It is never, ever about their greed).  

But in any case, Biden and Yellen are not even able to keep their stories straight!  The other day on CNBC Yellen contradicted Biden’s attribution of inflation to corporate greed.  “I think that inflation is about supply and demand,” she said.

Well, of course, all prices are about supply and demand.  When the government prints trillions of dollars out of thin air and distributes them to its friends, they increases demand.  Same amount of goods and services in the economy, but suddenly some people have a lot more printed money with which they buy things.  It’s like an auction:  they are bidding prices higher and higher. 

The cluelessness is not limited to just Biden and Yellen.  It is systemic in the administration and, frankly, in both parties and throughout Washington and the governing classes.  Take for example the cluelessness of Jared Bernstein, the president’s chief economic advisor, about how monetary policy works.  See for yourself:

The ship of state is being run by the intellectually deficient.  It is a ship of fools.  They are incapable of steering us out of a currency storm.  They will destroy the dollar and leave your prosperity wrecked upon the reefs.

The need to own gold is growing more critical by the day. Because something will happen!


The Four Main Forces Pushing Gold Higher

What are the major forces driving gold prices up?

We spotlight four of them:

WAR

It is our view that the mainstream media ignores or underplays the significance of all of the forces destroying our currency and prosperity.  But it seems most clueless about the way war destroys both.  However, our hands-on experience goes back a long way.  We remember the Vietnam War and the role it played in ending the gold-backed dollar, just as we remember the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the revolution in Iran, and the fire they lit under gold prices.

So, we are not willing to turn a blind eye to war drums beating today.  We note that the situation in Ukraine is escalating with the attack on Sevastopol, Crimea.  Russia blames the US and promises to retaliate.  The widening of the Mideast war to include Lebanon is another fuse that appears about to be lit.


DE-DOLLARIZATION

 The move away from the dollar and to gold is very real and a key driver of higher gold prices.  It can only accelerate.  Note for example that a Russian court has approved the seizure of hundreds of billions of dollars of assets from Western banks, a response in kind to the theft of Russian assets by the sanction regimes.  It goes without saying that this makes dollar-holders around the world very nervous indeed and heightens gold’s allure as an asset whose value is not subject to the whims of some issuing government.


INFLATION

Inflation teaches everyone that eventually made-up government money loses value.  The highest US inflation in more than 4o years is beginning to drive that lesson home.  Average weekly earnings have risen over the last 3 ½ years, but rising prices have undone any advantage, as the average real (constant dollar) income of working families has fallen $2,300.  

Some get it already, but eventually, almost everyone will realize that this is not because of cosmic rays or the greed of corporations, but because the money itself is being managed specifically to lose purchasing power.  Then what can today be called a slow diversification by some Americans into gold and silver will become a stampede.

DEBT

All inflations are the result of dishonest governments spending money they do not have and running up debts that they cannot repay.

Even the Congressional Budget Office, which tries its best to downplay the real debt debacle, expects the budget deficit to skyrocket, from $1.9trillion this year to $2.8 trillion by 2034.  

As for the national debt itself, it will hit $35 trillion in a few weeks, and $37 trillion by the end of this year.  In fact, on our current path, the debt will reach a stratospheric $60 trillion at the end of the ten-year budget window, according to David Stockman.  And that, he adds, is with the happy face the CBO is putting on its projections:

Even that depends upon the latest CBO iteration of Rosy Scenario, which envisions no recession ever again, just 2% inflation as far as the eye can see and real interest rates of barely 1%. And that’s to say nothing of the trillions in phony spending cuts and out-year tax increases that are built into the CBO baseline but which Congress will never actually allow to materialize.

David Stockman

So, there you have the four biggest drivers of higher gold prices now and in the foreseeable future:  war, de-dollarization, inflation, and debt.  All four are hopelessly intertwined, each powering the others.

Other less visible developments will add to the fuel-propelling gold higher, little-noticed financial annoyances like the war on cash and major destructive forces like the unstoppable spread of state socialism.

Don’t wait any long to protect yourself, your family, and your wealth with gold and silver.


Don’t Be Taken in By the So-Called “Strong Dollar” Flapdoodle!

If it is so strong, why does it buy less and less?

Headline, the Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2024:   The Dollar Is at Its Strongest Since the 1980s. Can It Last?

Sorry, but it’s flapdoodle.  Gobbledygook.  Gibberish.  Bafflegab.

Or to put it in more serious terms, it’s Newspeak.

George Orwell coined that term in his uncannily prescient novel 1984.  Newspeak is a language of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to narrow the range of critical thinking.

The WSJ provides a caption to a photo in its “strong dollar” story: “The U.S. dollar has defied analysts’ expectations and appreciated again this year relative to a basket of other currencies.”

It should have said “The U.S. dollar depreciated again this year relative to a basket of groceries.”  

The WSJ can get away with calling it a strong dollar because they are a financial newspaper.  And it is true that if you are importing Mercedes, the exchange value of the dollar matters.  Chances are if you are importing foreign goods, or exporting US goods, you are very much aware of currency differentials and that you are hedging them when you need.  

But for the sake of clear communication, the term “strong dollar” should go in the deleted file.  Especially since most of us at any given time aren’t importing Mercedes.  

The financial press gets away with it as a sort of faux sophistication: “Our readers know what we mean!”

Some do.  But the real damage is done when the rest of the financially clueless media pick up on it.  So, the rest of then repeat ad nauseum on talk shows and general newscasts that the dollar is strong.  The people who hear that pass it on in conversation at work or to their neighbors.  

But even the financial press should be careful not to sound like toadies of the government.  After all, they don’t say Tesla was “strong” today or Ford was “weak.”  They say those stock prices are up or down, higher or lower.

To call the dollar strong is wildly misleading.  The dollar can only be said to be strong when compared to other currencies that are constantly losing real value.  The WSJ story came hard on the heels of Mexico electing some hard leftist president.  Her father was a communist and it is not clear where she differs from Karl Marx.  Because people like her destroy wealth and ruin currencies, the Mexican peso immediately fell, down as we write about 9 percent.  A peso down would mean the dollar, comparatively speaking, is marginally higher. But because Mexico elects a socialist (more trouble on our southern border!) the dollar is strong? Don’t kid yourself!

If currencies were ships, and Mexico’s ship was sinking at a nine percent rate and the US ship was sinking at a 3 or 4 or 5 percent rate, would you say the US ship is seaworthy?

The dollar isn’t strong at all.   It is weak.  Extraordinarily weak. 

That is because the function of a currency is to allow people to purchase things.  With that in mind, here is a 10-year chart of the US dollar’s purchasing power:

It doesn’t look particularly “strong,” does it?

Nevertheless, they say, “the dollar is at its strongest since the 1980s.”  When it bought a heck of a lot more than it does today.

So, when you hear the media tell you the dollar is strong, you’d better compare it to something real like the price of gold.

Those who do that are thinking for themselves despite the media’s Newspeak.  And they are buying gold.


Existential Threats Facing American Economy, Health, IQ, and Education

Here is just a short list of the major – some might say existential – threats we Americans are facing.  

They all have the same cause.  It’s not hard to figure out.  It‘s not because of the alignment of Jupiter and Mars.  It’s not because of subversion by space aliens.  

They are all caused by Washington and our growing left-wing national ethos.

All of them.

Here’s a rundown.

Our lifespans appear to be growing shorter.  “The numbers are shocking.”

Harvard School of Public Health, April 13, 2023 – U.S. life expectancy has declined to 76.4 years, the shortest it’s been in nearly two decades, according to December data from the CDC….

[Dean Michelle Williams] noted that younger people in America are dying at higher rates than their counterparts in other high-income countries and that the U.S. also has among the highest maternal and infant mortality rates among upper-income countries.

American IQs are falling.  “The first time ever.”

The New York Post, May 3, 2024 – A report from 2023 revealed the depressing reality — that the average intelligence test score fell from 100 to 98, a dismal, two-point decline after a previously uninterrupted 30-point rise that began in 1905.

American public schools are a national disgrace.  “In public education, we reward mediocrity and discourage excellence.”

The Discovery Institute, July 11. 2023 – Detroit Public Schools [are ranked] the worst performing of all 26 large city districts, with just 5 percent of their eighth-grade students rated proficient in reading and only 3 percent in math. What is surprising is the Detroit Public Schools Community District rated 99 percent of Detroit’s teachers as “highly effective” or “effective,”

Teacher[s] cannot be fired for poor performance. Consequently, evaluations have little or no meaning. Not only can teachers not be fired, but incompetent teachers will make more money next year as they gain another year of seniority and an automatic raise.

The American Dollar Is Worth Less Each Year – “Inflation hits 20 percent under Biden.”  

The Hill, May 15, 2024 – Inflation under President Biden hit a cumulative 20 percent. The dollar’s value has plummeted under his watch. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also confirmed that the consumer price index is resurgent and growing faster than average wages. Combined with weak GDP growth, this data shows the U.S. economy is reentering stagflation.

You can’t personally do much about most of these problems.  Crowded hospital waiting rooms and strained facilities can be your problem in an emergency.   You can be victimized by falling IQs and failing schools if underqualified candidates are made airline mechanics, air traffic controllers, or are given a host of other jobs.

And you can’t possibly do much about America’s economic destruction.  Millennials are expected to be the first generation to earn less than their parents.  Two of three middle-class respondents say their income is falling behind the cost of living.

But you can do something – and do it at once! – about the collapse of the US dollar’s purchasing power.

It’s like emergency medical workers performing triage:  They sort out and prioritize the injured.  What must they immediately treat?  What comes first?

In the case of these existential crises, the first and more urgent problem that can be addressed immediately is to protect yourself from ongoing currency failure.  You can insulate yourselves from the criminal mismanagement of the dollar, its quantity and quality, by investing in gold and silver.  Both have records of superior performance as money that goes back thousands of years.

Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional.  He can help you achieve the protection you need in the days ahead.  


Here Comes Another Wave of Inflation

It’s a purchasing power calamity!

Brace yourself!  Another huge wave of inflation is approaching!  The purchasing power of your savings is about to get swamped once again.  

So far the purchasing power of the US dollar has lost about 20 percent of its value during the Biden presidency.  But the Biden presidency is not over yet!  Brace yourself for more Biden inflation and brace your savings with gold and silver.

The gold and silver markets are saying another wave of inflation is about to hit!

Here’s what is going on:

Wholesale prices are running hot.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently that the Producer Price Index accelerated to its highest level in a year.  Producer prices are a leading indicator of coming consumer prices because producers pass along their higher costs.  Stated differently, today’s wholesale prices are tomorrow’s consumer prices.  

Rising commodity prices mean higher consumer prices, too.  

Copper is one of the leaders in rising commodity prices, but others include coffee and chocolate, coal, natural gas, soybeans, wheat, coal, milk, orange juice, and butter.

Reporting that the Commodity Research Bureau index just hit its highest level in 13 years, the Committee to Unleash Prosperity remarks that “anyone who thinks we have turned the corner on Bidenflation – and we know that includes at least half the economist in Washington – should have their head examined.”

Get ready for another wave of Biden inflation and for the purchasing power of your savings to fall even more.  

Don’t get caught.  Make sure to protect yourself with gold and silver.  See us now!


Wealth Preservation with Gold

Suppose a hundred years ago some far-sighted benefactor, someone a few generations back, wanted to leave some wealth for their descendants – including you.  Would you be better off if they left you $10,000 cash in bills or $10,000 in gold?

A hundred years ago American money was gold. Americans commonly carried and conducted commerce in $20 gold pieces.  They were the coins of the realm.  But if you thought carrying them around – especially in great quantities – was inconvenient, you could use paper money.  A US $20 note issued by the Treasury was just a claim check or a warehouse receipt for gold.  If you wanted to, you could walk into any bank or go to the Treasury and exchange that paper $20 note for real gold.  No questions asked.

So your benefactor would have had a choice.  Which would you have wanted then to leave, paper or gold?

You probably don’t have to think about it too hard.  The US paper dollar has lost about 95 percent of its purchasing power since 1924.  

Someone naïve argued about that with us once.  “That’s impossible,” he said.  But figure it out for yourself.  Inflation officially reduced the dollar’s purchasing power by 3.4 percent last year.  It reduced it by 6.5 percent in 2022. And so on, year in and year out.

Here’s a shortcut.  Consumer prices are up about 20 percent since Biden was sworn in.  That means today’s dollar only retains 80 percent of the purchasing power it had in January 2021.

Add in more than a few years of year-after-year inflation along the way, and soon you will find that the loss of purchasing power really adds up!

If a thief broke into your bank account and stole 3.4 percent of it last year and 6.5 percent of it the year before and has been stealing from it every year of your lifetime, you might be upset.  You might call the authorities.  But there is no point in calling the authorities on what is happening to the dollar because it is the authorities who are doing it!

The $20 gold piece contained just a little less than an ounce of gold, at exactly .9675 ounces. Based on a recent gold price of $2,350, just the gold content of a $20 gold piece would be $2,274 ($2,350 x .9675 = $2,274).

So the price of gold has increased close to 113 times ($20 x 89 = 2260)!  Think about that in percentage terms.  Your gold has increased by 11,300 percent!  That’s an average of 113 percent a year!

(The story is even better than that because, thanks to their rarity, desirability, and for other reasons, investors and collectors prize those beautiful U.S. gold coins beyond just their gold content.  Ask your Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional about this.)

As for the paper money?  Well, it lost most of its purchasing power.  That is the common fate of unbacked paper money throughout time.

So by now, even if you had never thought about our question before, you will have doubtlessly concluded that you would have wanted your would-be benefactor a hundred years ago to leave you real gold instead of paper money.  

Our story says something about real money and wealth preservation in this day and age. 

That’s only part of the story, that honest precious metal currencies hold their value.  So with the clear interest that the people have in a reliable form of money that holds its value, why do governments hate gold and silver money?  Why is it that the more dishonest and corrupt they are, the quicker they turn to printed or digitally printed money?

That, as they say, is the rest of the story.  We’ll write more about that one of these days, but if you’d like to cut to the chase and get the answer to that and your other questions about wealth preservation, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals advisor today!


Look Who’s Buying Gold Big Time!

To us, the real estate bubble was blindingly obvious.  That is why we tend to keep an eye on those who also saw it coming.  Ron Paul is a case in point.  Not only did he see it coming, he famously explained in Congress and in detail exactly how it would unfold.

And so it did.

Now two important figures in the investment world who made their chops (and untold millions of dollars) calling the housing bubble back then are turning to gold.

Michael Burry and John Paulson. A new Business Week article says, “Michael Burry and John Paulson hit the jackpot when they called the housing crash. Now they’re betting on gold.”

Michael Burry was made famous in the movie about the bursting of the mortgage bubble, The Big Short.    

Burry, who was played by a scruffy-looking Christian Bale in the movie, made himself and the investors in his fund hundreds of millions of dollars by shorting mortgage credit instruments.  

Burry was also on our radar screen in 2022.  While the Fed was patiently explaining transitory inflation, Burry was tweeting furiously about inflation on our doorstep.  He was right and the Fed officials have been making excuses ever since about the highest inflation in more than 40 years.

John Paulson is the head of Paulson & Co., a major investment firm.  He made billions by spotting the housing bubble in 2007.  Wikipedia says he made another $5 billion in 2010 primarily investing in gold. 

About a year ago we cited Paulson in these pages on global de-dollarization:   “There has been a significant increase in demand from central banks to replace dollars with gold, and we’re just at the beginning of that trend. Gold will go up and the dollar will go down, so you’d be better off keeping your investment reserves in gold at this point.”

Good call, John!

Now to keep you up to date, Business Week reports that Burry has placed an $8 million stake in gold.  And after examining his firm’s SEC filings, Business Week tells us that Paulson also has big bets on gold.

As Paulson told an interviewer last year, “We’re at the beginning of trends that are going to increase the demand for gold, and inflation and geopolitical tensions will determine the rate at which gold increases. This year gold will appreciate versus the dollar, and also over a three, five, and ten-year basis.”


The Silver Opportunity

We don’t want any of our friends and clients to miss out!  

Everywhere you look, commodities are screaming higher and higher.  Gold, coffee, chocolate, uranium, copper, nickel.   And silver!

But nowhere in the commodity complex is the opportunity greater than in silver!  Try taking delivery of investible quantities of chocolate and storing it for years to come.  How about uranium?  Now there’s a real liquidity problem.  

silver money

Yet silver checks all the boxes.  It is among the most liquid and widely traded commodities, perfect for individual investors.  When you buy silver of .999 percent purity, the standard for investment bars and most coins, you don’t have to have the silver assayed when you choose to sell.  Good luck with liquidity for investment-grade quantities of coffee.

Silver has a history of thousands of years as a monetary commodity.  In fact, silver has been used as money longer and in more places than gold itself.

At the same time, its industrial use for things like electronics and photovoltaics grows every year.  Silver industrial demand rose 11 percent last year.  And last month silver stockpiles tracked by the London Bullion Market Association fell to the second-lowest level on record.

As we write this, gold prices are up 17.5 percent year-to-date while silver has surged by 35 percent during the same period!

With that move, silver remains at bargain prices.  It is still way below its all-time highs.  Silver was $50 an ounce in 1980. That was 44 years ago.  Are there any other major industrial commodities that are 40 percent below their price of 44 years ago?  Don’t kid yourself! 

Silver reached highs of about $50 in both 2011 and 2012.

Lately, our radio messages and blog posts have focused on alerting our friends and clients about the opportunites unfolding in the silver market.

Want to learn more? Just pick up the phone and call 602-633-8315 to speak with a precious metals expert anytime Monday through Friday, from 9 AM-5 PM MST!


Don’t Rely on a Dollar-Dependent Retirement

The headline on Yahoo! Finance reads, “Living on Edge: Nearly 90% of Retirees Worried Inflation Will Eat Away Savings.”

The story reports that a third of retired Americans are worried that they haven’t saved enough.  No surprise there.  89 percent describe themselves as deeply concerned about the erosion of their purchasing power by inflation.  As well they should be. You can not reply on a dollar-dependent retirement.

Add to that a crisis of confidence over the future of Social Security.  44 percent of non-retired Americans are afraid that Social Security will run out.  

Will it run out?  It already has run out!  The money you and millions of Americans paid into Social Security over your lifetime has been spent.  In its place, the politicians left an IOU.  

Great.  A government that can’t even pay its on-the-books visible debt of almost $35 trillion is whistling past the graveyard if it is pretending that it can pay its off-the-book hidden debts like Social Security.  Those hidden liabilities, conservatively estimated, come in at about $215 trillion – more than 6 times more than the already unpayable visible debt.

That is why we say don’t even think about a dollar-denominated retirement!

Consumer prices are up 20 percent – at least – since Biden became president.  We say at least because except for ever-changing statistical modeling price gimmickry, the inflation rate would be much, much higher.  John Williams at ShadowStats.com continues to track the inflation rate on the same statistical basis that prevailed before sketchy “hedonic” adjustments were figured in.  On that basis, the real inflation rate is 8 percent, which certainly tracks much closer to the real-world experience of families today.   An 8 percent inflation rate doubles the cost of consumer goods in just 9 years.   Try to maintain a retirement budget with that going on.

Let us illustrate the point one more way.  Between December 2019 and March 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the CPI increased by 21.5 percent.  How much has the price of a Big Mac gone up in the same period?

87.7 percent.

If we have made the point clear that one should not even thing about trying to survive a dollar-dependent retirement, we recommend you make an appointment with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional to discuss a plan to prepare for the monetary crisis ahead with the world’s most enduring, most prized, and most desirable forms of money: gold and silver.


Financial Protection in Social Breakdown and Civil Disorder

It’s not something that people generally want to talk about – widespread civil chaos, lawlessness, and social collapse.  

But it goes hand in hand with the failure of the monetary system.  And it doesn’t take a Nostradamus to see the sign of something like that on the horizon.

Just the other day we noticed that hedge-funder Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, is noticing the same things.  Dalio told the Financial Times that he sees a 35 to 40 percent chance we incur a civil war. 

“We are now on the brink,” he said.  

The publishers’ description of the book The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future reveals that the battle plans for the next civil war have already been drawn up. “Not by novelists, but by colonels.”

In times of chaos, the governing authorities will do anything to keep themselves in power and to expand their power. Under cover of calamity, governments do all kinds of unthinkable things and invoke unimaginable tyrannical powers.  They will target your wealth, bank and retirement accounts, and your property.  

But this discussion provides a good opportunity to reiterate that your core position in both gold and silver should consist of real metals in your possession.

Ron Paul believes that the developing economic crisis, the ending of the dollar’s global reserve status, unpayable debt, and the Fed printing money to cover the Washington scoundrel’s spending will be the triggering event for what many expect is coming.

“This will result in massive public unrest potentially resulting in violence, the rise of authoritarian movements on the left and right, and increasing authoritarianism,” says Dr. Paul.

Providing for yourself and your family with gold and silver in a period of lawlessness and economic chaos is essential.  A Republic Monetary Exchange precious metal expert can help you review and structure your portfolio for the fraying of social order.


Do You Hear the Bells and Buzzers Going Off?

They are saying “Buy More Gold!”

It’s not good when you get three stories like this all lined up in a row, all at once on a major new site.

It’s like getting three cherries in a row on a Las Vegas slot.  Except that it’s not a jackpot.  Quite the opposite.  Still, bells and alarms should start clanging and you need to take notice.

The other day all three stories lined up on the Drudge Report.  First of all, higher interest rates are costing the US Treasury a lot of money.  This story details that the Treasury spent $89 billion in interest payment to bond holders just in the month of March.  In case you wonder how much that is per minute,  a Yahoo News headline spelled it out for us:  “At $2 Million Per Minute, Treasuries Mint Cash Like Never Before.”  The financial press can spin it as a good thing that investors are getting interest income, but it will all be paid for by higher inflation since the government continues its wild deficit spending.

Speaking of inflation, next came the news from Business Insider that even people with six-figure incomes can’t seem to get ahead.  “Inflation is scrambling Americans’ perceptions of middle-class life,” it said.  The story reports that things that used to bc a part of middle-class America life appear to be ending.  Half of Americans don’t plan on taking a summer vacation because of the higher cost of living, while 38 percent says they wouldn’t be able to handle an unexpected expense of $1,000 or more.

While we’re digesting all that, we get more news that makes clear that the dollar isn’t what it once was.  What was it once?  Once in was as good as gold.  No more.  Today only gold is as good as gold, as China has figured out:  China Is Buying Gold Like There’s No Tomorrow first appeared on the New York Times webpage.  It reports on what we have called the biggest financial megatrend of our age, de-dollarization:  “In March, the People’s Bank of China added to its gold reserves for a 17th straight month. Last year, the bank bought more gold than any other central bank in the world, adding more to its reserves than it had in nearly 50 years.”  (Update:  New numbers just in for April:  China has now been adding to its gold reserves 18 months in a row!)

So there you have it, three back-to-back stories that are all related.  The Treasury is spending like crazy to borrow money it needs to stay afloat, the middle-class is in the crosshairs of the inflation squeeze, as it always is, and the world is turning to gold, as it always does.

Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  

We think the way things are lining up, you should be hearing alarm bells.  This is the time to make sure you have all the gold and silver you need for the crisis that is now underway.  A Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional can help you construct a portfolio for safety and profit.


Can the U.S. Financial Crisis Be Averted?

Sorry, too late.

You just can’t turn a $24 trillion economy over to someone a clueless as Joe Biden and expect things to go well.

How many examples do you need?  It was just last week the President claimed that inflation was 9 percent when he took office, but he got it on the run.

Not even close!

The big Biden lie was too much even for in-the-bag media outlets like CNN and the Washington Post which had to set the record straight.  To wit:

Inflation was 1.4 percent when Biden took office.  It raced to a 43-year high of 9.1 percent in a year and a half.

You just can’t entrust a $27 trillion economy to someone like Biden and expect a financial crisis to be averted.

A couple more examples?

Okay:

Biden wants to drive people out of internal combustion engines and into electric vehicles.  But at the same time, as analyst Michael Shedlock puts it, “Biden wants EVs so badly that he will quadruple tariffs on them.”  That makes a lot of sense.   The same kind of sense that in a housing affordability crisis, Biden slapped tariffs on Canadian lumber.  So, are we surprised that lumber prices have risen 32 percent? 

You just can’t turn a $27 trillion economy to someone like Biden and expect a financial crisis to be averted.

You’ve probably seen this video of Jared Bernstein, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.  If you haven’t, please watch it and share it with everyone you know.  Bernstein is utterly confused about how US monetary policy works.   He is Biden’s chief economic advisor.

If the blind lead the blind both shall fall in a ditch.

You just can’t turn a $27 trillion economy to someone like Biden and his advisors and expect a financial crisis to be averted.

You cannot trust a monetary system run by these clueless people.  Gold doesn’t need a Chairman of Economic Advisors.  Its value is intrinsic and enduring.


Make Sure You Have Plenty of Gold and Silver!

Ron Paul says, “Massive public unrest… violence… authoritarianism!”

Make sure you have plenty of gold and silver, because it’s not going to be pretty!

No one has a better track record than former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul when it comes to foreseeing the results of government interventions.  Whether it is foreign policy like the Iraq war and the other regime change calamities, or economic like the housing bubble and inflation.

Now Dr. Paul is warning about the next economic crisis.  

“Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, Congress was too preoccupied spending billions more on military aid for foreign countries and banning TikTok to pay attention to the looming bankruptcy of the two largest federal entitlement programs,” says Dr. Paul.  “Many in Congress no doubt believe they can ignore the impending bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare because they can count on the Federal Reserve to do the ‘dirty work’ of cutting real benefits and raising taxes. This result can be produced via the hidden, and regressive, ‘inflation tax.’”

Both the Social Security and Medicare funds covering hospital expenses will begin running red ink in 2035 and 2036, according to fund trustees.

Dr. Paul says that even though interest on the debt is now the third largest item in the federal budget, behind Social Security and Medicare and ahead of military spending, few in Congress are serious about cutting welfare or warfare. They believe the Fed will cover things over by printing money.  

The Federal Reserve’s purchase of federal debt will result in price inflation, says Paul.

It will also encourage more government spending by reinforcing the uniparty delusion that, as former Vice President Dick Cheney said, “deficits don’t matter.” The Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies artificially lower the interest rates, which are the price of money. The artificially low interest rates distort the signals sent to investors and entrepreneurs, leading to malinvestment. This creates bubbles resulting in illusionary prosperity. Eventually, economic reality will catch up with the Fed-created illusions and the bubbles will burst, causing an economic downturn.

The next economic crisis will likely either be caused by or result in a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. Congress will be forced to make drastic cuts in spending while the Fed will be enabled to monetize the debt. This will result in massive public unrest potentially resulting in violence, the rise of authoritarian movements on the left and right, and increasing authoritarianism.

-Ron Paul

During his long tenure in office, Ron Paul was the foremost monetary and gold authority on Capitol Hill.  “Those who truly want a monetary system free from political interference should join the movement to restore government’s constitutional limits and separate money and state.”

Until the Constitution is back on top, own gold and silver!


Stop Taxes on Gold and Silver Coins and Bullion!

U.S Representative Re-Introduces a Bill that Could Remove Taxes from Coins and Bullion

It is the most audacious flim-flam, for the government to make the nation’s legal tender so unreliable that people have to protect themselves from its devaluation, and then tax them punitively for successfully protecting themselves from it.  It’s like installing a clock on your front door, and then the government taxing you on valuables that aren’t stolen.

They intend to get you one way or the other.  But maybe they can be stopped!

U.S. Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) is trying.  He has re-introduced The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act (H.R. 8279).

Representative Mooney’s bill would remove all federal income taxation from gold and silver coins and bullion.

U.S. Representative (R) Alex Mooney

“My view, which is backed up by language in the U.S. Constitution, is that gold and silver coins are money and are legal tender,” Rep. Mooney said.  “If they’re indeed U.S. money, it seems there should be no taxes on them at all. So, why are we taxing these coins as collectibles?”

Of course, the Deep State Money Manipulators know the monetary performance of gold and silver is far superior to the made-up, unbacked, digitally-printed US dollar.  Legal tender laws are intended to force people to use fiat dollars instead of gold and silver, reminiscent of the way Kublai Khan forced his subjects in China to use mulberry bark with his imprint, while he requisitioned all the real money, gold, for himself.

No one ever has to pass a legal tender law to force people to choose superior money that retains its value.  They only pass legal tender laws to force people to use money of sketchy provenance and value.

The IRS also classifies gold and silver in the same category as artwork, baseball cards, and other so-called “collectibles.”  This applies a higher rate of capital gains taxation than other investments. It’s just another front in the war on gold.

Under Rep. Mooney’s bill, the Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act, precious metals gains and losses would not be included in any calculations of a taxpayer’s federal taxable income.  It states that “no gain or loss shall be recognized on the sale or exchange of (1) gold, silver, platinum, or palladium minted and issued by the Secretary at any time or (2), refined gold or silver bullion, coins, bars, rounds, or ingots which are valued primarily based on their metal content and not their form.”

Read the bill HERE.  Contact Congressman Mooney HERE.


Industrial Demand for Silver Could Push Prices Higher

Something is beginning to bubble in the silver market!

The year isn’t even half over and silver is already up more than 15 percent.  And yet it is still unbelievably inexpensive!  

But first, there is more going on in the silver market than just the insanity of Bidenomics.  More than Washington’s unpayable $34.6 trillion national debt.  There’s more than just the global dollar standard beginning to fray.

silver set to soar in 2018

There’s all of that.  It’s all rocket fuel for the next big silver move.  But there are also the supply/demand fundamentals for silver.  They are equally explosive!

The totals from 2023 are in. Industrial demand for silver is setting records.  Here are a couple of numbers that grabbed our attention.  

Industrial demand for silver rose 11 percent in 2023 to a new record high.  At the same time, overall silver supplies are down, including the biggest supply component, mine production.  

You might easily have predicted that silver for photovoltaic applications (solar cells) would be higher.  But would you have guessed that photovoltaic demand would jump an incredible 64 percent?  In just one year?

China figures heavily in the PV sector, and indeed total industrial silver demand from China climber 44 percent in 2023.

Earlier this year we cited one analyst who described silver as “stupidly cheap!”  The rising silver price confirms that he’s right.       

Silver is still way below its all-time highs.  Silver was $50 an ounce in 1980. That was 44 years ago.  Are there any other major industrial commodities that are 40 percent below their price of 44 years ago?  Don’t kid yourself! 

Silver reached highs of about $50 in both 2011 and 2012.

Our point is that silver today is more than 40 percent below its old highs last set a dozen years ago.  And there is one thing you need to know about the silver market.  When it takes off, it really takes off and even outperforms gold itself! 


More Federal Reserve Nonsense

So now the Federal Reserve has had to backpedal on its presumed interest rate cut this year.  That’s due to “a lack of further progress” on inflation says the new policy announcement.

The Deep State Money Manipulators are in one hell of a fix!  Again.

If they cut rates and loosen money, prices will keep climbing.  If they don’t cut rates, the economy could begin to stall as the decline in GDP suggests.

Wall Street knows that the stock market is driven by the creation of money and credit by the Fed, so the players are obsessed with the game of tea-leaf reading and “dot plots” that are supposed to be indications of what the Fed will do with rates at its next meeting and the one after that and the one after that…  They are so good for nothing, they make us laugh!

As recently as March the conventional wisdom was that the Fed would treat Wall Street to three interest rate cuts this year.  But what can it do when inflation is in rebound mode and the rest of the world, especially China, wants gold?

So here’s how the Fed hopes to walk the knife edge without falling off.  On the one hand, it intends to forego the rate cuts it has been dangling in front of the markets.  But on the other hand, beginning in June the Fed is actually going to ease back on “Quantitative Tightening,” its attempt to roll back some of the most frenzied money printing in US history.  From the Fed statement:

Beginning in June, the Committee will slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings by reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion.

For perspective, from 2008 to this time in 2022, the Fed’s assets – basically the money it “printed” digitally, the money it made up to buy things – ballooned by $8 trillion.  Realizing that all that money printing would create new world indoor record inflation, the Fed has been trying to undo some of it while it still can.  They set out a long-term schedule for tightening, but now have announced they intend to back off.  This means they want to loosen money and credit, but they are afraid that doing so with interest rates will be all too transparent, spurring faster price increases.  So, they’re going for the sleight-of-hand rate cut.

At the same time, Chairman Powell sent a clear signal the Fed intends to keep a close watch on the employment numbers.  “The employment goal now comes back into focus. So we are focusing on it,” said Powell.  That’s Fedspeak for “don’t forget this is an election year!”  A weak labor market would be very bad for President Biden and you know our assumption:  the Fed will heavily tilt policy to help Biden win reelection.

Monetary policy resembles an old-fashioned pinball machine as it bounces from bumper to bumper.  The Fed bounces from inflation to employment, from easing to tightening.  All along the way it essentially admits that it doesn’t know what it is doing.

There is no way out.  High rates are taking their toll.  The cost of funding US debt is soaring.  US manufacturing is in contraction, as is employment.  But prices keep climbing.  Crude oil is up by double-digits since the first of the year.  Gas is up more than 20 percent.  

“There is a lack of further progress” on inflation.  That’s not us.  That’s the Fed’s official statement.

Now, doesn’t owning gold make all the sense in the world?


Own Gold to Protect Yourself From Debt!

We Know what government promises are worth!

Gross Domestic Product is weak.  Inflation is strong.  That’s the latest from the government numbers.  But all those numbers are misleading.  They can be crunched, re-crunched, and inevitably revised.  The statistical components are changed at the drop of a hat to serve political interests.  And their assumptions are, well, bizarre to say the least.  Government spending is a component of GDP.  If the government deploys armies of bureaucrats that make the nation less productive, does that make sense as an addition to productivity?

But there is one number that is more or less reliable:  US government debt.   The government can try to downplay it by saying that some – a lot – of promises it made to people to pay them, things like Social Security, are not part of the debt.  Okay.  We know what government promises are worth.  But the basic debt itself, the money it must borrow to keep afloat, is pretty straightforward.

Today the total public debt is $34.6 trillion.  That’s over $100,000 per citizen.  This week when you drive by the elementary school in your neighborhood during recess look at all the little kids on the playground.  Each one of them owes $100,000, their share of Washington’s debt.  How are they going to pay their share?

We’re not trying to make you laugh!  But, as Bill Bonner writes, it “makes the $95 billion in ‘foreign aid’ — to people who don’t need it (Israel)… can’t achieve anything with it (Ukraine)… or have no real use for it (Taiwan) — even more out-of-line.  

You might like to see the Congressional Budget Office’s projection of the growth of federal debt on the chart from Visual Capitalist below.

Read it and weep!  But don’t forget that you can protect yourself with gold and silver.  Do you have all you need to get through the coming debt debacle?

You Will Own Nothing: Part II

A Former Treasury Official Says You Already Don’t!

In YOU WILL OWN NOTHING, Part I, we shared a video of a Canadian man trying to withdraw a few thousand dollars from his bank account.  The bank wanted a document of some sort to show what he was going to do with his money.

There is more of this sort of thing going around than most people suspect.  It is not just happening at the level of local banks.  A former US Treasury official suggests that you may have already lost ownership of your retirement and investment accounts on a national level.  You will own nothing!

Meanwhile, the US government is making clear to the rest of the world that their dollar holdings are only theirs when Washington says they can have them.

Locally.  Nationally.  Internationally.  Title to assets and control of monetary resources is under assault.  You don’t have to be Carnac the Magnificent to see where this is headed.

On the international front, Congress didn’t just pass a bill to give away $95 billion in foreign aid money we don’t have, it also included a provision that will allow Washington to steal billions of dollars owned by Russia.  Bill Bonner says that the measure is the equivalent of if France, in response to the US invasion of Iraq (remember the Weapons of Mass Destruction that didn’t exist?) had seized the bank accounts of Americans in Paris.

This is what is meant by the weaponization of the US dollar.  It is why US dollar owners around the world are growing wary of the dollar.  They fear correctly that they will own nothing!  

That fear is driving a move to more trustworthy alternatives.  It explains the move by foreign central banks to own more gold. Gold is the most trustworthy money in the world. It depends on no one’s promise.  Gold is its promise!

The US is undermining its own currency.  Washington is shooting itself and you in the foot.  That is because the value of the dollar has long been buttressed by its international reserve status.  Pull out the support system, and everything will cost you even more.

Paul Craig Roberts

What about your ownership of your investment and retirement accounts?  Paul Craig Roberts says, “you may have already lost ownership of your banking, pension, and investment accounts.”  

Roberts was an assistant secretary of the US Treasury in the Reagan administration and an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.  He explains:

Your “ownership” has been reduced to permission to use your assets until the financial intermediary holding them gets into financial trouble. At that moment, they cease to be your property and become the property of the creditors of the intermediary that holds your accounts, whether it be Merrill Lynch, Schwab, Wells Fargo, TIAA, or whoever. Your dispossession was done quietly over many years by regulatory agencies. This is what Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum means when he tells you that “you will own nothing.” You already don’t.

So, there you have it.  Faith is collapsing in the property rights the people must have in their financial assets.  Internationally.  Nationally.  Locally.  You’ll own nothing… unless you own gold.


You Will Own Nothing: Part I

The only money you own is gold and silver in your personal possession!

You better watch this video.  Especially if you think you own what is in your bank account.

Ownership is the ability to call upon and dispose of assets as you desire or as agreed upon.  When you deposit your money into your bank account do you think you still own it?

Better watch this video from Canada…

During the collapse of major banks last year – Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, and others – clients reported personally intrusive inquiries and difficulties in making bank withdrawals.  It is a problem that we expect will only grow worse.

Gold is the most liquid financial asset in the world.  It is not dependent on counterparties, fund managers, bank managers, or Fed officials.  It is not susceptible to being frozen by bank holidays or by institutional bankruptcies.  

But this only applies to physical gold and silver you have in your possession.  It does not apply to “paper gold” or gold substitutes.  To learn more about the safety of gold, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional today!


Here’s Why Central Banks Are Buying Gold

The World Bank is not even trying to hide it.  

Why are global central banks beating a pathway to the gold market?  Why are central banks an important force in driving the gold price to new all-time highs?  

We have called central bank de-dollarization and gold-buying one of the most important megatrends of our time.  Now a new World Bank publication spells out why this is happening, and it does so in a candid way that makes a powerful case for individuals to protect their wealth with gold.

The Gold Investing Handbook for Asset Managers was authored by Kamol Alimukhamedov, Deputy Managing Director of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.  From the introduction:

In recent years, gold has regained its importance as a financial asset, with many investors using it as a hedge against inflation and market volatility. In addition, central banks and other financial institutions continue to hold significant amounts of gold as part of their reserve assets.

The role of gold as a reserve asset for central banks has been a significant driver of demand for the precious metal. Gold is also considered a safe haven asset during times of economic uncertainty and geopolitical turmoil, making it a popular among investors looking to hedge against market volatility.

Here are a couple of bullet points from the new World Bank handbooks…

  • Geopolitical risk is a major factor for asset managers to consider, especially in emerging markets. This is because geopolitical events can have significant impact on financial markets, as seen in the freezing of the assets of the Iranian Central Bank ($1.9 billion) in 2010, the Kazakhstan National Bank ($22.6 billion) in 2017, the Venezuelan Central Bank ($342 million) in 2020, the Afghan Central Bank ($7 billion) in 2021, and most recently the Russian Central Bank (estimated at $258 billion).
  • The belief is that the Russian sanctions create incentives for central banks to abandon the dollar in favor of gold and for governments to cash in their dollar reserves for stocks of other commodities. Overall, the recent sanctions against Russia highlight the importance of gold as a reserve asset. 
  • Gold’s liquidity surpasses the major financial assets and government debt markets of many developed economies.
  • Gold has proven to be a reliable and stable investment over the medium and long term.  Since the fall of the “gold standard” in 1971, gold has delivered an average annual return of around 11 percent, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8 percent.
  • Gold offers positive real returns during periods of low, moderate, and high inflation (Figure17). Notably, aggregate US Treasuries produced positive real returns only during periods of low inflation, whereas broad US equities, while offering high returns during periods of low and moderate inflation, typically suffer from large losses when inflation exceeds 3 percent on a consistent basis.

For protection from geopolitical risk, from government policies that prevent you from the use of your own money, for liquidity, stability, and superior returns, speak to a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals expert about adding gold to your portfolio.

Why is Gold Going Through the Roof?

Gold is going through the roof because the already unpayable US debt is, too!

After all, if there is no hope for US debt at $34 trillion today, how about when it reaches $141 trillion in 2054?  And that is where the Congressional Budget Office says we are headed!

$141 trillion is a lot of money!  How does a national government even begin to pay the interest on a debt that big?  You know the answer:  money printing!

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was both candid and shameless about it just a few years ago:  “The US government has a technology, called a printing press, that allows it to produce as many dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”  

Look, from 2024 to 2054 the annual deficits will average 6.7 percent of GDP.  That is almost double their average over the last half-century!

By 2054 the deficit will hit 8.5 percent of GDP.

Says the CBO, apparent master of understatement, “Such large and growing debt would have significant economic and financial consequences.”

Among its other effects, it would slow economic growth, drive up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, heighten the risk of a fiscal crisis, increase the likelihood of other adverse outcomes, and make the nation’s fiscal position more vulnerable to an increase in interest rates.

When we want to print something, we have to buy inkjets, make sure there is plenty of paper in the printer and hit Control P.  Today the Fed’s legalized money printing is mostly digital.  It’s so easy now!  They don’t even have to cut down all those trees for paper like they used to do!  They must be environmentally friendly!

Make sure you have plenty of US gold coins, Maple Leafs, Krugerrands, other favorite coins, and gold bars!  And don’t forget the silver – bars and coins!  You’ll need it!


Washington’s Paper Money Counterfeiting Scheme!

Here’s a story we have told before, but with gold hitting so many all-time highs lately, it is one that deserves to be told again.

It begins with a serious economic crisis that is fast approaching.  Here’s a snippet from Fred Hickey (The High Tech Strategist) on April 2 that highlights just how fast things are spinning out of control.  In just the last 20 days, he writes, US government debt increased by $168 billion.  That is equal to the entire US deficit in 2002!  

This unrelenting gusher of red ink ensures that something like a “Crack-Up Boom” is fast approaching today.  

That is the name the great free-market economist Ludwig von Mises coined to describe the last stage of a currency breakdown:  The Crack-Up Boom.  In German, it is “Katastrophenhausse,” a catastrophe boom.

Because we think our friends and clients will need to know very soon, from his work Human Action, here is Mises’ description of the breakdown of a currency:

The characteristic mark of this phenomenon is that the increase in the quantity of money causes a fall in the demand for money…. The monetary system breaks down; all transactions in the money concerned cease; a panic makes its purchasing power vanish altogether. People return either to barter or to the use of another kind of money.

The course of a progressing inflation is this: At the beginning the inflow of additional money makes the prices of some commodities and services rise; other prices rise later. The price rise affects the various commodities and services, as has been shown, at different dates and to a different extent.

This first stage of the inflationary process may last for many years. While it lasts, the prices of many goods and services are not yet adjusted to the altered money relation. There are still people in the country who have not yet become aware of the fact that they are confronted with a price revolution which will finally result in a considerable rise of all prices, although the extent of this rise will not be the same in the various commodities and services. These people still believe that prices one day will drop. Waiting for this day, they restrict their purchases and concomitantly increase their cash holdings. As long as such ideas are still held by public opinion, it is not yet too late for the government to abandon its inflationary policy.

But then finally the masses wake up. They become suddenly aware of the fact that inflation is a deliberate policy and will go on endlessly. A breakdown occurs. The crack-up boom appears. Everybody is anxious to swap his money against “real” goods, no matter whether he needs them or not, no matter how much money he has to pay for them. Within a very short time, within a few weeks or even days, the things which were used as money are no longer used as media of exchange. They become scrap paper. Nobody wants to give away anything against them.

It was this that happened with the Continental currency in America in 1781, with the French mandats territoriaux in 1796, and with the German Mark in 1923. It will happen again whenever the same conditions appear. If a thing has to be used as a medium of exchange, public opinion must not believe that the quantity of this thing will increase beyond all bounds. Inflation is a policy that cannot last.

“Inflation is a policy that cannot last.”  

That is why gold has broken out for new higher ground at the same time Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has admitted once again that the Fed doesn’t really know what it is doing.

China, once America’s leading creditor, is fleeing US government bonds like they have the plague.  It is doing so at the same time that the governments need to borrow more money than ever.  

The Crack-Up Boom is nearing.   Do you have all the gold and silver you need?


Gold Has a Long Way to Go!

Why is gold setting new records?  

It’s a gold and silver bull market for all the reasons we’ve been saying.  As we write this, spot gold is about $2,400, while Spot silver is closing in on $29.00 per ounce. 

Why are precious metals so strong, especially in a rising interest rate environment?

Because other countries are fed up with dollar inflation. US debt has gone stratospheric, and the swamp creatures don’t care. Their cronies are stealing everything, and Washington wars are making us poorer.

Just a decade ago foreign investors and foreign central banks owned about 43 percent of all outstanding US government debt.  That has now fallen to about 30 percent.  

Washington has given no sign that it is going to do anything about soaring US debt.  On the contrary, its spending continues to grow ever more reckless. Some of that spending is driven by forces out of the hands of Capitol Hill.  Rising interest rates are hitting hard.  The average interest on US government debt is now 3.2 percent.  That may seem low, but it is the highest it has been since 2010 and as old debt at low rates matures, it has to be refinanced at prevailing rates that are much higher.     

It was in 2020 that gold first traded above $2,000 an ounce.  

As you can see, gold topped at just below $2,100 three times, in in August ’20, March ’22, and May ’23.  Now after four years of range-bound trading, gold has run through all the overhead resistance like a hot knife through butter.  

Spot silver has peaked at about $50 an ounce three times, first back in 1980, and more recently in 2011 and again in 2012.  

Don’t miss this bull market.  The US dollar is losing its global reserve might, while silver is still way below its all-time highs.  And gold has a long way to go!  


U.S. Debt Finally Got Away From Us

Washington is squirting red ink out from every pore.  The budget year is half over, finishing with a deficit of more than a trillion dollars.  

This will end badly.

We have been sounding an alarm in these posts about US debt and the fear that it would get away from us.  A few recent examples:

Another Ominous U.S. Financial Update

Time to Take a Look at the U.S. Fiscal Situation!

Uncle Sam’s Credit Score Keeps Falling

We believe the price of gold is confirming that Washington’s debt is every bit as bad as we have said.

Our opinions don’t have the force of law, but to us the US national debt is a matter of criminal negligence.  Washington has been indifferent to the debt as it grew, and now it is too late:  the national debt has gotten away from us!

From the Wall Street Journal

The Congressional Budget Office reported Monday that the federal budget deficit for the first six months of fiscal 2024, ending in March, was $1.064 trillion. Enjoy it, because you’ll eventually pay for it in higher taxes.

The problem isn’t a shortage of tax revenue, which rose 7% from a year earlier to $2.19 trillion. Individual income-tax and payroll-tax revenue both rose 6%, while corporate income taxes rose 35%. Is a 7% increase what President Biden would call a “fair share” increase? Probably not, because he wants to raise taxes even higher if he’s re-elected.

Interest on the national debt is now a trillion dollars a year.  That will go up as older debt, money borrowed at lower rates, matures and is refinanced at today’s and tomorrow’s higher rates.  

If Washington has to borrow more and more and more to keep itself afloat, it will have to attract borrowers at much higher interest rates, especially now with the world already beginning to express skepticism about the US dollar.  Jaime Dimon at JPMorgan Chase is talking about rates rising to 8 percent.  That’s nothing, but financing today’s US debt at 8 percent would cost $2.75 trillion a year,

There is no solution to the debt overhang.  Except legal counterfeiting.  The debt can only be paid by printing money.

It is a critical situation, one best met by owning gold and silver.  A US debt crisis and the soaring interest rates that will accompany it will crash banks, financial markets, real estate, small businesses, and consumers around the world.

As we wrote about the worsening debt situation last year, “Gold and silver are the only monetary assets that are not someone else’s liability. They are not dependent on someone else’s solvency, promises to perform, or honesty. Their value does not depend on the endorsement, propriety, or honesty of any State or institution. They are not like empty government promises.  They have no counterparty risk, no risk of rule changes, nonpayment, default, or bankruptcy by individuals, companies, financial exchanges, institutions, and banks—quite apart from being insulated from the risks of the Fed’s fiat dollar as well.”


End the Fed! Return to Gold!

Lew Rockwell Explains it All!

“The power to create money is the most ominous power ever bestowed on any human being. This power is rightly criminalized when it is exercised by private individuals, and even today, everyone knows why counterfeiting is wrong and knavish. Far fewer are aware of the role of the federal government, the Fed, and the fiat dollar in making possible the largest counterfeiting operation in human history, which is called the world dollar standard. Fewer still understand the connection between this officially sanctioned criminality and the business cycle, the rise and collapse of the stock market, and the continued erosion of the value of the dollar.”

Those are the words of one of the most important champions of sound money in this age.  

Lew Rockwell at Mises Symposium in 2017

Lew Rockwell has been extraordinarily effective in the fight, on the front lines of the battle, and always in key positions.  Lew was a former editorial assistant to the great free-market economist Ludwig von Mises, and later chief of staff for Congressman Ron Paul who was for many years the most knowledgeable monetary expert and gold standard supporter on Capitol Hill.  In addition, Lew is the founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of www.LewRockwell.com.  He is the author of Against the State and Against the Left.

Quite a resume. 

We want to share a few words from Lew’s recent piece on LewRockwell.com called Bring Back Gold!:

I would venture to guess that a sizeable percentage of even educated adults would be astounded to discover that the Federal Reserve does more than manage the nation’s money accounts, that, in fact, its main activity consists in actually creating money that distorts production and creates inflation and the business cycle. In fact, I would go further to suggest that many educated adults believe that gold continues to serve as the ultimate backing of our monetary system, and would be astonished to discover that our money is backed by nothing but more of itself.

We have our work cut out for us, to be sure, mainly at the educational level. We must continue to state the obvious at every opportunity, that the fiat system is exactly what it is, a system of paper money backed by nothing of real value. We must continue to point out that because of this, our economic system is not depression proof, but rather highly vulnerable to complete meltdown. We must continue to draw attention to the only long-term solution: a complete separation of money and state based on the commodity that the market has always chosen as money, namely, gold…

What has been true for hundreds of years remains true today. The clearest path to the restoration of economic health is the free market undergirded by a sound monetary system…. 

We want to tip our hat to Lew Rockwell, a great spokesman for both real money and free people.  As Lew says, “Let’s do everything we can to end the Fed and restore the real gold standard!”


Gold’s Record-Setting 2024 Continues

The price of gold has continued climbing to one new all-time high after another  

Is Powell playing politics?  See the gold and silver charts!

First Gold…

…and Silver

The latest moves have come in response to the Federal Reserve and its broad hints that Powell is playing election-year politics.  While inflation surprised officials on the high side in both January and February, at last week’s policy press conference Chairman Powell was surprisingly dovish about inflation.  Powell suggested that the Fed may even slow down its Quantitative Tightening policy of unloading US Treasury and other bonds.

That was all both gold and silver markets needed to hear, taking it as further evidence that we are in primary bull markets in both metals.

By the way, we are on record a couple of times making the point that the Fed can be expected to tilt the scales left in the upcoming election.  Here is what we wrote in January about the likelihood that the Fed would be in the tank for Biden: 

We told you last year that you can expect the Fed to put its big, fat monetary thumb on the scale to help re-elect Biden (or whoever the Dems turn to in Biden’s place).

Fact:  For every Republican economist at the Fed there are 10 Democrat economists.  The institution is so far left that it endangers the spinning of the Earth on its axis.  Surprised?  Of course not.  The very idea of a central bank is a communist dream.  

Karl Marx long ago included it as one of the 10 essentials of creating a communist regime: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

So of course, the Fed is thick with leftists.   And of course, it will tilt the game to get Biden re-elected.  It has done that sort of thing before!

We told you last year that you can expect the Fed to put its big, fat monetary thumb on the scale to help re-elect Biden (or whoever the Dems turn to in Biden’s place).

Fact:  For every Republican economist at the Fed there are 10 Democrat economists.  The institution is so far left that it endangers the spinning of the Earth on its axis.  Surprised?  Of course not.  The very idea of a central bank is a communist dream.  

Karl Marx long ago included it as one of the 10 essentials of creating a communist regime: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

So of course, the Fed is thick with leftists.   And of course, it will tilt the game to get Biden re-elected.  It has done that sort of thing before!


Another Zimbabwe Dollar… Backed By Gold?

As Zimbabwe’s latest attempt at a currency collapses – this would be the sixth one since 2008 – the country’s leaders are watching it fall and hinting that the next Zimbabwe dollar will be gold-backed.

Riiiight!  Of course it will!!!!

Bloomberg News:

The country’s local dollar has weakened against the US dollar every day in 2024, sending the price of a single loaf of bread from Z$6,105 to Z$19,357 in a mere 11 weeks. Such a loss of purchasing power has historically pushed the central to intervene bank and arrest the slide, but this time, there has been no action….

President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced this February his government will introduce a “structured currency.” Then, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said it may be backed by gold and the central bank postponed its monetary-policy statement to give final touches to the plan.

There are no gold-backed government currencies anywhere in the world.  None.  It is a symptom of the dishonesty of our age.  While it is inevitable that people – given enough government currency debauchment – will start to trade in gold among themselves around government’s monetary systems – there is zero chance that Zimbabwe will introduce a gold-backed currency.  

Of course, Zimbabwe is a stunning case history for the brazenness of its monetary crimes, its policies are only different in degree and not in kind from those of the US.  And for the same reasons that economist Peter Earle with the American Institute for Economic Research identified in the above epigram:  inflation is a tool for giving favors to cronies and buying votes, and because the people don’t understand it, governments and politicians can blame it on outside forces.

Bloomberg:

Even when people want to use it, the Zimbabwe dollar can hardly buy anything. The highest denomination, the Z$100 note, must be carried in large wads to carry out the smallest of transactions….

Zimbabwe suspended publishing inflation figures after July 2008, when the measure reached an annual 231,162,000%.

If you want to read the story of the currency inflation that made Zimbabwe the world’s laughingstock, read my book REAL MONEY FOR FREE PEOPLE!  The American Gold Story.   It’s an important guide to wealth protection and profit in these troubled days.  Stop by our office, we’ll give you a complimentary copy.


Another Ominous U.S. Financial Update

It’s time again to update our friends and clients on the financial situation of the US government.  

We are neither surprised nor pleased with what we have to report.  While no one likes to be the bearer of bad news, despite what the lapdog press tells you the situation is growing grim.

We have already shared the headline story with you, that US debt is growing by a trillion dollars every one hundred days.  

The deficit, just for February alone, was $298 billion, up $36 billion, or 14 percent over February 2023.

Meanwhile, as we write, a $1.2 trillion 1,012-page omnibus spending bill covering an estimated 70% of discretionary government spending, is before the House of Representatives.

Michael Shedlock, MishTalk, calls it a Republican humiliation:

  • Republicans said no more omnibus massive bills: Failure
  • Republicans demanded budget cutbacks: Failure
  • Republicans said they would restore order: Failure
  • Republicans said they would pass bills without Democrats: Failure
  • Republicans said no more continuing resolutions: 3 Failures

It is a legislative horror story, loaded with leftist pork, woke spending, and transfers overseas of wealth from the American people.  It is simply impossible to describe in a short space what an outrage it is.  Here are a few details reported by Jesse Waters:

  • $850k for a gay senior home
  • $15 million to pay college tuition for Egyptians.
  • $400k for a gay activist group to teach elementary kids about being trans
  • $500k for a DEI zoo
  • $400k for a group to give clothes to teens to help them hide their gender.  That includes giving 13-year-old children chest binders, tuck equipment, and “counseling” without parental consent.

Go here to see some additional details.

As if that is not enough, the new fiscal year, FY2025, is only about six months away, with a White House budget proposal that increases federal spending to $7.3 trillion, a jump for 4.7 percent over the current year.

Q.  Does Washington think money grows on trees?

A.  Yes.

The Congressional Budget Office projections that the debt will reach $50 trillion by 2033 and $60 trillion in 2034.  Former Reagan budget Director David Stockman is more realistic.  He expects the Washington UniParty to drive the debt to $100 trillion in the early 2040s. 

Other indicators:

The cost of auto insurance is skyrocketing, up 21 percent last year.  The Wall Street Journal reports that credit card interest rates are near record highs.  Delinquencies are rising.

At the same time, home affordability has collapsed to the lowest level on record.

One other dirty little secret is the situation at the Federal Reserve.  After the private chefs and limousines, the palatial offices and private jet travel, an incredibly bloated staff of bureaucrats, and the money it throws at the economics profession to keep them all endorsing its fiat monetary fraud, the Fed is supposed to send to the Treasury the money it makes in its monetary operations.  How is it doing on that front?  Not well.  As economist Judy Shelton wrote recently, it is actually helping to widen the deficit:

The Fed’s main tool for raising its target interest range is to increase the “administered rates” it pays to commercial banks and money-market mutual funds on the roughly $4 trillion they hold in cash accounts at the Fed. Last year the Fed’s interest expense amounted to an unprecedented $281 billion—exceeding its $164 billion in interest income—with the difference paid out of funds that would otherwise be remitted to the U.S. Treasury.

To appreciate the fiscal effect of the Fed’s operating losses: The Biden administration’s budget for fiscal 2023 projected $516 billion in Federal Reserve “earnings” to be included as receipts for the 2023-32 period.

How America’s financial situation has been allowed to deteriorate so fast is a story for future historians.  But the story for today is how can so few people see how fast it is falling apart.  

For now, buy gold and silver.  And hold your breath.  Things are moving very fast.


$15,000 Gold by 2026? Jim Rickards Says Yes.

$15,000? Here’s Why!

Gold expert and best-selling author James Rickards says that gold will skyrocket, reaching $15,000 an ounce by 2026 or sooner.

Now, with its recent surge to all-time highs, gold is attracting new attention from analysts eager to get in front of the parade with higher gold price forecasts.

But Rickards forecast is not new.  He reiterates it in the face of the last price advances to assure his readers that he is not just jumping on the gold bandwagon, but that his call is based on his analysis of prior gold bull markets:  “This gold price forecast is based on the best available tools and models that have proved accurate in many other contexts.”

The prior gold bull markets that Rickard uses to forecast this bull market include the one from August 1971 – when Nixon severed the dollar’s last tie to gold – to January 1980.  During that run gold exploded from $35 an ounce to $800, for a 2,200 percent gain.

Rickards dates the second gold bull market from $25o an ounce in August 1999 to $1,900 12 years later, in August 2011.  That was a gain of 670 percent.

Now we are in a third gold bull market, says Rickards:

The third bull market in gold began on Dec. 16, 2015, with gold hitting a bottom of $1,050 per ounce at the end of the prior bear market. Since then, gold has rallied to about $2,187 per ounce as of today.

If we take a simple average of the price gains and durations of the two prior bull markets in gold, we arrive at a 1,435% gain over a period of 10.2 years.

Applying that gain and duration to a baseline of $1,050 per ounce beginning in December 2015 leads to a gains projection for this bull market of $15,070 per ounce by August 2026.

We can attest that Rickards has not cherry-picked evidence to make an exceptionally bullish case.  Those of us in the markets at the time witnessed gold trades as high as $850 in January 1980.  

Rickards concludes, “Using the history of gold bull markets as a guide, a dollar price of gold of $15,000 per ounce in under three years is not that big a stretch.”

We agree because the price of gold is a referendum on the quantity and quality of the US dollar.  


The US Dollar System is Being Weaponized Against You

Some are leaving the dollar.  You might want to think about it, too!

Charles de Gaulle, the former Premier of France, called the global dollar system America’s “exorbitant privilege.”  Or maybe he didn’t.  Maybe with was a French finance minister.

But if de Gaulle hadn’t said it himself, he could have because he understood that it would end up fleecing the rest of the world.  In fact, de Gaulle sent his navy to pick up the French gold that was being stored by the United States.

The dollar’s exorbitant privilege of being the reserve currency of the world made Americans a little better off in some ways than they might have been.  It created an artificial demand for dollars, allowing the US treasury to borrow more cheaply than it otherwise could have done.

But such privileges don’t last more than a couple of centuries.   And now our privilege is expiring in half the usual lifespan.  Why?  Because the Deep State has weaponized the dollar.  Instead of being a neutral unit of accounting and trade, like gold, the US freezes, appropriates, and confiscates dollars belonging to other countries.  It prohibits them from using, spending, or disposing of dollars they own.  

To the extent foreign nations hold dollars, they are vulnerable to the whims of Uncle Sam and its often senseless foreign policy.  And they know it.  A “substantial percentage” of foreign central banks surveyed by Invesco reported concerns about the way the US and its minions froze almost half of Russia’s $650 billion gold and foreign exchange reserves.   

No country wants to keep wealth in a currency that can deprive it of its use unilaterally.  Like the dollar.  Imagine agreeing to keep money in a bank or brokerage account that can suddenly just shut you out.

Now Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is being cagey with one congressman, Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., who is asking specific questions about foreign nations’ repatriating their gold and how much gold the Fed is holding.

We’ll let HeadlineUSA tell the story:

The Fed chairman told Mooney that the Federal Reserve does not own gold but holds it as a custodian for other entities—a fact the congressman presumably already knew. Powell also said that the Fed serves as a custodian for a “small portion” of the U.S. government’s gold, telling Mooney that “any questions you may have about such gold are best directed to the Treasury Department.” Rep. Mooney’s questions were not about the Treasury’s gold [emphasis added].

To Chris Powell, secretary-treasurer of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, the Fed chairman’s responses to a sitting member of Congress are not only unacceptable but also telling.

“The refusal of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board even to acknowledge, much less reply to, the questions of a member of Congress about the repatriation of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York confirms that something really big is going on with gold internationally,” Powell said in an email to Headline USA.

President Biden recently announced the imposition of an additional 500 financial sanctions on Russia.  Altogether the US has some 4,000 sanctions in place against Russia.  Russia has developed workarounds for most of them.  It is clear that sanctions have hastened the development of alternatives to the US-controlled, dollar-based SWIFT account settlement system.  The effect of the American sanctions being wielded so promiscuously makes it appear that the global dollar standard is not so much failing as it is committing suicide.  

Washington is killing American prosperity.  It long ago killed the good-as-gold US dollar.  It is doing untold harm on many other fronts in addition to now destroying the dollar reserve standard.  It has declared foolish wars on the internal combustion engine, free trade, individual meritocracy, financial privacy and much more.  

Our political classes have the Midas touch in reverse.  They are turning everything they touch into toxic waste.  They will bring the dollar down and impoverish the American people.

We are in the business of helping people like you protect your wealth and yourself from their madness. Let us help.


John F. McManus, R.I.P.

“You know the Founders wrote the Constitution “to bind down the government from mischief,” said Jefferson.  Then they added the Bill of Rights, and you know what those ten amendments say:  The government shall not… shall not… shall not… shall not… all the way up to the marvelous Tenth Amendment that said if we forgot anything, you can’t do that either!”

– John F. McManus, speaking at the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign 
“Rally for the Republic,” 2008.

It is with great personal sadness that we note the passing of John F. “Jack” McManus on March 4.

Jack was a friend of more than 50 years.  He was also a great patriot, a mentor, a client, and a personal inspiration. 

Upon graduating from Holy Cross with a degree in physics, Jack served his country proudly as an officer in the US Marine Corps.  In 1966 Jack took a position with the John Birch Society as a teacher, a writer, and a speaker.  He rose to become the organization’s President from 1991 – 2015 and President Emeritus thereafter.

The John Birch Society is one of the most misunderstood political advocacy groups in modern American history.  It is sufficient here to say that when you see American sovereignty subordinated to multinational organizations, and promiscuous and unconstitutional American regime change wars around the world that cost the American people their future well-being, you are seeing something the JBS fought valiantly against for many years.  When you note the ascendency of a few powerful corporate entities exercising undue influence over Washington and seeking always to suppress the free speech rights of Americans, you are noting the very crony capitalism that the JBS warned of.  When you watch the Federal Reserve’s long-term destruction of the US dollar and the bailout again and again of the influential money center banks at the people’s expense, you should remember that the JBS stood firmly against all of this corruption and abuse long before others began to awaken.

Jack McManus was at the forefront of all of these battles.  He was the right man for the job.  He was a tireless champion of American freedom and prosperity, and he was – as they say in the area around  Boston where he lived – “wicked smart.”

I last talked with Jack some months back when his wife of 65 years, Mary, passed away. It is a reminder to me and perhaps to others not to allow the busy activities of daily life to prevent us from being in more regular contact with those we love.  

In addition to our long friendship, I will always be grateful to Jack for his supporting me in devotion to the traditional Roman Catholic faith we shared.  At the same time, Jack often said, when a fellow patriot preceded him in death… “America has lost one of its sons”.  I echo his sentiments of him.

Jack and Jim at RME in 2013

Please pray for the repose of the soul of John F. McManus, who entered into eternity this week.  


What Else Are They Lying to You About?

Inflation, for sure!

Well surprise, surprise!

Last week even the New York Times has provided details about that “a C.I.A.-supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border.”

That’s the sort of thing that has been generally denied for a long time.

And whatever happened to those secret bioweapons labs the US had in Ukraine?  And who bombed the Nordstream pipelines?  And who forged the documents about WMDs in Iraq?

And what about all the lies about Covid?  

To tell you the truth, that’s not our beat.  Our job is to help you protect your wealth with gold and silver and keep you informed about what the monetary and fiscal authorities are doing to you.  Believe me, all that keeps us plenty busy!

But you must wonder what else the people are being deceived about.  The manipulation of numbers and statistics about the economy is always a good place to look for a spin job.

Here’s an example.  Joe Biden has been president for three years now.  During that time the Consumer Price Index has risen 18 percent.  That is criminal-scale inflation and should be enough to toss any president out of office.  But inflation is worse than that.

The Consumer Price Index has always been sketchy and used to hide the real cost of living.  So forget 18 percent overall consumer price inflation and its aggregate number.  Here are the government numbers for the things people actually spend their money on.  Things like homes and food and gas:

Rent up 19.5 percent.  Groceries up 21.5 percent.   Energy up 32.3 percent.  Gas up 34.6 percent.  Mortgages up 66.5 percent.  

Meanwhile, they are going to be coming for your retirement plan soon.  A recent article on Bloomberg News was headlined, “Your 401(k) Will Be Gone Within a Decade”:

There has been a brewing intellectual movement to get rid of the 401(k) for several years, with scholars on both the right and left questioning its value. And as the federal government gets increasingly desperate for new sources of revenue, the tax treatment of 401(k)s is a likely target. 

Now, we’re not psychic. But if you’d like to know where to look for the next round of Washington deceptions, we suggest the upcoming votes on spending bills and measures to fund the government.

No matter what they say, runaway Washington spending will not be brought to heel in the final plan.  No matter what they say.

We say don’t be victimized by Washington’s sleight of hand, deceptions, and lies.  Get your hard-earned money to someplace safe:  gold and silver.


Gold is the Answer to Global Debt

Global debt is soaring!  Up $15 trillion last year!

Uh oh!  Unpayable debt leads to money printing.  That’s just the government playbook.

 The Institute of International Finance, a global association of financial institutions, tracks and analyzes global capital flows and debt trends.  It reports that “over $15 trillion of additional debt was added to the global debt mountain just last year.  That brings total global debt to a new record high of $313 trillion.”

Let us remember J.P. Morgan’s words, that gold is money. Everything else is credit. 

All of this debt, not to mention other undisclosed leverage like derivatives that can come topping down in a crisis, represents a lot of precarious credit resting on a tiny amount of real liquidity, gold.

Economist Daniel Lacalle calls this a “ticking time bomb for the global economy.”  He writes:

Bloated public debt is a burden on the economy, making productivity stall, raising taxes, and crowding out financing for the private sector. With each passing year, the global debt figure climbs higher, the burdens grow heavier, and the risks loom larger…

Citizens are led to believe that lower growth, declining real wages, and persistent inflation are external factors that have nothing to do with governments, but this is incorrect. Deficit spending is printing money, and it erodes the purchasing power of the currency while destroying the opportunities for the private sector to invest. The entire burden of higher taxes and inflation falls on the middle class and small businesses.

Lacalle concludes, “The end of the United States dollar will not come from external threats but from the irresponsible actions of its own government. Cheap debt is always exceedingly expensive.”

At the risk of repeating ourselves, they can’t print gold.  


The Midas Touch!

The following graphic is from Visual Capitalist.  It displays the top 11 countries by gold reserves as of September 2023, based on data from Central Banks, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Gold Council.  It says, “In 2023, amid uncertainty about US interest rates and continued geopolitical risks, the metal once again demonstrated its importance by hitting a new record in December.”

These are the conventionally accepted numbers.  We want to note our reservations.  First of all, the Federal Reserve strenuously resists auditing.  Similarly, the US government’s gold holdings, such as those at Fort Knox, go unaudited.  We find that especially peculiar since by law every public company in the US must submit financial statements each year audited by certified auditors.

Shouldn’t the same be required of the government?  If it is sauce for the goose, it should be sauce for the gander.

Secondly, the is a widespread belief among knowledgeable people that China goes to a great deal of trouble to conceal its gold holdings.  For more on that see our post from the past year CHINA KEEPS BUYING GOLD!

We think the reason China and other nations are turning to gold in the waning dollar economy are also good enough reasons for individuals to do the same!


Trump Calls Out the Dollar

Our currency is losing its dominance!  Get ready!  Get gold!

“Our country is going to hell and we’re not going to be the big boy,” Trump said. 

Well, he got that right.  It reminds us of the old expression that he who has the gold makes the rules.  The US Treasury says we have a lot of gold, but like the Federal Reserve itself, America’s gold has not been audited.  Other countries are acting on their desire to “make the rules.”  So, they are building their gold reserves.

Trump, on Fox Business a few months ago, made clear that he was talking about the US dollar.  “We have power, but it’s waning. It’s waning in terms of our currency. And I’m not just talking about the value of our currency, I’m talking about our currency being used throughout the world.”

So, while Biden keeps making outrageous claims about Bidenomics, things like deficits don’t matter, Americans know better.  It is simply impossible to ignore that since Biden took office three years ago overall prices are up 17.9 percent, and 73 percent of Americans describe the economy as poor and getting worse.

While the US government has been hostile to gold, seeing it not as a source of our economic might, but as a superior competitor to the made-up digitally printed dollar, China has seen things differently.  It knows gold is real and can’t be made up.  That is why it has become the world’s largest gold producer and gold buyer.  

The US government on the other hand led a decades-long crusade against gold, including dumping into the hands of the International Monetary Fund.  US Treasury and IMF gold auctions were perversely designed not to realize as much as possible from their gold sales, as to drive the price of gold down.

That was true idiocy, a policy so nonsensical and against US interests, that it ended up powering the biggest gold bull market in history.

Trump seems to have an intuitive grasp of the centrality of gold, praising its monetary merits almost a decade ago: “Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but boy, would it be wonderful. We’d have a standard on which to base our money.”

This is what Trump told Lawrence Kudlow last August:

You look at our airports, you look at our terminals, you look at our filthy roads and broken roads and everything else, we’re like a Third World country.

We have something that’s very powerful and that’s our dollar.  But you take a look at what’s happening to it now with other countries not using it, and you know China wants to replace it with the Yuan, and it was unthinkable with us. Unthinkable. Would never have happened. Now people are thinking about it.

Remember, he who has the gold makes the rules!


Time to Take a Look at the U.S. Fiscal Situation!

And then stake out a long-term gold and silver position!

“Any way you look at it, interest costs on the national debt will soon be at an all-time high!” 

So says the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to addressing America’s long-term fiscal challenges.  They provide the following illustrations of the problem Washington has created.

Other major items in the 2023 national budget were easily bypassed by rising interest expenditures which totaled $659 billion.

As outsized as that interest expense is, the Congressional Budget Office says that this year, 2024, it will rocket 32 percent higher, to $870 billion. 

Interest expense will soon be the single largest US budget item – even bigger than Social Security, Medicare, or the war budget.

The Peterson report on rising federal interest expenses concludes with this warning: “By any measure, interest costs as part of the federal budget are at an all-time high, and trending even higher in the years ahead.  Securing our nation’s fiscal and economic future will mean getting these interest costs under control.

We simply do not believe that the federal budget will be reined in.  Period.  We have no way of knowing exactly what Washington will do other than by looking at the propensities of the governing classes today.  We are sorry to report that we see little but fiscal and monetary irresponsibility at every turn.  There simply is no meaningful coalition for fiscal rectitude in Washington at all.

Under the circumstances, informed people will want to protect themselves now with a substantial position in physical gold and silver.  It is the prudent thing to do at the end of an empire. 


$3,000 Gold? Citi Analysts Say “Don’t Rule it Out!”

PICK ONE:  Central bank purchases, stagflation, or a deep global recession!

You could see gold surge by 50 percent according to Aakash Doshi, Citi’s North America head of commodities research.  He and other Citi analysts wrote in a recent note to clients that among the pathways to $3,000, gold would be a ramp-up in de-dollarization by central banks.

That could lead to a US dollar crisis.

And that is not the only avenue to much higher gold prices in the next 12 – 18 months, he said.  

Reporting on an interview with Doshi, CNBC says another trigger that could drive gold to $3,000 would be a “deep global recession” that could spur the U.S. Federal Reserves to cut rates rapidly.

“That means the brakes have been cut, not to 3 percent, but to 1 percent or lower – that will take us to $3,000,” Doshi said.  

More from CNBC’s report:

Stagflation — an increasing inflation rate, a slowing economic growth and rising unemployment — could be another trigger, though Doshi said there’s a “very low probability” of such a scenario….

These three potential triggers aside, Citi maintains that their base case for bullion is $2,150 in the second half of 2024, and the price of gold to average a little over Doshi added.

A widely followed J.P. Morgan analyst, Marko Kolanovic, and his team have also raised the prospect of a return to 1970s-style stagflation.  “There are many similarities to the current times,” they write.  “We already had one wave of inflation, and questions started to appear whether a second wave can be avoided if policies and geopolitical developments stay on this course.” 

We think Citi’s calls are fine as far as they go, but that they don’t go nearly far enough.  Other forces on the immediate horizon include a move by Washington to create a central bank digital social credit surveillance currency, a widening of America’s many wars, serious civic strife over the election and its manipulation, an implosion of China’s economy, and banks tipping over the brink here in the US.

The ducks are lining up for much higher gold prices.  If you are not sufficiently prepared, come see us at Republic Monetary Exchange.


Huge Demand for Silver in 2024

Surging industrial demand for silver has driven estimates for 2024 total demand to the second-highest level ever.

The latest forecast from the Silver Institute, a trade association, calls for global silver demand this year to total 1.2 billion ounces.  That would rival 2022’s chart-topping demand of 1.242 billion ounces and represents an overall increase in demand of 1 percent.

Industrial end users of silver are expected to lead demand with an overall jump of 4 percent, 690 million ounces, outshining last year’s record high industrial demand.  Key drivers of industrial demand continue to be photovoltaics (solar) and automotive users.  

The study also calls for a recovery in consumer electronics to provide additional demand and says Artificial Intelligence applications have consumer electronics brands expected to introduce new silver-using products.

Silver should reach $30 an ounce, a ten-year high this year according to Michael DiRienzo, executive director of the Silver Institute.  “We think silver will have a terrific year, especially in terms of demand,” said DiRenzo in a CNBC interview.

Silver remains on sale today based on its historical performance.  Silver was $50 an ounce in 1980.  It reached $50 in 2011 and nearly $50 again in 2012.

Today the price of silver is less than half that.

One analyst says silver is “stupidly cheap!”

Buying low and selling high is the best investment advice of all.  See us today at Republic Monetary Exchange while silver is on sale. In the years ahead we will all remember today’s prices as historic bargains! 


The Rush to Gold When Banks Start Crashing

It was not quite a year ago that banks started tumbling down.  You remember the names:  Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic, all American banks.  But it wasn’t just an American problem as the presence of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank on the troubled list attested.

Rising interest rates were tanking the banks’ holdings of US Treasury debt instruments and mortgage-backed securities.  Many Americans – although not most – made withdrawals from their banks.  It was only prudent.  Why keep your money parked in troubled institutions?  It’s your money.  Protect it!

Even though the Fed’s balance sheet is upside down (that’s another story!), the central bank rode to the rescue with another Big Bank Bailout Bonanza.  Don’t be surprised.  The Fed was created by the Big Banks in the first place to do Bailout Bonanza whenever Big Banks needed them.

The Fed said, “Even though as a matter of law, accounts at Big Banks are only insured to $250,000, we will create a new program known by the acronym BTFP to create the impression that the Fed will bail out all the banks – or at least the Big Banks that are in on the Bailout Bonanza!”

So, bank depositors started moving money to Big Banks that would be the beneficiaries of the Bonanza Bailout.  That was not good for small banks, but they didn’t create the Fed, so tough!

None of this fixed anything.  It was just designed to forestall the en masse withdrawals of deposits from banks (and into gold, by the way).

Now the other shoe is dropping, one we have been warning about:  Commercial Real Estate.  The delinquency rate on office building mortgages is climbing at a fast clip, putting the screws to private leaders and banks alike. 

New York Community Bancorp is in such bad shape that its picture belongs on the back of milk cartons.  

WolfStreet.com:

A lot of these CRE loans are coming due this year and next year, and need to be refinanced, or extended, but interest rates have jumped, and many of these office properties are dealing with the structural collapse of demand for office space, so refinancing is going to be tough, and extending-and-pretending is going to be tough, and banks are going to have to deal with losses.

The problem is structural and won’t just vanish when the mood changes or rates drop.

Appearing on CBS 60 Minutes recently, Fed Chairman Powell said there will be losses, but he thinks they are manageable (of course he does!):

You know, we’re working with them. This is something we’ve been aware of for, you know, a long time, and we’re working with them to make sure that they have the resources and a plan to work their way through the expected losses.

Right.  Where do the resources come from to manage their losses?

They come from you.  It’s not magic.  They devalue the people’s money.  It is what they have always done.  That’s how the Big Bank Bailout Bonanza works!

Last year, people wanting to move assets out of banks and into gold and silver were waiting for us when we opened the doors in the mornings.   Our lobby was crowded from early to late.  

This year we think you would be wise to beat the rush!  Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange specialist today.


China: The Next Trigger

Their financial situation is worse than alarming!

“Twitching like a finger
On the trigger of a gun.”

-Paul Simon

Uh oh!  China is making things feel twitchy!

We are always on the alert for the most likely trigger of the coming economic calamity.  The thing that ends the made-up, manipulated money system and remonetizes honest money.  There are many candidates today.  War.  US banks.  Bidenomics.  A debt crisis.  A Fed screwup.  

But if we had to guess, it looks like China.

We are very concerned that this could be the one.  The block in the Jenga tower that makes the whole thing tumble.  The straw…

There is generally a trigger, a single event that sets the whole house of cards collapsing.  It was the failure of Creditanstalt 1931, Austria’s largest bank, that was the first major bank collapse of the Great Depression.

Today it looks like China.  

For some background, please review our recent article China’s Coming Collapse.

Kyle Bass notes that Chinese real estate developers Evergrande and Country Garden together have $500 billion in debt.  

Think about that.  Two real estate companies, both in default, a half trillion dollars in debt!  “Every single property developer in China, listed property developer, is in default today,” says Bass.  “This is just like the US financial crisis on steroids.  They have three and a half times more banking leverage than we did going into the [2008] crisis.”

“China has 20 plates spinning and all the plates are crashing right now!” 

This looks like the trigger event.  It looks far too big to contain.  It has the prospect of bringing the global economy to its knees!

The seriousness of the situation has China scrambling for gold.  The people in China seem to know it and are trying to prepare themselves.  Here’s one Japanese newspaper’s headline and lead:  

China gold purchases soar 30% on economic anxiety

Chinese gold purchases rose 30% in 2023, as the country’s central bank bought the commodity to replace its dollar holdings amid tensions with the U.S. and individual investors sought a haven for their assets as the economy stumbled….

As China acquired more gold, the country cut its holdings of U.S. Treasurys to around $782 billion as of November, about 10% less than the previous year, the U.S. Treasury Department reports. The figure is roughly $230 billion less than China’s holdings immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

China is a hot mess.  There’s not much they can do about the popping of their real estate bubble.  But they want to land on their feet.  They want to have some real enduring assets on the other side of the mess.  That’s a good idea for individual American investors right now, too.  Especially since this looks very much like the trigger!


Is the Establishment Starting to Panic About U.S. Debt?

First the NY Times!  Now Chase Bank?

If you aren’t panicking about the US debt picture, you may not be paying attention!

Now even the most establishment of establishment figures are starting to show signs of panic.  Including the most establishment banker of America’s most establishment bank.

Jamie Dimon is the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the US.  They like him a lot.  He’s been in that role since 2005, a job that has made him a billionaire.  

Maybe Dimon isn’t panicked, but he sure as heck is worried that we are at the brink. “It is a cliff. We see the cliff. It’s about 10 years out.”

The US national debt is currently more than $34 trillion.  Throughout its history, US debt has averaged 30 percent of total US economic output. Today, it is 123 percent, more than four times the average. It is more than the entire annual productivity of China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy combined. 

Dimon says the US is going to face “a rebellion” around the world when our debt trajectory turns straight up. 

Dimon underestimates the debt-to-GDP ratio at 100 percent.  It is 123% of GDP which means the cliff is much closer than he says.  And while everyone is trying to act like there is no panic, the panic is beginning to spread even at central banks around the world. 

Dimon is not the only establishment voice to express concern about uncontrollable US debt.  As we reported recently, even some at the reliably big government, big spending New York Times are getting religion.  And that tells us that the crisis is about to boil over.

From the lead of a recent Times piece: “For years, many economists believed the country’s debt was not a problem. Interest rates were low, which held down debt payments. Inflation was also low, which suggested the debt wasn’t hampering the economy.

“But times have changed, and federal deficits now look scarier.”

We prefer “unpayable,” but “scary” is a good word for the debt as well.  After all, the national debt amounts to $102,400 per person.  How can retirees, fast-food workers, and the American middle class manage that kind of debt burden?  They can’t.

Here’s the “Debt out the Wazoo” chart from WolfStreet.com:

Call our debt spiral a death spiral.  That’s what Nassim Taleb calls it.  We don’t accuse Taleb, the author of The Black Swan, of being an establishment today.  Far from it.  

Here’s his take: 

So long as you have Congress keep extending the debt limit and doing deals because they’re afraid of the consequences of doing the right thing, that’s the political structure of the political system, eventually you’re going to have a debt spiral.

A debt spiral is like a death spiral.

Nassim Taleb

What do you do when the issuer of your currency is in a death spiral?  You protect yourself with gold and silver as people around the world have learned to do for thousands of years.


China’s Coming Collapse?

…and what it could mean for us.

China is a hot mess.

We have only addressed China’s rickety economic conditions occasionally and not written much about them, but you should know how vulnerable things are in that centrally-planned economy.

Youth unemployment in China is running at about 15 percent.  Property prices in December fell at the fastest rate since 2015, not comforting to a middle-class heavily invested in real estate.  A restive population makes for a nervous ruling class!

Here’s a chart of China’s Hang Seng index of stocks traded on the Hong Kong exchange.  It has fallen in half in the last three years.

Government debt is a huge problem.  It’s bad enough that Moody’s has lowered its rating on China’s sovereign debt from stable to negative.

Kyle Bass of Bass of Hayman Capital Management says China is experiencing “a full banking system collapse.”   To put a fine point on it, Bass says local governments in China have amassed $4 trillion in real estate losses and $13 trillion in debt, 90 percent of which is in default.  

A few snippets:

China is trying to defuse a financial time bomb that could severely damage its banking system. Cities and provinces have accumulated a massive amount of hidden debt following years of unchecked borrowing and spending. The International Monetary Fund and Wall Street banks estimate that the total outstanding off-balance-sheet government debt is around $7 trillion to $11 trillion.,,, No one knows what the actual total is, but it has become abundantly clear over the past year that local governments’ debt levels have become unsustainable.”

The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/23

Defaults by Chinese borrowers have surged to a record high since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the depth of the country’s economic downturn and the obstacles to a full recovery. A total of 8.54mn people, most of them between the ages of 18 and 59, are officially blacklisted by authorities after missing payments on everything from home mortgages to business loans.

The Finaincial Times, 12/4/23

China’s offshore corporate-bond defaults have increased to $51.9 billion so far this year.

Bloomberg, 12/4/23

The fallout from China’s collapse will be widely felt, and mean a big hit to global GDP.  It is, as they say, a global economy.  Global creditors will suffer huge losses.  As productivity declines, tax revenue slows as well.

But for the United States, there is more.  One must look at the contribution China has made to funding the US national debt.  Not many years ago China held $1.3 trillion in US debt instruments.  Today it is off 40 percent, down to less than $78o billion.  In other words, China is loaning less money to the US even as Uncle Sam’s borrowing appetite is growing massively.  With China’s internal debt issues reaching a crisis stage, it is in no position to keep funding the US.

Indeed, as its holding of US debt instruments declines, its gold holdings continue to rise.

 

As state enterprises go bankrupt, deficit-financed governments fail, and the debt-based monetary system implodes, China knows that it can depend on its gold holdings – which it has now increased 13 months in a row – to cushion the collapse.

That strikes us as an important strategy for individuals as well.  The teetering banks can fail and the currency can collapse, but the people who own gold and silver will have a cushion against the fall.

These global downturns can last for years, the pain almost indescribable.  But only people who have studied history realize that.  That’s why they buy gold.  

Inflation… Shrinkflation…FUNflation!

Forget what the Fed chairman says.  Forget the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index.

Pay no attention to core inflation and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index.  Pay no attention to any of Washington’s price indices.  

Instead, trust your own living experience.  Is your cost of living going up or down?  Does feeding your family cost more or less?

Here’s just one example among millions of what is actually happening.  Take a look!


A hot dog sold at Daytona Racetrack.  Both are from the same counter.  Same price.  The one on the left is from 2021.  The one on the right is from just a week ago on January 29th at the Rolex 24 race!

Skrinkflation strikes again, this time at the Raceway. Being this case of shrinkflation occurred at a sporting event, does this border on Funflation? Funflation is a recent economic trend that is hitting concert and sporting eventgoers hard. Have you noticed the face value of a concert ticket recently? The cost to attend a ballgame? Remember when taking the family to a baseball game was somewhat affordable?

Forget the Super Bowl, as it gets closer and closer to only being affordable by either the super-wealthy or the super fiscally irresponsible. A single ticket for next week’s Super Bowl is averaging close to $10,000. This is up almost 70% from last year’s big game! The crazy part? It will still be sold out!

Shrinkflation and Funflation are merely tactics by greedy corporations to fight the pressure inflation is putting on their profits. Instead of raising the price and risking consumer backlash, companies are hiding this behind inferior products, smaller sizes, and lower quantities.

It’s everywhere.

Remember how when you were a teenager you could easily attend a concert with a little money saved up? It sure is unfortunate, but today’s teenager has to (have their parents) pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to go and see their favorite act.


Government Price Controls Won’t Fix Inflation

Despite what some people may think, the cure is worse than the disease!

In one of the 1980 presidential debates between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, when the Carter administration’s inflation was the undoing of countless American’s prosperity, the candidates were asked about the wisdom of government price controls.

Price controls never work, said Reagan, as the Roman emperor Diocletian demonstrated nearly 2000 years ago.   

“I guess I am one of the few persons old enough to remember that,” he said.

Even fewer people today understand the inevitable failure of price controls.  Today majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike approve of the use of government price fixing to control inflation.

Here’s the bad news in response to a new CBS News poll to the question, “To try to control inflation, would you approve or disapprove of government price controls – that is, laws that limit the amount that companies can raise prices or charge for products and services?”

Unfortunately, when people feel that they are falling further and further behind financially, they are most susceptible to snake-oil solutions like government price fixing.  And people today are certainly feeling that they are slipping backward financially.  

When people ask the government to “do something” about inflation, they seem to forget that the government already did do something about inflation:  it created inflation in the first place!

Price controls aren’t about controlling prices.   Prices have no volition of their own.   Instead, price controls are about controlling people.   They forbid free people from engaging in noncoercive commercial activities.  Instead, politicians institute price controls to wreak their economic toll by creating either surpluses or shortages.   

Government bureaucrats and bureaucrats have no special knowledge of the ever-changing conditions of supply and demand at any given moment.  So, when they set prices artificially, prices that aren’t free to move on their own, they are bound to be either too high or too low.  If they set prices too high surpluses result.   That is because producers attracted by the inordinately high prices produce more, while the inordinately high prices drive buyers to alternatives.

If they set prices too low, shortages result.  Producers who can’t make a profit cut back on production, while buyers buy more at artificially low prices.

Shortages or surpluses.  Empty store shelves touting nice, low prices, or government warehouses with mountains of surplus government cheese.  Take your pick.

What does all this have to do with owning gold?  Everything.  We live in a world in which Fed bureaucrats believe they can set the price of money.  That is what interest rates are, the price of renting or borrowing money.  If the bureaucrats set interest rates artificially low, bubbles result.  Bubbles in home prices, bubbles in bonds, bubbles in stocks.   If they set interest rates too high, the bubbles they create pop, leaving behind unemployment, recessions, and depressions.  

If they print a lot of money, inflation results.   If the money supply dwindles, deflation becomes a risk.  Either way, instead of relying on real conditions of supply and demand and letting prices move organically, smoothing out distortions by reacting to change, our money exists at the whims and caprices of monetary bureaucrats who have not distinguished themselves from being right about anything.  Instead of a gold standard, James Grant says, we are living on a Ph.D. standard.  

Instead of the reliable money of the centuries, we are relying on fiat money, the unreliable money of the centuries.  And that is no place to be in volatile times.


The Betrayal of the Elites

See for yourself, it’s US against them!

Having ignored the Constitution and subverted our once good-as-gold dollar, the American elites hope to complete their betrayal with Soviet-style policies (for you, not for themselves, of course).  

That includes eliminating freedoms (yours that is), gas stoves (yours that is), air travel (yours that is), parental rights (yours that is), and more.

They have benefitted from the era of debt-driven government growth, unprecedented money printing, and government power grab.  They are better off because of it.  And they know it.  

The rest of us have not similarly benefited.  And we know it.  

None of this is just made-up argumentation.  These are not mere assertions.  Thanks to survey research by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, we can show you the real numbers, what the American elite believe, and what they support.

You won’t like it.  They don’t care.

First, who are the elite whose views we are about to share?

The American Elite is defined as people having at least one post-graduate degree, earning at least $150,000 annually, and living in high-population-density areas (more than 10,000 people per square mile in their zip code).  They represent one percent of the population.  

To zoom in a little closer, the survey also includes a sub-sample of elites it calls “Ivy League Graduates.”  About half of the “elites” attended these schools. 

Their views are then compared to those of all voters.

Now if you have a qualifying income and went to an Ivy League school, it doesn’t mean that you are a leftist, socialist, woke, or delusional.  But many of your peers certainly are.

But they are doing well, and they know it.

We recommend you view the entire eye-opening report  Them vs. U.S.  But here are just more charts of their findings, about your freedom and rationing.

Those described in this survey as elites cluster in places that have an outsized impact on public policy:  in government, media, and academia.  They run the show.  They run monetary policy.  As we pointed out recently, for every Republican economist at the Fed there are 10 Democrat economists.  

That is why you have to protect yourself from them.  

Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist and make sure you are prepared for more government control and more monetary shenanigans run by the elite.


Rich Dad’s “Most Important Show Ever” 4-Part Series

Once again Republic Monetary Exchange’s Jim Clark joins Robert Kiyosaki’s panel of experts to complete the four-part series that Robert calls “the most important show ever!”

The Rich Dad Poor Dad radio show panelists – all veteran gold professionals – have been called together to explore the significance of gold as a timeless form of currency and a safeguard against economic turbulence. 

They discuss gold’s unique properties, its historical role as a reliable medium of exchange, and the dangers of relying on fiat currency. The conversation also addresses central banks’ gold acquisitions, the possibility of government gold confiscation reminiscent of the 1933 U.S. event, and the diverse views on its probability and consequences. 

The episodes offer a comprehensive analysis of gold’s value in the face of contemporary financial challenges and its importance in investment portfolios for wealth preservation.

Here are all 4 episodes that make up the series…

Part 1 of 4:

Part 2 of 4:

Part 3 of 4:

Part 4 of 4:


The World’s Best-Informed Investors Keep Buying Gold

The world’s best-informed buyers are central banks.  They know the made-up, unbacked, paper, and digital money ruse best.   And they keep buying gold.

How many Americans could explain how the entire Federal Reserve monetary system works, how they create money out of nothing at all?  One in ten?  One in a hundred?  

Probably not that many.  But central bankers know exactly how the system of legalized counterfeiting works.  That’s because they use it against their people.

Today, instead of continuing to be victimized by our central bank, the Fed, they are moving away from the global dollar monetary system.  And they are buying gold.  That’s because they don’t mind victimizing their people with made-up money.  They just don’t want to be victimized by us.

The World Gold Council has the latest numbers.  Central banks’ buying momentum continued in November with the net addition of 44 tons of gold.

The buyers are mostly from emerging markets, not as closely bound to the global dollar imperium as industrialized countries.  Turkey made the largest of the central bank purchasers in November, buying tons 25 tons, with the National Bank of Poland adding 19 tons, and the People’s Bank of China.

China’s central bank remains the overall largest gold purchaser in 2023.

We remind our friends and readers that central banks should be viewed as strong hands, conservative gold owners buying for fundamental monetary purposes and for longer periods than other buyers like Wall Street speculators. 

They are preparing for the monetary future.  To learn more, and to prepare for the monetary future yourself, speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional today. 


Look What We Found While Reading the Financial News…

In our effort to make sure our friends and clients are always well-informed, we work our way through mountains of information.  We were surprised and happy a few days ago to see that The Market Oracle was quoting our friend and colleague Charles Goyette from his New York Times bestseller The Dollar Meltdown:

The Market Oracle:  Consider that fifteen years ago Charles Goyette author of “The Dollar Meltdown” (2009, Penguin Group) came to a conclusion with respect to the repayment of our national debt when, by comparison, it was only $11.9 trillion.  He states then: “The gross federal debt is 80 per cent of GDP.  That’s the highest it’s been since the 1950s.  But that percentage of debt was much more manageable then because fifty years ago America was a creditor nation, now America is a debtor nation. Fifty years ago, it maintained a trade surplus, now our trade deficit, having grown for a generation, is immense.  Fifty years ago, America was the world’s manufacturing hegemon, now America’s manufacturing base is being lost to the world.  Fifty years ago, Americans were savers. Now the Chinese have shown us what it means to defer consumption and save.”

He continues: “America’s debt at any level – $12 trillion, $59 trillion, or $99.3 trillion – won’t be paid.  They will simply be rolled over again and again until America’s creditors are unwilling to loan any longer. To recapitulate, inflation in the United States is a result of the Federal Reserve turning government debt into money. The Federal Reserve is central to America’s most devastating bubbles and is responsible for almost a hundred years of criminal-scale dollar destruction.  By debt monetization, government acquires money to spend without debate, legislation, or vote, by commensurately devaluing the currency held by the people.  No wonder critics say, this amounts to nothing less than taxation without representation.  In truth, the nature of the U.S. debt is so enormously understated that it amounts to accounting fraud.

Today, the US debt remains an accounting fraud.  The only difference is that today the numbers are so much bigger, and that time is running out on the US government’s fiat money Ponzi scheme.

The following chart for the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year makes our point, illustrating that the federal took in more money from borrowing than from any other revenue source.

If you believe Washington can borrow America’s way to prosperity, then there is nothing to worry about.  If you are not that naïve, you will want to own gold and silver.  Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals specialist today to create a sensible plan to protect yourself from Washington’s mounting and unpayable debt.  


Kiyosaki: “The Most Valuable Investment in 2024”

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki presents a four-part program that he calls “the most important” show ever.

Today we present Part 1, The Good News and Bad News about Money.  It features Jim Clark on a panel with other veteran precious metals experts including RME associate Charles Goyette.

The discussion addresses the historical context of the US dollar and explores how global economic shifts could influence personal wealth.  Robert’s guests share their knowledge and personal experiences, emphasizing the role of precious metals in safeguarding assets.

Enjoy Part 1 of this very important 4-part series.  We will post Parts 2, 3, and 4 as they are released. 

The Gray Lady Notices US Debt and Calls it a Problem!

Surprise! The New York Times Gets Something Right!

“The federal debt starts the new year at a level that is hard to grasp: $34 trillion. That is 1.2 times the U.S.’s annual economic output. At the end of World War II, the ratio was only about 1.1.”

Count us thunderstruck!  The preceding paragraph is something we would write, urging you to take refuge in gold and silver.  Instead, it is a lead paragraph in the New York Times.  

It continues:

“Both parties have contributed to the situation. Republicans have passed large tax cuts. Democrats have enacted ambitious climate and health care initiatives. Both funneled money to Americans in response to the Covid pandemic.

“For years, many economists believed the country’s debt was not a problem. Interest rates were low, which held down debt payments. Inflation was also low, which suggested the debt wasn’t hampering the economy.

“But times have changed, and federal deficits now look scarier.”

How could the New York Times, which seems to get everything wrong (think Walter Duranty, Herbert Matthews, Judith Miller, Paul Krugman, Nikole Hannah-Jones and so many others that we grow weary), see the national debt and use a word like scary?

We’re suspicious.  We fear the worst: more bad policy editorials to come.

The piece concludes this way: “At some point, though, the federal government will likely need to raise taxes and cut spending in ways that many Americans will find unpleasant.”

Based on long precedent, we suspect that the Times will be among the chief cheerleaders for tax hikes.  And when it comes to the other side of the equation, it will mostly look away.  Any spending cuts its leftists endorse will likely not come out of its international enthusiasm like the war in Ukraine.  When, like Ukraine, another one of its interventions goes bad, the paper just starts pounding the drums for a new elective war elsewhere.  

When the debt was still solvable it encouraged more debt.  But as we entered 2024, the national debt passed $34 trillion.  That is more than $100,000 per American.  Look around you.  Look at people working in fast-food restaurants.  Look at the elderly, those past their working years and living on Social Security.  Look at people living under overpasses.  How will they pay their share?  How will you pay your share, or your share and their share?  They won’t.  You won’t.  It won’t be paid – except by the nation-destroying fraud of inflation.

The “newspaper of record’s” notice of the debt problem now tells us that we are entering the crisis stage, which ends not judiciously but in an unstoppable string of painful calamities.  

The New York Times never appears to learn from history.  But we do.  When the debt cannot be paid, it will not be paid.  The people – ordinary folks like you and your friends and family who were not responsible – will be left holding the bag and will be impoverished by financial events.  Except, that is, for those who have moved out of “the debt dollar” and taken refuge in the enduring money of the ages:  gold and silver.


Things About Gold and the Economy to Remember in 2024

Harry Dent Warns about the Stock Market:

Since 2009, this has been 100 percent artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits: $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact.  This is off the charts, 100 percent artificial, which means we’re in a dangerous state.

I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we’ll see in our lifetime…. If I’m right, it is going to be the biggest crash of our lifetime, most of it happening in 2024. You’re going to see it start and be more obvious by May.

“Gold is “Practically a Steal” at these Prices!” – Jim Rickards:

When this panic hits and the dollar is deemed no longer reliable, the world will turn to gold…. Investors should consider today’s gold prices a gift to acquire gold at bargain prices before markets, and the mainstream media, wake up.

Even at $2,052, gold is so cheap right now, it’s practically a steal.

Ernest Hemingway – First Inflation, then War:

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

Back in August, Ron Paul Foresaw Presidential Politics at Work in Fed Policy.  Right as Usual:

The Fed will likely pause its rate increase next year in the hope of boosting economic activity to help President Biden’s reelection campaign. Former President Trump gave Powell an additional incentive to keep rates low next year by promising not to re-appoint him if he returns to the Oval Office. 

Jim Clark from Real Money for Free People – The American Gold Story:

The founders created the conditions for an explosion of human prosperity. Our governing classes and monetary authorities are their opposites. They have created the conditions for an explosion of impoverishment. They are the big spenders and reckless borrowers of both parties. They are the grand councilors and academic advisors of the almighty State. They and their statist epigone and media servitors are the inevitable offspring of connivers like Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, who stole the people’s gold and betrayed the nation’s good-as-gold dollar. They are a generation of trousered apes who do not know the difference between ditchwater and champagne, and of like-minded Fed officials who conflate empty paper promises with the real, enduring monetary wealth of the ages, who trade the real money of free people for a mess of monetary pottage.

By their own logic, there is no turning back. They must now continue to print money until the system crashes. It is the endgame of their folly.

Up, Up, and Away!  From David Stockman, a Chart that Shows US Debt from 1966 to Now:

First They Destroy the Money!  Ayn Rand Calls Out the Destroyers:  

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the basis of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account that is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: “Account Overdrawn.”


An Easy Way to Understand Inflation’s Impact on Your Money

One really easy lesson… here’s what’s going to happen to your money!

The current inflation rate (CPI) is 3.1 percent.  What does that mean for your money?  Jim Rickards at the Daily Reckoning sums it all up in just a few words:

How damaging is 3.1% inflation? That rate will cut the value of the dollar in half in 22 years. It’ll cut the value of the dollar in half again in another 22 years.

Put differently, if you start your career at the age of 21 and retire at 65, the dollar you earned at age 21 will only be worth 25 cents by the time you retire. That’s 75% wealth confiscation by government-caused inflation.

There’s nothing benign or comfortable about 75% wealth confiscation. But that’s where we are today.

And that is the story in a nutshell.


“There’s nothing benign or comfortable about 75% wealth confiscation.  But that’s where we are today.”

The Dollar in Three Easy Pictures

It’s an easy story, the future of the US dollar.   So easy in fact, that we think we can tell it in three simple pictures.

First of all, the US is the biggest debtor in the world, the biggest of all time.  Take a look at the first picture from Visual Capitalist:

The US is the world’s biggest debt by far, responsible for more than a third of the world’s $97 trillion national government debt.  It can’t pay this debt back in an honest, reputable way.

Now the second chart, this one from Wolf Street.  It calls this chart Debt out the Wazoo!  That couldn’t be more accurate:

It depicts how fast US debt has been growing, especially since 2020.   And it is not slowing down.  Washington ran the biggest monthly deficit in history in November, $317 billion in a single month.   How come so much red ink?  Was there a massive shortfall in tax revenue?  No.  Revenue was up 9 percent.  The problem is spending, which was up 18 percent.  That is the kind of unmoored financial management that goes on in banana republics.  

And our third chart, also from Wolf Street.  It shows that foreigners are losing their appetite for US government debt.  Why?  In part because they know that when the US bonds they buy mature, they will be paid back in dollars of sharply reduced purchasing power.

And that is the story in three easy pictures, a story that answers the question of dollars or gold?

Any other questions?   Call (602) 633-8315 to speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver specialist to get your questions answered!


When Inflation Strikes Your Retirement Plan

More victims of US Dollar Inflation!

Food or medicine?   Those are bad choices to have to make, just like having to drain the last of your retirement savings to heat your home in the winter.

But Americans’ retirement plans are cracking up on the reefs of Washington’s monetary policies.  Its elective destruction of the purchasing power of the dollar has depleted their nest eggs by a staggering $1 trillion.

A new study covered by the New York Post finds that “Bidenomics has reduced the real value of the average 401(k) by a quarter in the last two and a half years.”

In just its first two years, the White House geniuses’ policies tanked the average 401(k) plan by about 13 percent, or some $17,000.  

From the story:

How this happened is a painful lesson in government overspending and overregulating, the hallmarks of Bidenomics.

Immediately upon taking office, the Biden administration and their big-spender allies in Congress ran up multitrillion-dollar tabs with no way to pay, so the Federal Reserve just created the money to finance it all.

That sparked 40-year-high inflation, which was followed by the fastest interest rate hikes in just as long.

This severely hampered equities but completely devastated bond markets, delivering a one-two punch to people’s retirement accounts. 

But wait!  There’s more:

Through the third quarter of this year, pension plans have lost $3.3 trillion, or 12.1%, of real value during the Biden administration….

Between lost purchasing power from inflation and higher borrowing costs from interest rate hikes, the typical American family has lost the equivalent of $7,300 in annual income under Biden.

To make ends meet, a record number of Americans are now working multiple jobs, but that’s still not enough to cover the $11,400 higher cost of living.

SEE ALSO:

The real story of Bidenomics can be told in countless ways.  Expect more stories like these:

  • Household savings have fallen, while families have run up a record $1.1 trillion in credit card debt.
  • The Wall Street Journal recently ran this headline:  How High Are Housing Costs? Divorced Couples Forced to Live Together.
  • Gold entered December setting new all-time highs over $2,000 an ounce.  

Expect Higher Gold Prices

We grow very wary when it appears almost everyone is thinking the same thing.  It often means there is not a lot of real thinking going on.   The view that Chairman Powell and the Fed are going to be able to drive interest rates lower in the New Year is nearing unanimity.  

But no one is bigger than the markets.  Even the Fed.  And the markets may produce quite a different outcome.

Consider:  The Fed can diddle with short-term rates, but its rate manipulations cannot control long-term rates.  And even its artificial distortions of short-term rates are ephemeral.  We are living today through the reckoning for years of the Fed’s interventions.  Stated otherwise, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.  Milton Friedman used that phrase repeatedly to make clear that a price would be exacted for the government’s manipulations, cronyism, and giveaways.

That is why we have inflation.  The Fed makes up money to give to some entity or to pretend it can control interest rates.  But the money it prints takes on value to the degree that the rest of the money in the economy – your money – loses value.  Having inflated the supply of money and credit to buy down interest rates, bail out banks, or “stimulate” the economy, prices everywhere else go up. 

It is also why we have recessions.  Washington and the Fed create malinvestment with made-up money, booming some recipients or sectors with liquidity only to have financial reality and monetary reality eventually assert themselves.  Remember the housing boom and bust?

Having created 8 trillion dollars in the years after the housing bubble, the Fed has fraudulently distorted the economy with years of this legalized counterfeiting.  The most massive monetary distortion in US history has yet to be assimilated.  It is bound to cheapen the dollar’s value much more than the bothersome inflation we have already experienced over the last two years.

And don’t even ask us about the money printing that is needed now to manage the otherwise unpayable US debt.

Oh well, go ahead and ask.  We happen to have a chart that tells the story.  

Interest on the national debt has climbed to a trillion dollars a year.  It was less than half that just a couple of years ago.  As older government bonds bearing lower rates come due, the Treasury will have to roll that debt over into higher interest rate issues.  And in the face of furious money printing to pay for that interest, rates will climb to offset the accompanying inflation.  At least market rates will climb.  

As Rep. Thomas Massie told Tucker Carlson recently, the Fed was sold to us on the basis that it would be the economy’s firefighter; instead, it is the arsonist!

So, whatever plans that Powell and the Board have for interest rates, all the money printing that has gone before will have its say.  And people tend to abandon made-up currencies in times of crisis, preferring gold.  

Wouldn’t it be wise to expect much higher gold prices with all that money printing headed our way?


Gold Prices Explode Higher

You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet!

Gold is on a hair trigger!  Or to put it another way, Biden’s governance has now stretched everything to the breaking point. 

Spot gold had a previous record high of $2,063, but on Friday, 12/1, it closed at a new all-time high of $2,071.  

Then fresh war rumors on December 4 spiked gold way past its previous high, with spot gold soaring to a record $2,146.70 overnight.

Here is the chart of December futures gold contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  You can see gold ran into resistance three times, with prices over $2,000 in August 2020, again in March 2020, and still again last May.  But as this year ends, it looks very much like what was resistance at $2,000 an ounce is now supported with signs of new buying ready to enter at $2,000. 

It is early, but the charts suggest an important change in the application of technical analysis to gold’s price action.   Let us explain these concepts, support, and resistance, in more detail.

In the language of chartists, “support” refers to the point in a downtrend when net new buying enters the market, and a price decline comes to an end.

Conversely, resistance is the point in a rising market when new selling appears for the time being, and the price ceases to climb.  It is the repetition of price movement at these points that gives them some credibility.

Investopedia describes both support and resistance this way:

Support is an area on a price chart that shows buyers’ willingness to buy. It is at this level that demand will usually overwhelm supply, causing the price decline to halt and reverse.

Resistance is the opposite of support. Prices move up because there is more demand than supply. As prices move higher, there will come a point when selling will overwhelm the desire to buy….  But a technician will clearly see on a price chart a level at which supply begins to overwhelm demand. This is resistance. Like support, it can be a level or a zone.

Some gold traders and speculators may look for certain price points as psychological entry and exits points.  For the past several years, since August 2020, each time gold has climbed past $2,000 an ounce, new selling has entered the market.  

It is early, but recent bullish gold action has produced new highs in both the spot and futures markets.  

Technical analysis is theoretical, but we aren’t the only ones seeing this evolution in the gold price charts.  Mike McGlone is Bloomberg Intelligence’s Senior Macro Strategist.  He notes the same change of what was only recently resistance now like becoming support.  McGlone says gold “is in the early days of a bull market,” and that “the deepest pockets on the planet are buying gold. That’s central banks.”

Speak with your Republic Monetary Exchange professional about how these technical signals can benefit you as you head for the maximum safety zone of gold and silver.


Now is the Time to Add More Gold!

Now is the time to buy gold according to Marc Faber, a leading French bank, and others!

When is the right time to buy gold?

If you don’t have enough for what’s coming, right now is the best time to buy gold… whenever right now happens to be.

Who has enough gold?  We’ve never met anyone who has enough.  Certainly not Marc Faber, a Swiss investor based in Thailand.

Faber is the editor of the Gloom, Boom, and Doom report.  At a recent precious metals summit in Zurich, Faber said he believes that the long-term trend for the next 20 years or more is for inflation to move up.  “I have been advising investors to own gold and other precious metals, silver, platinum, for the last 40 years.  I buy continuously every month some gold.”

“Central banks’ function in the long run is to print money.  Never forget that.   A central bank exists to print money.  In view of that I think that gold and other precious metals are still a good investment from a long-term perspective and also from a safety aspect.”  

Analysts at Société Générale, the French-based multinational financial services company, share a bullish view. They expect gold to climb to new all-time highs in the new year, based on lower Fed interest rates.  

“Unlike oil, gold prices have increased since the start of the Israel/Hamas conflict,” they write in their latest report.  “Gold has continued to ignore the rising real yields headwind, as demand has remained robust.”

A good deal of that demand continues to come from dollar-wary foreign central banks.  “The heterogeneous coalition of countries in the Global South should continue to de-dollarize and give a further boost to gold,” the analysts note.  They expect gold to hold around $2,200 throughout 2024.

Do you have enough gold to weather the storm ahead?  It is a gathering storm consisting of the following:

The wild growth of US government spending and debt that we have recounted many times. 
See The Money Madmen Keep Printing for a quick refresher.

A wildly inflated stock market. 
Thanks to the Fed’s stove-piping of made-up money to Wall Street, between 1991 and 2022 the Nasdaq Composite Index has outpaced American’s real wages by 40 times!

A wildly wobbly wealth gap. 
David Stockman reports that over the last 22 years, “annual wealth gains for the top 1% were 4,250X larger than the median real wage gain and 17,000X larger for the top o.1%.”  It is in the nest of such disparities that revolutions are hatched.   And gold always shows up on top in revolutions.

If you don’t have enough for what’s coming, right now is the best time to buy gold… Make an appointment with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals consultant today.


Things Not So Bad Under Biden? Oh, Really?

Who are you going to believe?  The Swamp media or your lying eyes?

With less than a year before the presidential election, a Swamp public relations agent named Taylor Lorenz, who poses as a reporter at the Washington Post, is hard at work on the newspaper’s relentless mission to explain that prices, inflation, and the nation’s “economic woes” aren’t really that bad under Biden.

Is that so?  

No.  In fact, the claims of the Bidenista’s about the great economy can be refuted with a few simple charts.

Someone triggered things by posting a TikTok of a dressed-up novelty Big Mac that cost $16.  That was enough to bring a swift response from the people at the WaPo, the Washington establishment’s house organ.  A regular Big Mac is up only 10 percent, they protested.  As though a 10 percent increase in prices is no big deal.   It’s just not fair, was the tone of the piece.  “Voters still don’t like the economy, and they blame the president.”

The folks at ZeroHedge were quick to cut through the nonsense with graphs that illustrate what the American people are actually experiencing under Bidenomics.

First, consumer prices under four years of Trump and 35 months under Sleepy Joe:

When Swamp economists try to convince you that inflation isn’t really all that bad, they generally pivot to something called “core inflation,” the CPI figures calculated without including food and energy.  So here is the way that looks:

And finally, this chart of disposable incomes over the Trump and Biden years.  A majority of Americans have seen their disposable income fall – and fall hard – under Bidenomics.  

That last chart finally showed up in the article, “buried towards the bottom of the WaPo report,” writes ZeroHedge. 

That’s the way with the Swamp media.  When they do finally add the salient information that reveals the rest of the story, it is usually not until the 16th or the 31st paragraph since they know full well that most of their readers don’t go that far into the story.

For us, the story isn’t complete until it explains that an honest, reliable monetary system based on gold would have prevented most of the problems of rising prices and falling incomes that we are experiencing today.  But since the monetary system is in the hands of the banking cartel, you must protect your wealth with the enduring and reliable money our founders recommended:  Gold and silver.


Gold Hits New All-Time High

Wonder Why? “America is Broke,” Says Robert Kiyosaki

“Buy gold and silver.  Save gold and silver,” said the author of the biggest-selling investment book of all time!  

That turned out to be a timely recommendation.

Gold closed at a new all-time high on Friday (12/1/23) only a day after Robert Kiyosaki warned a national TV audience on Fox Business News that America is broke.  

America is broke now, Robert Kiyosaki told host Neil Cavuto on Fox Business News.  America has debt it cannot pay and when empires like ours print money, “they go down!”

On the paper gold market, February futures delivery gold contracts gold closed at $2,091.90 an ounce, surpassing a previous high set in August 2020.

Spot gold, reflecting the physical gold market, surged more than $35 on Friday, to close at $2,072 after trading as high as $2,075 during the day.

Watch Kiyosaki’s appearance.  It is must-see:

And don’t forget to watch Republic Monetary Exchange’s Jim Clark on Kiyosaki’s RICH DAD podcast as they discuss bankrupt America and Jim’s first-hand experience buying silver for the billionaire Hunt Brothers during the greatest silver bull market of them all.  It is a story that only Jim can tell since he was there! And it has vital lessons for today’s investors!


The Money Madmen Keep Printing!

Once They Get Started, They Can’t Seem to Stop!

Once the money printers get started – whether by actual paper or more modern digital money printing – it usually ends in catastrophe.  

As our present monetary crisis of unrestrained Washinton spending and unpayable US debt continues to unfold, we think it is instructive to recall the utter madness of another modern money printing episode.  The following is an excerpt from my book REAL MONEY FOR FREE PEOPLE: The American Gold Story.

Gideon Gono does not look like a man you would single out at a glance as an idiot or a crazy person. He looks intelligent enough. There is no hysterical giggle with eyes darting wildly about that would cause him to be remembered through the ages as a madman.

But looks can be deceiving.

For a long time to come, when people speak about monetary madness Gideon Gono’s name will come up. He is the man who made his nation an international laughingstock. Monetary historians and hobbyists keep evidence of his handiwork framed on their office walls.

This author has evidence of Gideon Gono’s achievements tucked away in a drawer somewhere: a 100,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollar bill. That is a one-hundred-trillion-dollar bank note issued by the Central Bank of Zimbabwe in 2008. It is the highest denomination that has ever graced a nation’s paper money.

The hyperinflationary Zimbabwe dollar has all the characteristics of a modern currency. It is printed on a fine paper stock, with carefully engraved scrollwork. It has both a serial number and a security strip running through it. There are also authenticating marks that are disclosed under ultraviolet black light.  It bears iconic Zimbabwean images: the balancing rocks at Epworth on the obverse, and cascading Victoria Falls and a cape buffalo on the reverse. 

It is all very dignified and official. It also bears the signature of the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr. G. Gono.

The numbers that describe Zimbabwe’s monetary practices are so astronomical that the exact details hardly matter, but by 2009 the Zimbabwe dollar/US dollar exchange was Z$2,621,984,228,675,650,147,435,579,309,984,228 to US$1. That would be said as 2 decillion, 621 nonillion, 984 octillion, 228 septillion, 675 sextillion, 650 quintillion, 147 quadrillion, 435 trillion, 579 billion, 309 million, 984 thousand, 228 Zimbabwe dollars in exchange for one US dollar. Gideon Gono was printing money as fast as he could to stave off national bankruptcy.

But Zimbabwe was already bankrupt. Its people were trillionaires who could not afford their next meal. Carrying trillion-dollar notes, they began asking one another what comes after “quadrillion.” The currency was not worth the paper it was printed on. Indeed, the printing made perfectly good paper worthless. 

Just over a decade ago, Zimbabwe was one of the most memorable modern inflationary episodes.

Despite the impoverishment that resulted from that period, today’s Zimbabwe persists in a similar monetary madness.  This summer has seen monthly inflation rates thereof over 101 percent in July and about 77 percent in August.  

Once a nation departs from sound money, gold, and silver, inflation, corruption, cronyism, ruinous interest rates, and wealth destruction are bound to follow.  This brings us to the unfolding of our monetary crisis, driven by unrestrained Washington spending and unpayable US debt.

The following charts are from a Heritage Foundation report called The Road to Inflation: How an Unprecedented Federal Spending Spree Created Economic Turmoil.

First, Washington’s blow-off spending spree between March 2020 and December 2022 of almost $7.5 trillion.

Next, a chart of America’s exploding debt.  In the way it has turned straight up, it can only be described as a “hockey stick” graph.  Note that this chart represents so-called “debt held by the public,” which actually understates total US debt of $33.75 trillion.

And finally, a depiction of the Federal Reserve’s money printing (Quantitative Easing) dating back to the housing bubble in 2008.  Federal Reserve assets basically consist of financial assets like the US government and mortgage bonds that the Fed has purchased with made-up money.  To repeat, it acquired the trillions of dollars of assets shown below with money it simply digitally printed.

As the Heritage report says, “The Fed increased its asset holdings from roughly $900 billion to more than $8.9 trillion (mostly Treasuries) from 2008 through April 2022 during the multiple rounds of QE.

“Fifty-eight percent of this increase has been in the past two and a half years.”  

Washington spending has exploded and has been paid for by Fed money printing.  To repeat, “Once a nation departs from sound money, gold and silver, inflation, corruption, cronyism, ruinous interest rates, and wealth destruction is bound to follow.”


REAL MONEY FOR FREE PEOPLE tells the entire American gold story in a clear and easy-to-understand way.  And because our own monetary madmen have gone down a Gono pathway of their own, you desperately need to see where it leads so that you can protect your wealth and your family.  That is why we want you to have a copy of this important book absolutely free!

Want a signed copy? Click Here to Order Now.  No cost.  No obligation.


Is it Time to End Central Banking?

All Eyes are on Argentina!

It’s an upset!  Javier Milei’s landslide win in Argentina has toppled – at least for now – the country’s inflationary Peronista left-wing rule.  

“Freedom goes forward!  Hail freedom, dammit!” shouted Milei.

Milei will be sworn in as president in December.  He has promised to end central banking and the cronyism that has characterized Argentina.  The free-market champion is said to have won the admiration of both Donald Trump and the leader of Great Britain’s Brexit movement Nigel Farage.  

Economic commentator Michael Shedlock wrote, “Congratulations Argentina for electing the world’s first libertarian president.”  

Reuters summed up the new Argentine president’s economic agenda like this:

Milei is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise.

Milei’s challenges are enormous. He will have to deal with the empty coffers of the government and central bank, a creaking $44 billion debt program with the International Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150% and a dizzying array of capital controls.

Milei’s win shakes up Argentina’s political landscape and economic roadmap, and could impact trade in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei has criticized China and Brazil, saying he won’t deal with “communists,” and favors stronger U.S. ties.

The presidential term is four years, which gives Milei time to return Argentina to the prosperity that it enjoyed a century ago.  In 1913 it was richer than Germany and France.  Military rule and socialism killed the goose that laid the golden egg after World War I.  

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Fund cited a remark by a worker there who said, “Imagine someone born 25 years ago in Argentina. For your entire life, you have seen nothing but misery and little chance to get ahead unless you emigrate. We simply want to be a normal country again.”   

Milei is nothing if not dramatic.  He brandished a chainsaw about as he promised to eliminate useless government ministries.  No doubt his fiery and outspoken style was indispensable in his electoral victory.  But now he will face all the forces of political cronyism and leftism arrayed against him, not just the entrenched financial interests who have profited from the inflationary central banking regime, but the useful idiots of the left in the media and education.  

Grab your popcorn!  The show is about to begin!


Watch Jim on the Rich Dad Podcast with Robert Kiyosaki

RME’s Jim and Charles join friend Robert Kiyosaki to Talk Precious Metals, the Economy, and the Hunt Brothers

This past week, RME’s Jim Clark and Charles Goyette were guests on friend Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Radio Show. Below you can watch the entire interview. In addition to the topics of the U.S. going bankrupt, precious metals, and more, Jim shares the incredible story of his historic silver trades with the Hunt Brothers from October 1979 to January 1980!

The Hunt Brothers Segment

During the show (at 31:08), Jim and Charles share an incredible story about how they first met Bunker Hunt, and how they eventually aided in the historic Hunt Brothers Silver purchases in 1979 and 1980.

You can jump straight to the Hunt Brothers portion of the show by clicking here.

Who were the Hunt Brothers?

The Hunt Brothers, William Herbert (left) and Nelson Bunker (right) are sworn in by a House subcommittee investigating the collapse of the silver market on May 2, 1980

The Hunt Brothers, Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, were Texas oilmen who gained notoriety in the early 1980s for their ambitious attempt to corner the global silver market. Starting in the late 1970s, the brothers began accumulating large amounts of silver, driving up its price to unprecedented levels. By early 1980, the price of silver had surged to nearly $50 per ounce. However, their plan eventually collapsed as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission implemented new regulations, and the Hunt Brothers’ financial empire crumbled which eventually led to bankruptcy and legal troubles. Their story remains a cautionary tale of the risks associated with attempting to manipulate commodity markets on such a massive scale.

Jim Clark and Charles Goyette were right in the middle of it all as the dealers who were able to acquire and deliver over 14,000 bags of silver for the brothers between October 1979 and January 1980. With inflation adjusted, that is almost $1 billion worth in today’s money! As Jim tells in the Rich Dad Radio Show video, when the Hunt Brothers took delivery of the silver in April of 1980, they sent seven armored tractor-trailers to haul it away. You can also read more about the Hunt Brothers in Jim’s book “Real Money for Free People: The American Gold Story

Order a complimentary signed copy of “Real Money for Free People: The American Gold Story” here.


Uncle Sam’s Credit Score Keeps Falling

US pays higher rates to borrow than Vietnam, Morocco, Bulgaria…That’s not good news for the world’s biggest debtor or for the dollar!

With its credit rating falling, the US government has to pay higher interest rates than Third World countries to borrow money. 

Being the world’s biggest debtor is starting to catch up with Uncle Sam.  

From Business Insider:

In a surprising development that upends some of the bond world’s time-honored conventions, the US government’s borrowing costs have surged past those of developing nations with much poorer debt ratings such as Vietnam, Morocco, and Bulgaria…

US 10-year yields [which reached 5% last month] are now also higher than those in emerging markets such as Morocco and Bulgaria. Similar rates are at just 3.8% in Greece, the economy at the center of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis a decade ago, and needed multiple European Union bailouts in the following years.

The high US yields also reflect investor concerns about America’s deteriorating public finances. US total debt has more than doubled in the past decade to $33.7 trillion – or 25% more than the nation’s GDP.

Nobody keeps a FICO credit score on Uncle Sam as they do on you and other borrowers and credit card users.  But if they did, it would be falling.  When that happens to ordinary people, it becomes more costly or harder to get loans.

Now, Uncle Sam’s credit standing has been dialed down.  Again.  

Moody’s, one of the major credit rating agencies, has just lowered its outlook for the safety of US government debt from “stable” to “negative.”  This is not a full-frontal downgrade, but it is a warning that there may be more rating humiliation in Uncle Sam’s future.

The likelihood of defaults, along with debt ceilings, uncontrolled spending, deficits off the reservation, and debt up the wazoo are all considerations in the rating outlook.  Of course, higher interest rates make borrowing more costly, as well.

In August another major ratings agency, Fitch, downgraded its US credit rating from AAA to AA+, citing an erosion of confidence in the nation’s fiscal management.  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen uttered a feeble protest over the downgrade, calling it “arbitrary.”  Like she – she who told us two and a half years ago that inflation was transitory; she more recently insisted that the US can afford wars on two fronts – as she would know.

Former US Secretary of the Treasury and President of the NY Federal Reserve Timothy Geithner

But the governing classes never seem to know.

When Moody’s put the US Treasury on a negative watch list in 2010, then-Treasury secretary Tim Geithner responded with a hasty appearance the following Sunday morning on ABC’s This Week to insist there was no risk of the U.S. losing its AAA bond rating. “Absolutely not,” he vowed. “And that will never happen to this country.”

Nobody laughed at Geithner.  But they should have.

It seems that by the time the ratings agencies figure it out, we’re way out of risk territory.   When Geithner told students at Beijing University in 2009 that Chinese dollar holdings were “very safe,” his assurance drew loud laughter. 

Downgrades soon followed.  In fact, the US lost its AAA credit rating for the first time ever when S&P lowered its rating in 2011.  Moody’s and Fitch lowered their outlook on US debt shortly after.

Uncle Sam, already the world’s biggest debtor, is looking at having to borrow a lot more money, beginning immediately.  But with a sketchier credit rating, that debt cannot be considered (if you’ll pardon the expression) “good as gold.”

Gold and silver are the only monetary assets that are not someone else’s liability. They are not dependent on someone else’s solvency, promises to perform, or honesty. Their value does not depend on the endorsement, propriety, or honesty of any State or institution. They are not like empty government promises.  They have no counterparty risk, no risk of rule changes, nonpayment, default, or bankruptcy by individuals, companies, financial exchanges, institutions, and banks—quite apart from being insulated from the risks of the Fed’s fiat dollar as well. 

It is a wonderful thing for people’s promises to be reliable, and for institutions to be vigorous fiduciaries of their clients’ interests. The modern world with all its miracles is built on the assurance that people will meet their obligations, fulfill their contracts, and respect others’ property. 

When this environment of trust begins to fray, sophisticated civilization itself is at risk.

And that is where we are today.  Everything is at risk.   Except gold and silver, because no one can ever print gold and silver.


Central Banks Keep Buying Gold!

Central Banks all over the world are buying gold. Are you?

Because central banks around the world sold so much gold in the post-WWII era – to hold US dollars in their currency reserves instead – we believe the reversal of that practice represents the biggest monetary megatrend of our time.

In other words, these days central banks are buying gold.  They are de-dollarizing.  

The World Gold Council reports that in September global central banks were net purchasers of 77 tons of gold!

Leading the way in gold acquisitions is the People’s Bank of China. 

Asia’s hunger for gold is manifesting in other ways.   Of course, China has distinguished itself as the world’s leading gold producer.  Now Asia is emerging as a powerful and growing hub for old trading and commerce.  Russia, the world’s second largest gold producer, has recently moved its gold trading from Dubai to Hong Kong.  According to Bloomberg News, “Hong Kong imported 68 tons of Russian gold this year, four times as much as the whole of 2022.”


Industrial Silver Demand To Skyrocket!

End users of industrial silver will experience surging output totaling 46 percent between now and 2033.  The surge is expected to be especially rapid in the electrical and electronics industries which are forecasted to grow by 55 percent over the decade. 

That is the finding of a new study by Oxford Economics, a leading global economic forecasting and econometric analysis consultancy based in London.  The report “Fabrication Demand Drivers for Silver in the Industrial, Jewelry and Silverware Sectors Through 2033,” was commissioned by the Silver Institute.  

 Over 60 million ounces of silver are used annually in motor vehicles

The study reports:

Between 2023 and 2033, we forecast the output of end users of industrial silver will increase by 46% in real terms. This partly reflects two thirds of the usage in 2022 was by the electrical and electronics applications industry, which is forecast to exhibit the fastest growth in output at 55%, rather than the slower growing smaller segments.

Our forecasts suggest that the demand for silver for jewelry manufacturing will increase by 34% between 2023 and 2033.

Silverware fabricators’ output is forecast to increase by 30% over the next decade. Some 43% of the growth in output between 2023 and 2033 is forecast to occur in India, although this is less than the country’s 73% share of the market in 2022. • 

Combined, the output of industrial, jewelry and silverware fabricators is forecast to increase by 42% between 2023 and 2033. This is roughly double the rate of growth of their demand for silver over the previous decade.

Earlier this year the Silver Institute forecast investment demand for 2023 to reach 295 million ounces, the second highest on record.


Col. Douglas Macgregor says: “We Will Never Get to the 2024 Election! Banks will Close!”

Some quotes from Colonel Douglas Macgregor:

“I don’t think we’ll ever get to the 2024 election!  I think things are going to implode in Washington before then.”
“I think our economic financial condition is fragile.  It’s going to come home to roost in ugly ways.”

We have a great deal of respect for Colonel Douglas Macgregor.  He is one of the most reliable and informed voices in today’s public debate.  He is a former senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense.  His level of insight is far beyond that of the usual Washington hacks.  In fact, he does what you would think anyone in public policy should do.  He asks what the consequences of each decision will be.  In advance.

Simple enough?  Yes, except that almost no one in public life does that.  They print trillions of dollars without asking what the consequences will be.  They foment foreign wars without asking what the consequences will be.

Colonel Douglas Macgregor

But Macgregor does look down the road at consequences.   He has now been forced to conclude that we won’t even have an election in 2024.  That’s how far-gone things are.  Our fragile economic condition is catching up with us, he says, and we’ll be seeing banks close as well.

In short, you need to be prepared because things are about to implode.  As Macgregor says, an upheaval is coming:

I will tell you; I don’t know exactly how it will happen.  I think we’re going to end up in a situation where we find out the banks are closed for two or three weeks, and nobody can get into them.

I also think that the levels of violence and criminality in our cities is so high that it’s going to spill over into other places in society.  People that normally think that they can live remote from the problem are now beginning to be touched by the problem.

Col. Douglas Macgregor

Watch this important interview with Macgregor.  The video will start at the point where he makes his comments about the 2024 election and the closing of banks. (At 1:53:27).

Regular readers of these commentaries know that we think things are every bit as grave as Colonel Macgregor concludes.  Unstoppable consequences will have their way, but you can protect your wealth and your family with gold and silver.  You must take the necessary steps.  We can help.  Call or stop by Republic Monetary Exchange or call us at (602) 955-6500.


China Keeps Gobbling Up Gold!

Newsweek reports that China is gobbling up gold on the international market.  China is already the world’s largest gold producer, but it’s buying more gold hand-over-fist.  And it has been doing so every single month for almost a year.

For thirteen years central banks have been socking away gold.

The Financial Times headlines its account of China’s aggressive gold buying this way:

China leads record central bank gold buying in first nine months of year

Central banks in emerging markets look to reduce reliance on US dollar for reserve holdings

Describing China’s appetite for gold as “voracious,” FT reports, “China has stood out as the largest purchaser of gold this year as part of an 11-month buying streak. The People’s Bank of China has reported snapping up 181 tons this year, taking gold holdings to 4 percent of its reserves.”

Are you wondering why China is so serious about gold?

It is because China is preparing for a crisis, a monetary meltdown.  

They see more bank and bond market trouble on the horizon, uncontrollable US spending, and unpayable US debt.  And maybe even more war.  A lot more war. 

When it comes to monetary affairs, China knows the Golden Rule:  He who has the gold makes the rules! 

So, China is aggressively buying more gold to protect itself from both financial and geopolitical risks.  Shouldn’t you be doing the same thing?

At Republic Monetary Exchange, we advise our friends and clients to do what people have done for thousands of years, especially when the handwriting is on the wall!  Preserve your wealth with gold and silver.

See us today.  If you don’t have a gold and silver professional at Republic Monetary Exchange, simply call or stop buying and you will be connected with an experienced consultant who will help you achieve your wealth preservation and profit objectives with precious metals!

Republic Monetary Exchange—  stop by on Camelback, just east of 40th Street.  Or call 602-955-6500 Monday-Friday anytime between 9 am-5 pm!


Why Do They Want to Destroy the Currency and Economy?

Here are a Few Answers!

Someone asked us, “Why does the Federal Reserve destroy our money with inflation?  Don’t they realize what they are doing to this country?”

No answer we give will be complete.  There are too many things going on and too many different interests at work for an all-encompassing response.   But we’ll provide a couple of the leading components in our response.

Let us answer the second part of the question first.  Some of the people inside the Fed do realize what they are doing to this country.  And they keep doing it because what it is doing to the country is what they want done.  You might think of them as believers in George Soros’s new world order:  They don’t like America and they want it changed.  They want to level the world into a uniform socialist mediocrity (with a special class of rulers, to be sure:  themselves!)  These are members of the Davos crowd who want you to eat bugs and own nothing.

Others don’t know any better.  Although she seems to have a foot in both camps, both among those who intend what they are doing, as well as a leading figure among those hopelessly without a clue how things work, we give you Janet Yellen.  

Why does the Fed do it?  It destroys our money for a number of reasons.  It serves the governing classes, giving them “free” paper or digitally printed money) for vote-buying giveaways, and to win elections.  The central bank’s power to create and destroy money is the power to boom and bust the economy at will.  It is the power to support and sustain the banks and the crony classes that created the Fed in the first place.  

There can be no doubt that the orgy of “galloping central bankism” that we have seen over the last generation or so has profited the crony classes enormously.  Just take a look at the following chart.  It depicts an explosion in the net worth of the wealthy, the top one percent versus the entire 50 percent of the population at the bottom.

That chart is provided and explained by David Stockman in his newsletter Contra Corner.  He writes:

On the eve of the Greenspan money-pumping era in Q4 1989, the net worth of the top 1% was about $5 trillion, while the bottom 50% held about $800 billion of net worth. But thereafter came the great Greenspanian bubble, perpetuated with even added gusto by his successors.

Accordingly, during the last three decades the top 1% have gained an additional $40 trillion of net worth, while the bottom 50% have picked up just $2.9 trillion. So the math of central bank fueled asset bubbles is impossible to deny: To wit, the wealth of the top 1% was 6X that of the bottom 50% in 1989, representing reasonably honest capitalism at work. But since then that figure had soared to 12X— owing to the Fed’s relentless flooding of Wall Street with easy money and repeated bailouts.

Of course, the founders of this country knew that given the power over the creation of money, that power would be used to profit the few at the expense of the many.  That is why they intended to create a gold and silver-based monetary system, prohibiting the “creation” of money out of thin air.

Too bad we didn’t follow the founders.  But you can still get off the paper money and digital printing trains before they arrive at their destination: a place called The Crack-Up Boom!  

That’s when everyone realizes at once that the paper and digital money are going bad, and they all try to get off the train at once. That’s usually too late.  Better to own gold and silver, especially at today’s preferred prices.


Can the Fed Declare Victory? Is the Inflation War Over?

We say be prepared for an inflation resurgence!

Some sectors of the markets along with some analysts believe that the Federal Reserve has declared victory over inflation.

That would be like General Custer encountering one lone Sioux on his way to Little Big Horn and patting himself on the back.

Still, stocks roared higher the day after Powell’s latest press conference.  The Dow was up 564 points; the S&P rose 80 points; the Nasdaq index took off, climbing 232 points.

So is their verdict correct?  Has the inflation bogeyman been vanquished?  Did Custer vanquish the Sioux? 

Not hardly.

Of course, the Fed doesn’t want to raise rates.  It doesn’t want to be blamed for a collapsing housing market, bond market, and stock market.  But it should have thought of that when it prints the last few trillion dollars.  No, with the Fed it is never forethought.  It is always an afterthought.

So, it doesn’t want to raise rates.  However, it did not want to raise them when it began raising rates in 2022.  Consumer anger over rising prices forced their hand.

So that’s two meetings in a row that the Fed has punted, leaving rates unchanged.  And it gave no indication that another rate hike would be forthcoming at its December meeting.  “The stance of policy is restrictive,” said Powell, “meaning that tight policy is putting downward pressure on economic activity and inflation, and the full effects of our tightening have yet to be felt.”

And that was enough for some participants to conclude that the Fed’s bias is to hold rates where they are.  Until something else happens.

Something about this is uncannily familiar.  Other central banks, who know the inflation racket better than anyone since they are the inflation racker, keep buying gold. 
Central bank gold demand so far this year is 14 percent ahead of the same period last year.  But it also reminds us of when the Fed prematurely assumed inflation was under control in the 1970s.  

It wasn’t.

Here’s a chart from Jeffrey Kleintop, Jeffrey Kleintop, Chief Global Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab that we ran during the summer.

The chart shows the CPI from 1966 to 1982 in blue.  That includes the inflation decade of the 1970s.  Clearly inflation roared up in 1973 – 74, eased off, and took off again in 1978 – 79. 

The yellow line overlaying it is the CPI from 2013 until now.  It is almost uncanny how closely the patterns align.   Most economists today understand that the Federal Reserve concluded it had won the war on inflation in the mid-70s.  But they declared victory too soon and price inflation roared back even stronger than before.

Kleintop says, “It’s funny how history rhymes!”

It is funny.  Remember that four other members of his own family were killed along with General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn: his 18-year-old nephew, his brother-in-law, and two younger brothers.  

Protect your family and your wealth.  Take advantage of today’s gold and silver prices and be ready for inflation’s resurgence.  Speak with your Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional today.


Debt Crisis Headlines

Read ‘Em and Weep! Or Buy Gold and Laugh!

At least we’re not the only ones writing about the US Treasury’s debt crisis now.  The story is starting to play far and wide now.  That’s because it is becoming impossible to ignore!

Here are three consecutive headlines from the Drudge Report on Wednesday, 11/1.  The links are all active so you can – and probably should – read the stories yourself.  Nevertheless, we will comment briefly on each.

Treasury to step up size of bond sales to manage growing debt load and higher rates…

SUMMERS: U.S. fiscal deficit more serious problem ‘than ever before’…

Druckenmiller says govt needs to stop spending like ‘drunken sailors’…

The Treasury’s borrowing needs (so that Washington can continue to spend money it doesn’t have) are exploding.  The first story reports that it needs to borrow more than Three-quarters of a trillion dollars in the current quarter.  It needs $776 billion this quarter (Oct-Nov-Dec, and even more in the following quarter, $816 billion.

In the last fiscal year ending September 30, federal red ink totaled $1.7 trillion.  Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who in our memory has never been a meaningful advocate of Washington restraint, says that today’s deficits are probably the biggest economic challenge in US history.

Summer’s first avenue of attack on the deficit would be to step up collections, which is what that $80 billion in new IRS funding in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act is all about.   Despite Washington’s denial, you can expect the middle class to be hounded at new levels of intensity by the IRS. In other words, the taxman is coming for you!  This will result in barely concealed hostility setting the people even more in opposition to the government.  

 Hedge fund billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller has some choice words about Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen lately, as have we.  (See our recent post Head for the Safety Zone.)  Before Covid, notes Druckenmiller, Washington spent 20 percent of GDP.  Now it spends 25 percent.  How does he propose to fix things?  He has Social Security and seniors in his crosshairs.  Sure, go after old people, while the Deep State and Yellen think we can afford two and three-front wars.  

In any case, the spending will leave America a hollowed-out hulk, a shadow of what we were.  On CNBC the other day, Druckenmiller accused Washington of spending “like drunken sailors.”  His appearance was virtually an emotional plea for us to get a handle on spending.  “We’ve got to stop, guys. We’re drunk. We’re digging this deep hole. What are we doing here?”  More than forty years ago Ronald Reagan said comparing Washington to drunken sailors is a slur on drunken sailors!

What is the net-net-net of all these stories? Simple.  It’s every man and woman for him or herself.  The Washington institutions do not have your well-being at heart.  The ship of state is a ship of fools.  They have run it into the shallow reefs.  

Get off the sinking Washington monetary ship while you can.  Protect yourself with gold and silver today.


They’re Stealing Everything That Isn’t Nailed Down!

A sign that the American monetary system won’t last…. and why you must own gold and silver!

The governing classes and the people in Washington are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.  It sounds like hyperbole to say that it is the end of times.  We don’t exactly say that, but we do say that the Washington hogs ferocious and frenzied feeding at the taxpayers’ trough is a sign that it is the end of the existing fiat monetary system.  They know it, so they are gobbling up everything they can, while they still can!

Two examples should be enough to illustrate the shamelessness of the larceny, one from the Bidenistas, the other from the Federal Reserve.

Watch Senator Josh Hawley as he questions the Director of the Loan Programs office at the US Department of Energy about events at which people seeking loans from the Energy Department pay to hear him speak.  

The Washington Free Beacon reports that the official in the following video, Jigar Shah, founded the private trade association, Cleantech Leaders, which is now a “gatekeeper for companies seeking billions of dollars in financing from Shah’s office.”

Companies connected to the trade association have raked in cash from Shah’s office. Last week, the Loan Programs Office approved a $3 billion loan to a solar company led by Cleantech Leaders’s board director. The group’s corporate sponsors have also pulled in funding.

The cozy relationship between Shah and Cleantech Leaders is raising questions about whether the organization’s members are getting favorable treatment in the loan process.

You will note that Senator Hawley is befuddled at the decision-making official’s complete lack of shame at this apparently corrupt behavior.  But there is no shame when the system is collapsing.

But the next one is even worse!

Robert Kaplan is the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank.  While Kaplan (a former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs – of course!) was a voting member of the interest-rate and policy setting Fed Open Market Committee, he was secretly trading his own account “like a hedge fund kingpin!”

That’s the description from Wall Street on Parade.  From their report:

To understand how truly bizarre and alarming the trading scandal case involving former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is, some important background is necessary:

Kaplan didn’t just trade in and out of stocks while a voting member of the interest-rate setting committee of the Fed (known as the Federal Open Markets Committee or FOMC); Kaplan also traded in and out of $1 million+ lots of S&P 500 futures. That is astonishing; unprecedented; and lacks any viable justification for a sitting Fed official… Kaplan resigned from the Dallas Fed in September 2021, the same month that the trading scandal went viral in the news….

S&P 500 futures gave Kaplan access to making directional bets on where the market would go after the stock market closed, which is typically when the Fed makes market-moving announcements.

It is worse than that.  It has been more than two years since the Kaplan trading scandal was discovered.  He “retired early” from the Fed, but there has not yet been any official finding from any internal Fed investigation, much less any finding or action from any relevant law enforcement or regulatory bodies at issue.  

Furthermore, Wall Street on Parade reports that Kaplan “brazenly refused to list the specific dates of his stock and S&P 500 futures trades as specifically required by the financial disclosure forms.” 

Brazenly.  Shamelessly.  Those are good descriptors for the behavior of the governing classes in the time of collapse.

And that is just one more reason to protect yourself with gold and silver!


War and Inflation

Biden is Burning Down the House!

“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”

– Ernest Hemingway

By now you probably know that that Biden is burning down the house.  Inflation has plagued American families on his watch.  And now it looks like more war than even we expected.

And don’t think for a minute that the prospect is for “just” a two-front war.  Events in the South China Sea look like they can easily boil over at any time over very little.  A leaky, rusty bucket of bolts owned by the Philippines, a US ally, is the latest issue of contention.

Here’s Ron Paul’s description of Biden on the war front: 

President Joe Biden announced last week that the United States would be funding – and possibly fighting – three wars in three different parts of the world at the same time. It is an ambitious foreign policy for a president who doesn’t even seem to be able to express a coherent thought without the help of a teleprompter…

As Biden demands another $105 billion to fund the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan, his speech seemed to have a touch of campaign rhetoric in it. “I’m told I was the first American [president] to enter a warzone not controlled by the United States military since President Lincoln,” he said in his speech. The statement is blatantly false, but he must believe it gives him an air of bravado.

With due respect to Congressman Paul, we think Biden is way past mere bravado.  We think he is dangerously intoxicated on the Neocon’s war Cool-Aid.

Paul Singer of Elliott Investment Management says the world is much more perilous than markets are pricing in and that investors should be more worried. “The world is now completely dependent on the good sense of leaders to avoid an Armageddon.”  

And inflation?  It was two years ago that the Fed finally acknowledged that its inflation wasn’t “transitory” as it had insisted.  Now the Fed has been raising interest rates for a year and a half!  Yet today, Chairman Powell, after his record-setting intervention in the markets, confesses that inflation is still too high.  And real (meaning adjusted for inflation) disposable personal income is down.

Let us use US beef prices to illustrate price inflation today:  

So, Washington’s interest rate regime hasn’t wrung inflation out of the system, but as the following graph from NBC makes clear, it has assured that the median household income is no longer enough to afford the median-priced home:

Inflation and war.  As Hemmingway said, “Both bring a permanent ruin!”

But of course, there is more: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is practically empty.  Washington is in chaos.  Banks are on the brink.  Digital currencies are on the fast track. And China is dumping US bonds.

None of this is good for your freedom and prosperity.

Biden is burning down the house!  Better come see us at Republic Monetary Exchange.  Better protect your family and your wealth with real money, gold, and silver.  


Rich Dad’s Wake-Up Call!

Gold’s next stop is $3,700!  Silver to $68!

It’s time now to wake up!   And to tell your friends!

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki doesn’t issue a wake-up call like that very often.  When he does, he means it!

We follow our friend Robert closely.   And since he says we should tell our friends to wake up now,  we are sharing his dramatic warning and gold and silver price calls from his most recent “X” (Twitter) alert:

Gold will soon break through $2,100 and then take off. You will wish you had bought gold below $2,000. Next stop gold $3,700….  Silver from $23 to $68 an ounce. Savers of fake dollars F’d. Please tell your friends to “Wake up.” Take care.

We agree.  We are at a very important monetary crossroads with spreading wars, debt spiraling into the stratosphere, and Washington as badly run as we have seen it in our lifetime.

That’s why we have advised our friends and clients to head to gold and silver – to the Maximum Safety Zone – now.  

Please review Robert Kiyosaki’s warning carefully and his target for gold to take off and hit $3,700 and his silver target of $68.

Then reach out to us and speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional today!


A Very Bullish Outlook for Gold

The gold picture is coming into view, and it is very bullish according to one of our favorite commentators, Michael “Mish” Shedlock from MishTalk.com.

We’ve known “Mish” for a very long time, dating all the way back to when he was a small, still voice warning about the housing bubble.

Gold Massive Cup and Handle

Mish points to the classic technical pattern, the “cup and handle” in the gold chart, and says that gold “is flirting with a major breakout having undergone a huge three-year consolidation.

“If the next major move is higher, as I suspect, the move rates to be explosive.”

Mish is not alone in expecting an explosive move in gold.  We have shared elsewhere Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki’s call for gold and silver.  He expects gold to break above $2,100 and then take off with its next stop at $3,700.  A move like that would be consistent with the technical picture, especially with Gold’s repeated interim tops at just over $2,000. 

Kiyosaki expects silver to share in the move, racing up from $23 to $68.  He urges you to tell your friends to wake up. 

Robert is watching the fundamentals.  Mish is looking at the technical picture.  Both are talking about an explosive move up in gold!

Make sure your portfolio is up to date.  Speak with a Republic Monetary Exchange gold and silver professional without delay!