Peter Schiff tweeted on Tuesday:
That's a very frightening statistic. The Dow Jones Index rising so fast, and so high, is not because the potential for investment growth is there. In fact, the value of the Dow on a per-dollar basis is down by three-quarters since the turn of the century. The dollar is getting weaker and weaker, because we (or, rather, the Fed, and the politicians who spend it so wastefully and carelessly) keep on printing it like there's no tomorrow.
There are those who say that the dollar is, in fact, one of the strongest currencies around, and that's why overseas investors keep buying it. I don't believe that for a moment. The dollar simply happens to be the least bad choice among leading international currencies. All the others - the euro, the pound, the renmimbi, the yen - are issued by economies that are in even worse shape than the USA's.
To add to the picture, here's what Jared Dillian had to say in his Chart Of The Week e-mail, also on Tuesday. I can't link to his e-mail, unfortunately, but here's the meat and potatoes bit.
Here’s what nobody wants to talk about: When the dollar rolled over in the early 2000s, it didn’t just decline—it collapsed. And that collapse lit the fuse on the greatest commodities supercycle in modern history. Gold went ballistic. Oil went ballistic. Everything went ballistic.
Now look at where we are today. We’re testing the bottom of that channel again. The exact same technical setup. And when—not if, but when—this thing breaks, it’s going to be biblical.
The smart money isn’t waiting around to see what happens. They’re already positioning for the next commodities boom. Because that’s what happens when the dollar gets crushed. Commodities go lunar.
When this channel breaks, the dollar is going to get absolutely demolished, and commodities are going to rip.
The setup is right there. It’s staring you right in the face. The only question is: Are you going to ignore it like many will, or are you going to position yourself correctly?
Time to get long commodities. Like, yesterday.
I have no idea whether or not he's right - I'm not a stock market chartist - but, in the light of all we've discussed in these pages over the past several years about the dollar's weakness, and the unbalanced state of national and world economies, and the immense debt overhang that threatens us all . . . I won't be surprised if he's entirely correct. As for whether to invest in commodities, I'm a small-time saver, not a big-time rich investor, so that won't affect me much. However, I'm very glad that some years ago, I invested a small proportion of our savings in a few one-ounce silver coins. They're currently up by about 250-300% in dollar terms over what I paid for them. That's a commodity price I can get behind!
Meanwhile, apart from my medical expenses stash (which I dare not spend on anything else), I'm using our steadily-depreciating dollars to buy things we can use and will need in the short to medium term, because I expect that before long, if the dollar lets go, we may no longer be able to afford them. YMMV, of course . . . but keep Weimar Germany in mind. The parallels are ominous. (See also zero stroke.)
Peter
8 comments:
People need to realize that the US Dollar is "Backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government".
NOTHING ELSE since we took the dollar off the Gold Standard.
It is this FAITH and Credit worthiness that our CONgressional (spelling intentional) 535 Temple Monkeys is busy grifting and sanctioning tariffing (almost the same effect) to piss off the world.
The world watches as the FEDERAL Reserve (not federal nor a bank reserve) prints more and more fake dollars without backing into the system.
Eventually even the Threat of our Military will cease to impress the smaller countries as they quietly remove themselves from the US Dollar.
When England lost the "World Reserve Currency" they went from a navy that RULED the seas and an Empire the sun never sets upon to barely and Island and 2 dock queen Aircraft carriers with US Marine F35 Airwing for weapons and a couple of badly abused frigates.
Let's leave alone the suicidal pact to IMPORT 3rd world savages of Islam and such into their Welfare system.
Not like America is SO DUMB to DO anything that Stupid...
Need I add a sarc tag here?
Going to get UGLY for Joe 6 pack that just wanted to be left alone like his British equal who wanted to drink his pint and eat his pork in peace.
This is one of the reasons the Fed keeps pushing inflation. It makes good headlines and the only people who really know who's hurting them are the people who are the small number aware of what they're doing.
Your pay didn't go up, the dollar became worth less.
Your house didn't become worth more as you've lived in it, parts wore out and broke. The price went up because the dollar's worth went down.
Everybody expects to make more next year because they've conditioned people to believe that with their inflation.
Sorry, I'm a "real money" guy. The natives on Yap Island and their use of bigger and smaller stones are better than the central banks in every country. They couldn't print an infinite quantity of stones like they can digital money.
Ammo is a good way to invest in commodities. You store it at home, use as needed, trade or resell if required. I got 15,000 rounds of .22 for about $860 this week. If you have your food pantry good to go, look next at ammo as a hedge against inflation and as a store of wealth.
This is something I have been shouting about for years, but almost no one wanted to listen. Heck even members of my family who are in the financial fields who should know better didn't seem to understand any of this.
What should scare people is this. The US Dollar is being used as the bedrock of most currencies in the World. At the same time, those countries also are using the same system of, printing money and inflating their own currencies away. As far as I am aware currently there are no major countries which are not on the verge of financial disaster from the same financial malpractice which is effecting the United States.
This is beyond Great Depression levels of bad. In the Great Depression there were still a lot of family farms, a lot of nations still held some form of bullion or whatever to stabilize their currencies if need be. The level of damage at the time was enough to put 1 of 4 people out of work, and cause a number of people to starve in America. No idea how bad it was elsewhere, though I know Germany got hit particularly hard. There is a book written based off of the reports from the Brownshirts when they were trying to break the communist control of Berlin in the late 20s early 30s which expressed just how bad it was. A lot of their members ended joined because it was that or starve to death on the streets.
That was then. Today there are almost no family farms, almost no backyard gardens. Countries no longer have something solid they can point to and say their currency is based on this. And while I can't speak for countries outside America, I can say with confidence our unemployment numbers are not being reported correctly.
The federal government has continuously changed how the number of unemployed Americans are counted to artificially keep the number low. I suspect right now we are probably at roughly 12 or so percent unemployment currently, but there is no real way to know, because the numbers keep getting skewed.
Lastly someone ran the numbers and if Gold was matched to the dollar like it was supposed to be (1oz to 1 dollar), Gold would be something like $56,000 an ounce. Currently its just a bit under $5,000 an ounce. Silver is something I kept track of as I always liked it. About a decade ago it was $14-15 an ounce. The price had been getting suppressed constantly and the Bank of England and the Deutchbank were both caught suppressing the price, although nothing was done.
Last week (end of 2025) the Federal Reserve pumped something like 105 Billion into the financial system because the banks got caught with their pants down. They were selling the same bar of silver 15 times or more.
To make this clear, they had 1 bar of physical silver, but they were selling 15 bars of paper silver. It was supposed to be 1 for 1. They got called on it, didn't have enough physical silver to cover it. But it got worse, the banks were also shorting the silver market to make money which they could do because silver price suppression. Well demand broke through and their shorts were called. In one night they ended up owing some 38 Billion they didn't have.
So yea, the currency system is teetering on the edge of collapse and all it will take is one good push and it will plunge the world into a time worse than the Great Depression.
- W
The bit of silver we have is put aside for after the collapse.
The wife has forbid me to sell any of our ammo, even though I showed her how much we could make.
We are pretty much on our 3rd complete fifo on food stocks. Check those expiration dates kids.
New tires, brakes etc on the cars, while those things are available.
Spare filters for everything that needs them. Spare wicks for the lanterns.
I am sure we are not ready, but we have sure tried to cover all the bases.
What is scary is that 'backed by the full faith and credit of the US government' bit. That is a phrase that only carries weight in the real world if people believe in the US as an impartial, judicial country that respects its own laws. Unfortunately, a large portion of the world population has no reason to believe that the US government is in any way shape or form impartial or bound by any concept of law or international agreements anymore. That may or may not be correct, but that is the perception and it is perception that matters when you are considering the 'full faith' line.
Stuff is useful and well worth investing in, skills are reusable.
A skilled seamstress with a good sewing machine and a few hundred dollars worth of zippers, buttons, thread and iron on patches would be well employed.
Many other "side job" skills can be thought of.
Folks that CHOOSE to be unskilled in other than their "JOB", are on Social Security or pensions aka fixed income are going to suffer unless they can figure out a service like sewing.
I laugh quietly about how many folks think they are going to "sell their services as Security troops". My friends including most of the wives and older children are quite good shooters AND they have other useful skillsets (yes, we have more than one seamstress).
I still have my dad's tax returns going back to the 1960s. He made $13.5k in 1969 as fed worker at a military repair facility. That is six figures today. Granted, there were less food choices, no Subway sandwich shops, cell phones, flat screens, computers. But the reality is that people making $100k today are poorer than my dad was in some ways.
Post a Comment