WEEKEND WRAP: r/wallstreetbets Reddit Group Escalates To Full Scale War On Hedge Funds, Short-Sellers, Buying Silver

Stocks suffered through their worst week since October, 2020, with the Dow losing more than 1000 points and all of the major averages dropping by 3.25% or more. The tech-laden NASDAQ and small caps on the NYSE Composite led the way lower. The NAZ fell 3.49%; the NYSE lopped off 3.71%.

Macro losses on the exchanges took a back seat to the internecine skirmishes between billionaire hedge fund managers and the rag-tag recruits from reddit.com group n/wallstreetbets as the mostly-millennial stock traders from the reddit group took the short-sellers to task over shares of GameStop, the beleaguered game retailer targeted by the hedge funds.

Essentially, what the wallstreetbets crowd did was target the most-shorted stocks by buying up shares of down-beaten GameStop (GME), and others, such as Nokia (NOK), Blackberry (BB), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBYB), AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), and Koss Corp. (KOSS), sending shares soaring, squeezing the hedge fund shorts, costing them billions of dollars.

Hedge funds, which have extensive short positions in many equities, hoped to capitalize on the misfortunes of companies but failed to take into account retail market forces and the power of social media as the reddit group n/wallstreetbets devised a strategy of buying the losing stocks and holding, forcing the hedgies to cover their downside bets.

In effect, the hedge funds borrowed shares (at fees ranging from 30% to 50% of the share price) of the beaten-down stocks and sold them into the market at prices under the asking price, Their plan was to buy those shares back on the open market as the stock collapsed, return the borrowed shares, pocketing the difference. They also short stocks through put options, bets that a stock will trade lower over time with specific time limits (strike dates).

The reddit crowd, glibly calling themselves "retards" or just "tards," seized upon the opportunity to make massive profits and punish the billionaires at the same time just by buying shares of the targeted stocks. As members of the seven million strong group n/wallstreetbets executed their strategy, shares began to rise, fueled by increased volume from the retards, then accelerating as the hedge funds began to panic and cover their shorts at increasing losses.

Through Friday, the hedge funds have accumulated losses approaching $20 billion on Gamestop alone. For their part, the retail crowd is holding onto their gains, causing the shorts even more pain in the options market. The opposing forces created such a firestorm of volatility that both the puts and calls on some issues were both gaining at the same time, a logical impossibility, exposing the options market to failure.

Launching attacks on multiple fronts in different stocks, the reddit retail crew was not just beating the hedge funds, they were slaughtering them. If this was a football game, the score would be something along the lines of retards 144, hedge funds 0, and it's only the first quarter.

On Thursday, the redditeers got into the commodities game, sending silver futures up nearly 10% in a matter of minutes, taking gold, platinum, oil and many mining stocks, like First Majestic (AG) along for the ride. Using their buy and hold strategy and extending it to the most manipulated market on the planet - silver futures - the reddit gang began openly discussing taking down the COMEX futures market, short sellers and bullion banks, which are particularly at risk in silver, being heavily on the short side to suppress the price of what's known as "the money of gentlemen."

So far, plans include buying up shares of EFTs such as the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSIL), individual miner stocks and lately, purchasing physical silver from local coin shops, online retailers and eBay sellers. The latest move would more than likely be the most successful over time, as excessive physical demand would certainly cause supply shortages, prompting price gains. Longer term, if millions of people begin buying up small amounts of silver coins, bars, and jewelry, the demand spike would naturally result in a supply squeeze and either expose the COMEX as a fraud for failing to deliver physical metal on contract executions or boosting the futures price as spot prices sprint forward. Continued pressure from millions of silver buyers could break the futures market and the bullion banks and cause further chaos.

An article outlining the effects of what r/wallstreetbets is doing appeared on Thursday with a dire warning: Goldman Warns If the Short Squeeze Continues, The Entire Market Could Crash.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are rightfully scared of the implications of what amounts to a peasant revolt in financial markets, traditionally the province of the rich and not-so-famous. With stocks bubbling out of control and the underclass betting on losers while the hedge funds are trying to savage them, the resulting carnage would cause liquidations earmarked for margin calls, fees, short-covering, and loss mitigation in the billionaire class. With money having to come from somewhere, the billions invested profitably in the Apples, Googles, and Facebooks of the world would depart, setting up a vicious liquidity trap complete with cascading losses throughout the markets.

So, in case you're thinking these millennial kids (mostly aged 20-45) are a passing fancy, you just failed economics 101, 201 and 401. This is a complete and fully-engaged revolt against money and those who control it and it's unlikely to end well for the people who've been manipulating every market on the planet for the past 35 years. It should not go without mention that Robinhood, the trading platform preferred by the redditeers, had to tap into its credit line through Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and has placed order limits of five shares down to one share of selected stocks, primarily the ones most targeted by the "retards." Many of the stocks on the restricted holdings list can be referenced here, though as yet unconfirmed, Robinhood has since trimmed the list and boosted the number of shares one can purchase and hold. Seems the online brokerage, Robinhood, has had scheduled meeting with the Sheriff of Nottingham, aka, the SEC.

Elsewhere, the mainstream (if we can call them that) cryptocurrencies became passé even as the world's richest person (today, anyhow), Elon Musk, admitted to buying some Bitcoin with a tweet saying, "It was inevitable." The news shook Bitcoin about 15% higher, but then fomented some selling. Bitcoin jumped to $38,570 on Friday morning, but has since slumped back into its near-term range between $30,000 and $35,000. Etherium caught a sympathetic bid on Friday, though it remains largely in a high range between $1200 and $1500.

Treasuries remained moribund with the short end of the yield curve flat at the zero bound from 1-month (0.07%) bills to 3-year notes (0.19%). Yield on the 10-year note gained one basis point, from 1.10% to 1.11%, while the 30-year gained two, rising from 1.85% to 1.87%. Interest rates in fixed income have remained so low for so long (generally since 2000) that the speculative bubbles in stocks, art, and real estate are approaching breaking points with the Fed powerless to do anything to settle markets.

Since January 6, the unofficial start of the Joe Biden administration, the 10-year has held in a tight range between 1.04 and 1.15%, while the 30-year has maintained even more intransigence, holding between 1.79 and 1.88%.

The Federal Reserve is stuck. Rising rates would murder stocks and they simply cannot lower them any more than what they are unless going into negative territory is seriously considered. Essentially, negative interest rates, a capstone for many European nations has been lauded as a failed experiment though there remains a record amount of more than $17 trillion with negative yields and those have typically terms of seven years or longer. Overall, 75% of the global bond market pays a yield of less than 1%, while only 10% pays a yield of more than 3%. Effectively, global real (inflation-adjusted) yields are almost all negative, upwards of 93% not keeping pace with inflation.

Already a failure on multiple fronts (the economy, education, race relations, civil rights, social justice, Covid, foreign affairs, trade policy, government corruption, and accountability) the Biden administration and Democrat party control of both chambers of congress is likely to oversee a global bond rout with their inflationist policies of spend and pretend, pushing yields higher by boosting the federal deficit and making it more expensive to service, the end result a ballooning federal debt which is rapidly approaching $28 trillion. At $27.86 trillion presently, $30 trillion is likely to be exceeded within months. By the end of the government's fiscal year (September 30), the federal debt could easily be upwards of $32 trillion, the run-rate of profligate spending and dollar dilution approaching half a trillion dollars a month.

These rank amateurs and posers, many from the destructive Obama administrations of 2008-2016, espouse ideas that press hard against beneficial public policy. Their insistence on greening, climate change, and identity politics stoke hatred and anger on both sides of the aisle, while their economic plans rival those of second-graders (with apologies to second-graders everywhere). Within months, Biden and his horde of deviant Democrats are likely to cause a massive stock market collapse, raging unemployment, and general strife. If Biden isn't impeached within the next six to eight months, the US - and with it the global - economy will become completely unglued.

Oil maintained above $50/barrel for WTI crude, checking out Friday at $52.20, just below the prior week's close ($52.27), though close to the recent high of $53.57. Since October 30, 2020, the price of oil has risen 45.9% form a low of $35.79. Any number of crosswinds are contributing to the price makeup. With holiday travel on the wane, prices at the pump would normally be falling, but colder weather and the re-opening of businesses in many states shuttered by the pandemic are mitigating that factor.

As the main street economy returns to some semblance of normalcy, expect gasoline prices to spike by Spring. The national average is currently at $2.43 a gallon, roughly the same as the pre-pandemic price from this date in 2020. With the Fed's printers working overtime counterfeiting fresh currency and the federal government hell-bent on doling out another $1400 to just about anyone making less than $75,000 a year (about 85% of the population), price inflation in food and energy are about as certain as water turning to ice below 32 degrees.

No state is selling unleaded regular for less than $2.00 a gallon, with Mississippi and Louisiana on the low end at $2.09 and $2.10, respectively, Hawaii ($3.26) and California ($3.41) the only states with average prices above $3.00. Nationwide, drivers could be looking at gas above $3.00 a gallon in pretty short order, especially if states continue lifting COVID-related restrictions. Consumers may be screaming for relief by Memorial Day.

WTI crude's last peak was October of 2018, when it topped off at $76.18 a barrel. While unlikely to hit that number anytime soon, a range of $60-68 a barrel is a very real short term possibility. While that number isn't exactly appealing to end-users, it would likely rally US frackers and shale unaffected by Joe Biden's executive order banning new leases on federal land. The main beneficiaries of Biden's boneheaded approach to energy are Russia and OPEC, as the United States will have to import more oil at higher prices.

Americans have to face up to the reality that the person sitting (or mostly sleeping) in the White House is illegitimate, as the Democrats conspired to steal the election from Donald Trump. Simply put, Biden should be thrown out of office, tried for his crimes and jailed as soon as possible. Just days into his term he's already tried - through executive orders - to reverse much of the good done by Trump. He's an ass, a thief, a liar, a crook, a seller of influence, and his policies are mostly opposed to the public good. Most people don't like him, don't accept him as their president, and will remain angry about the stolen 2020 election until he is removed.

Fittingly, in the face of last week's ramping of beaten down stocks and the fast foray into the silver space, silver far outpaced gold, rising swiftly as its more pricey counterpart suffered a slight decline.

Gold ended the week at $1847.76, down from the prior Friday's price of $1855.90 per ounce while silver, courtesy of the reddit crowd from r/wallstreetbets, caught a long-overdue bid Thursday and Friday, slingshotting from a low of $25.26 on Wednesday to close out the week at $27.71, a sharp, 9.7% move, a five-month high, with more upside straight ahead.

As the assault on silver shorts commenced over the weekend, premiums rose notably at delaers and online markets. Local coin shops and online merchants reported record volumes, many selling out of popular products, imposing shipping delays and quantity restrictions as demand soared.

Here are the most recent prices for popular gold and silver items sold on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 33.00 / 46.45 / 37.55 / 36.47
1 oz silver bar: 34.50 / 44.98 / 38.79 / 37.60
1 oz gold coin: 1,936.30 / 2,050.00 / 1,980.73 / 1,979.89
1 oz gold bar: 1,925.00 / 1,995.42 / 1,959.40 / 1,956.83

Weekly survey results from April 2020 to present can be found here.

At the Close, Friday, January 29, 2021:
Dow: 29,982.62, -620.74 (-2.03%)
NASDAQ: 13,070.69, -266.46 (-2.00%)
S&P 500: 3,714.24, -73.14 (-1.93%)
NYSE: 14,397.20, -272.32 (-1.86%)

For the Week:
Dow: -1014.36 (-3.27%)
NASDAQ: -472.37 (-3.49%)
S&P 500: -127.23 (-3.31%)
NYSE: -554.65 (-3.71%)

Wall Street Trench Warfare Pits Millennials Against Hedge Funds, Brokerages, the "System"

Publisher's Note: A few words about our friend, Mother Nature, whose angry side we witnessed firsthand Tuesday morning around 2:00 am when our mountain abode was shuddered by a massive lightning strike. Barely avoiding the main house, the multi-pronged assault did the most damage by rupturing a propane gas line which erupted into flame with a loud boom that awakened most of our neighbors, one of whom is a fireman who responded with miraculous speed.

The fire was quelled by quick-thinking responders who shut the gas off at the tank, limiting the damage to an eight-foot wooden gate on the fence line. Upon daybreak, we began to assess the electrical damage, which amounted to quite a bit, including the frying of the AT&T internet modem, Dish TV modem along with the wiring to the dish itself which took one of the strikes directly, the entirely of an expensive audio center, two ceiling fan motors, a refrigerator, a furnace circuit board, an internet extender unit, and a small number of lights.

Indeed, we were fortunate that the damage was so limited, the sudden clap of electrical force serving as a not-so-gentle reminder of how fragile and conductive is our modern way of living. After two days of various repair trucks and service people in and out, life returned mostly to normal late Thursday. The insurance company is soon to be writing a fairly large check.

File this post under "better late than never," homage to resilience and Yankee ingenuity.

Over the past few days, the investing community has been treated to the tragi-comedy of millennial RobinHooders and other miscreant day-trading types versus the mighty force of hedge fund short-sellers (Citadel, part owner of Melvin Capital, among others) over shares of GameStop (GME), the failing gaming retailer. With wealthy billionaire hedge fund operators looking to cash in on the woes of the firm, thousands of small retail investors, purportedly organizing on Reddit, took them to task, buying up shares of the ill-fated company and boosting the price, causing the short-side hedgies to cover, suffering billions of dollars in forced buying.

From mid-morning Tuesday to the close on Thursday, shares of GameStop were whipsawed every which way, starting in the high 80s to close Tuesday at 145, then opening Wednesday at 327, eventually reaching a peak of 468 early Thursday morning.

That's when - with losses into the $$ billions - the unthinkable happened. Apparently at the behest of the doomed hedge fund managers, Robinhood and other brokerages - including TD Ameritrade, Webull, Merrill Edge, and others - began limiting trading and options on GameStop and other companies (AMC, BB, BBBY, EXPR, GME, KOSS, NAKD, and NOK) targeted by the millennial horde to sell only or raising margin requirements as high as 300%, in some cases closing out positions without notice to clients. In a little over an hour, the share price on GME fell from 468 to 112, eventually bouncing back over 300, but finally closing out Thursday at 193.60.

The story does not end there, however. While the hedge funds were being bailed out by the brokerages, retail investors were claiming "foul," obviously annoyed over the ham-fisted approach to the perception of fairness in "open" markets. It appears that Wall Street trading houses will allow unlimited losses to small investors, but when it comes to whales like hedge funds, they'll willingly step in to staunch declines.

Such action obviously is not sitting well with the general public nor the damaged retail millennial crowd. At least one lawsuit has been filed and congressional dog-and-pony shows are upcoming. It's safely assumed that no Wall Street persona will suffer anything more than having to be publicly berated and forced to contribute to a number of election campaigns. Such is the technocratic justice that prevails.

In the meantime, the wealthy hedgies are now forewarned that their activities in the market are not going to be tolerated by the retail crowd which has served notice that they can and will organize in monetary assault. The hallowed canyons of Wall Street have become the site of open economic class warfare, a drama which is likely to end well for nobody. In so far as the recent action have amounted to minor initial skirmishes, escalation of this unique economic trench warfare is to be expected.

In pre-market trading, GME is up 154 points, to 348. This battle is far from over.

Robinhood and other brokerages have freed up trading in the affected companies, according to reports. Robinhood has tapped into its liquidity, borrowing from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

From the looks of things, there's likely to be more losers than winners in this battle.

---

Two days of an internet outage afforded the distinct displeasure of reading the stupid little book. COVID-19 The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret. If only to spare readers any wasted moments on what amounts to child-like writing (maybe fifth grade level) by supposed intellectuals who espouse to instruct world leaders and commoners alike how to prosper from the pandemic, this review will be sparingly brief.

The authors (shuddering at dignifying them thusly) take vague suppositions on various issues such as "climate change" (which is a foremost topic for them), governance, mental health, environmentalism and other worldly subjects and expand them into a tapestry of pandemic behaviors seen through a prism of time between January and June of 2020. Their focus on digitization, lockdowns (which they frighteningly refer to as confinement), control, and taking advantage of the situation is perversely anti-human and gravely mistaken.

Schwab and Malleret suggest, ad nauseum, that the advent of COVID-19 brought with it hopeful possibilities for governments, businesses, and individuals to rethink, retool, and reset their environment and practices. Nearly completely disregarding the medical missteps and personal devastation, the evidence and advice springs from the Rahm Emanuel principle of "...never let a crisis go to waste," which is in itself a sick, cynical world view. There's no concrete evidence or proposals offered. The whole 190 pages of boring, run-on text and 20 pages of footnotes includes a dizzying array of if (found on 73 pages), and, but (143 pages), could (85), might (44), may (89) propositions and no concrete solutions to anything.

While it's refreshing to realize through the reading that Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), is not some crazed Nazi holdout bent on world domination, but rather a fuzzy teddy bear without much purpose or brain power, the other side of the coin says this book should not be on anybody's reading list. In fact, it should never have been written. That's why there's no link HERE to the free PDF, as it might encourage some to engage. Forget it. Dustbin of history stuff, it is.

While at the literary latrine, it would be a shame not to leak just how painful it was to see and hear youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, recite her trite, mixed metaphorical nonsense, "The Hill We Climb" at the fake inaugural last week. While the poem itself offered a garbled message of hope and desperation, it was decidedly non-inclusive and unwelcome to large swaths of people, particularly white ones.

It's not OK to elevate black girls to high positions when they reference their color, slavery, and inflammatory lines such as:

We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated

... as Americanism without punctuation. It's gaslighting.

Basically, give it a break. Americans are truly tired of being reminded of how evil, insensitive, and racist we are.

Just for good measure, a reminder that "double-masking" is doubly stupid.

At the Close, Wednesday, January 27, 2021:
Dow: 30,303.17, -633.87 (-2.05%)
NASDAQ: 13,270.60, -355.47 (-2.61%)
S&P 500: 3,750.77, -98.85 (-2.57%)
NYSE: 14,487.73, -379.64 (-2.55%)

At the Close, Thursday, January 28, 2021:
Dow: 30,603.36, +300.19 (+0.99%)
NASDAQ: 13,337.16, +66.56 (+0.50%)
S&P 500: 3,787.38, +36.61 (+0.98%)
NYSE: 14,669.52, +181.79 (+1.25%)

World Economic Forum Opens on Virtual Platform

Publisher's Note: A lightning strike overnight has our electrical on emergency use only, so this is going to be brief. Apologies.

On Monday, the World Economic Forum opened "Virtual Davos" with a series of speeches and affirmations.

The World Economic Forum will convene the Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore from 25-28 May. It will return to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, for the Annual Meeting 2022. The Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore will be the first global leadership event to address worldwide recovery from the pandemic.

If you want to follow the events - all online - at Virtual Davos this week, start with the Davos Agenda 2021.

At the Close, Monday, January 25, 2021:
Dow: 30,960.00, -36.98 (-0.12%)
NASDAQ: 13,635.99, +92.13 (+0.69%)
S&P 500: 3,855.36, +13.89 (+0.36%)
NYSE: 14,935.29, -16.55 (-0.11%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Biden Takes Oath; Stocks Pause, Bonds Flat; Earnings Season in Full Swing

On Wednesday, Joe Biden took the presidential oath of office, making him the 46th president of the United States. The inauguration went off without a hitch, which was to be expected, considering there were more than 25,000 National Guards on duty across the District of Columbia, protecting the president and assembled dignitaries from some supposed threat, which, since the whole narrative was complete fiction, never materialized.

Neither white supremacists, ANTIFA or BLM radicals or even Daughters of the Republic showed up for the event, which more resembled a bad "made for TV movie" than the usual pomp and circumstance associated with the peaceful transition of power. It was so bad, there were more people awaiting President Trump's arrival in Florida than there were at Joe Biden's inauguration.

Trump didn't attend the inauguration. He left hours beforehand, aboard Air Force One. According to verifiable sources, he took the nuclear codes with him. Biden doesn't have the nuclear codes, probably never will, and his members of his administration are barred from the Pentagon, also verified.

There are still, at this writing, some 7,000 National Guardsmen on duty in the nation's capitol, which is quizzical, since there was no threat of violence at the big event, and no intelligence to expect any. The fences encompassing the National Mall, White House, Capitol, and Supreme Court are still up. The desolate city looks more like a third world prison camp than the seat of national power.

What the new president did right away was sign away some executive orders, mostly designed to reverse EOs issued by President Trump. EOs don't carry the weight of law. Biden's signings are designed to set the country back four years, and, despite what he says about uniting the country, don't exactly exude that Kumbaya feeling.

In response, stocks, in the first two full trading days since the inauguration, took a left turn. See closing prices below:

Index: 1/20/2021 / 1/22/2021
Dow: 31,188.38 / 30,996.98
NASDAQ: 13,457.25 / 13,543.06
S&P 500: 3,851.85 / 3,841.47
NYSE: 15,097.28 / 14,951.84

Just guessing, but, other than the NASDAQ (which always goes up because of the Tech monopoly giants (the AMFAG stocks: AAPL, MSFT, FB, AMZN, GOOG), traders seem to be less than enthralled with the direction taken by the new administration. While presidents aren't usually responsible for Wall Street antics, there is something of a correlation between policy and prices. The Biden administration is off to a rocky start.

While change has come to the federal government, some things are out of their reach, and unlikely to change. Treasuries were flat, with the 10-year yielding 1.10%, just a single basis point below the close of the prior week. The 30-year ended the week unchanged, at 1.85%.

Likewise, the surpression of precious metal prices continued, though at a somewhat subdued pace. Gold gained, from $1,829.80 to $1,855.50 (+$25.70), though it was down slightly the two days following Biden's inauguration. Silver rose from $24.87 to $25.57, a gain of 70 cents per ounce.

Oil, which hit a nine-month high of $53.57 per barrel on January 14, closed out at $51.98 on Friday, the 22nd. Could relief at the pump be at hand? Unlikely. Democrat governors, from New York's Andrew Cuomo, to Illinois' J.B. Pritzker, are reopening their economies and weather will begin to warm in another month or so, though heating costs have been mild this winter. Oil's price could moderate for a time, but by summer, it's almost certain to be above current levels.

In the crypto space, Bitcoin continues to vacillate at a level about 20% below its recent high above $42,000. Bitcoin's price fell as low as $28,732 and is holding around $32,000 currently. Etherium, the second largest coin by market cap, dipped as low as $1,039.62, but has recovered above $1,300.

Below is the Money Daily exclusive weekly survey of commonly-sold items on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Itam: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 35.00 / 50.50 / 42.17 / 42.47
1 oz silver bar: 32.25 / 47.15 / 38.57 / 38.48
1 oz gold coin: 1,952.00 / 2,046.24 / 1,999.27 / 2,007.80
1 oz gold bar: 1,950.00 / 1,986.49 / 1,966.96 / 1,965.94

For historical price data go HERE.

Of interest looking ahead, the coming week is the heart of earnings season, as companies release 4th quarter 2020 and full year results. Among the companies reporting this week are some heavyweights, as shown below.

Monday: (before open) Kimberly-Clark (KMB); (after close) Xilinx (XLNX), Yamana Gold (AUY)

Tuesday: (before open) UBS AG (UBS), 3M (MMM), D.R. Horton (DHI), General Electric (GE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), American Express (AXP), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Verizon (VZ); (after close) Texas Instruments (TXN), Capital One (COF), Starbucks (SBUX), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Microsoft (MSFT)

Wednesday: (before open) Blackstone (BX), AT&T (T), Teledyne (TDY), General Dynamics (GD), Boeing (BA); (after close) Facebook (FB), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), Teradyne (TER), Raymond James (RJF)

Thursday: (before open) Dow Chemical (DOW), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Tractor Supply Company (TSCO), PulteGroup (PHM), Southwest Airlines (LUV), McDonald's (MCD), Altria (MO), American Airlines (AAL), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Alliance Data Systems (ADS), Nucor (NUE), Mastercard (MA); (after close) Celanese (CE), Visa (V), Beazer Homes (BZH), US Steel (X)

Friday: (before open) Weyerhaeuser (WY), Caterpillar (CAT), Eli Lilly (ELI), Honeywell (HON), Synchrony Financial (SYF), Chevron (CVX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL)

At the Close, Friday, January 22, 2021:
Dow: 30,996.98, -179.03 (-0.57%)
NASDAQ: 13,543.06, +12.15 (+0.09%)
S&P 500: 3,841.47, -11.60 (-0.30%)
NYSE: 14,951.84, -67.21 (-0.45%)

For the Week:
Dow: +182.72 (+0.59%)
NASDAQ: +544.56 (+4.19%)
S&P 500: +73.22 (+1.94%)
NYSE: +57.68 (+0.39%)

Radio Silence; Stocks Looking for Lower Open

Appearances can be misleading.

While the military occupation of the District of Columbia (DC) is now winding down, about 7,000 members of the National Guard will remain until the end of January, according to Air Force Maj. Matthew Murphy, a spokesman for the National Guard.

Fences around the Capitol, White House and National Mall are still up, even though the inauguration of Joe Biden is over with, having occurred on Wednesday, without incident.

Biden is busy signing executive orders, though a few constitutional experts express doubt that they will have any binding effect.

In any case, life goes on. Stocks continued to be soft on Thursday and are poised to open sharply to the downside Friday. Dow futures are off more than 200 points with just minutes to go before the opening bell.

Gotta run.

Enjoy the Show.

At the Close, Thursday, January 21, 2021:
Dow: 31,176.01, -12.37 (-0.04%)
NASDAQ: 13,530.92, +73.67 (+0.55%)
S&P 500: 3,853.07, +1.22 (+0.03%)
NYSE: 15,019.05, -78.23 (-0.52%)

Economic Policies to Expect from Joe Biden's Administration and How to Deal with Them

This article is opinion. The views expressed within are not necessarily the views of the author, Money Daily, Downtown Magazine or any of its reporters, editors or publishers or their associates or partners.

It's official, though it is illegitimate. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts as president and vice president of the United States.

Being that Justice Roberts is a compromised individual incapable of rendering sound judgements and the Biden/Harris ticket won the 2016 presidential election only by using underhanded, illegal, fraudulent means, this presidency is wholly illegitimate. In other words, about half the people who voted in the election - and plenty more who didn't bother to vote - believe it was a fraud, the votes cast for the various candidates were never audited or verified, and the legislatures which sent the electors to the electoral college were blindsided with phony voting records. The US Senate, which is full of scoundrels, thieves, liars, grifters, and common crooks verified the bogus slates of electors not because they believed them to be true but because doing so was expedient towards covering up a boatload of crimes against humanity and the American people who they are sworn to represent, but don't.

All of this has been well established in the alternative media, since the mainstream media issues only propaganda and chooses to cover only stories which are palatable to their chosen narrative. The courts - full of judges who can easily be bought off, threatened, or otherwise compelled to render rulings favorable to a chosen side - failed to do their duty to render justice without prejudice, so they're likewise disqualified on any and all moral arguments in terms of fairness, knowledge of facts, equity, or law.

Now that it's understood that within the federal government exists a dazzling amount of deceit and corruption, making sense of the new administration's policies and how to deal with them in a fashion beneficial not to them, but to individuals, corporations, trusts, and estates which will be affected can be fleshed out in a logical manner.

The overall thrust of the Biden administration's economic policies will be more favorable to the government than to the people. Those policies which are not favorable to individuals may, to a large extent, be favorable to huge, uncontrolled, publicly-held corporations, many of which are listed on the major US stock exchanges.

It should be noted that the term "publicly-held corporation" is somewhat of a misnomer, as shares of these corporations are not widely held by the at-large public, but by financial firms, banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, ETFs, and other investment vehicles which are the playthings of extremely wealthy (billionaires) individuals who are mostly shielded by shell corporations designed to evade or inhibit taxation.

There is overwhelming evidence that legacy legislation - that which has been on the "books" for years, decades, or longer - has been, as suits its needs, altered, molded, revised, and otherwise distorted to benefit mainly the government or its friendly conspirators. This is easily recognizable by the volumes of legislation, laws, rules, regulations, codes, and citations routinely churned out by congress and agencies operating under it or the executive branch.

The US income tax code (Title 26) under which the IRS operates is nearly 17,000 pages long and contains an estimated 5.5 million words. It would take an average reader, reading non-stop, 24 hours a day, more than 16 days to read the entire monstrosity. Understanding it would take orders of magnitude longer, so it would take an individual somewhere around a year to have a comprehensive understanding. Since doing anything 24 hours a day for a year is impossible, even reading the document, taking notes and understanding it all, working on it a mere eight hours a day, would comprise the better part of three years and during that time, congress and various agencies would have added, changed or annotated much of it. The complete US tax code is more than 90,000 pages long. Comprehending all of it would take 20 years or longer.

Basically, it's hopeless, but one still cannot argue ignorance of the law as a defense for not paying your taxes properly.

Biden's team, with plenty of help from congress, is sure to raise taxes on individuals in a manner which the ordinary working man or woman cannot escape. This is well known and yet another rationale that the general public did not vote for them as doing so would constitute illogical acts in opposition to self-interest. The people who will be hurt the most by Biden's tax hikes will be the middle class, those earning between $20,000 and $150,000 a year, with most of the damage occurring at the upper end of that range. Currently, there are seven tax brackets. Biden's people may want to decrease that down to five, because of science or fairness or some other lame excuse. What they're likely to do is jack up the lower end (currently 12% for people earning between roughly $10,000 and $40,000) to 15 or 18% and then combine the next two brackets ($40,000 to $185,000) into one, at 27 to 30 percent, and after that, everybody pays 34 to 40%.

Yes, it's going to be wonderful for the government until they realize the level of straight-up, honest compliance will slip considerably. More people will cheat, hide income, or just refuse. There's likely to be so many people refusing to pay taxes that the IRS won't be able to keep up with the non-filers, late filers or tax protesters.

Never mind that no matter how much revenue the government receives in taxes it will never be enough to satisfy their voracious appetite for other people's money. The Biden administration, along with congress, will likely manage to make the fiscal 2020 budget deficit of $3.1 trillion look like child's play.

The 2021 deficit is already approaching $600 billion in just the first three months of the fiscal year and that figure does not include the $900 billion recently approved by congress in December's COVID relief bill. President Quid Pro Joe has proposed another $1.9 trillion stimulus package, so once congress gets back to work - ostensibly around or after the Super Bowl (Feb. 7) or the State of the Union (SOTU) speech (Feb 2 or 9) - expect the budget deficit to at least double just on one piece of legislation.

Some good news here is that the SOTU speech is expected to be one of the shortest ever, given that aging Joe Biden can't stand upright for more than maybe 30 minutes. There's also a good chance that he might just skip it, being that he's so new to the job.

Small businesses, those that remain following the repeated lockdowns and other enterprise-killing restrictions imposed as remedies to the hated (but still non-lethal) coronavirus, will be taxed and regulated to death. Hardest hit will be LLCs, only because they are the most popular form of business entity, but upcoming tax legislation will also negatively affect sole proprietors, partnerships, and small corporations, whether they be C or S or professional corporations. Non-profits are likely to be hoovered up into the corporate tax nightmare because they traditionally have been afforded many loopholes and the Biden administration purportedly can't have that. You may give $100 to a charity, but at least $20 to $40 of it will go to he government by the time Biden's team is done.

Any other federal tax that can be raised, will be. That means gasoline tax, FCC tax on cell phones and all those other taxes hidden in your utility bills, insurance policies, cable bills, and so forth will all go up anywhere from 10 to 30 percent.

Expect all the various federal, state (let's not forget them), and local taxes to eat up a good 45 to 65% of an individual's income, depending on state and city of residence. After the income taxes, hidden taxes and fees, state sales taxes and property taxes will take another huge chunk.

At the top of the heap are the big corporations, to which Biden has raised a middle finger, promising to raise corporate tax rates to 28%. Naturally, there will be various loopholes and exemptions for favored entities. Any company claiming to be "green" or "LGBTQ" will get breaks. The rest will get bricks.

And let's not forget that it was Joe Biden who originally helped create legislation to tax seniors via Social Security, and then later to increase that tax. Even though he's a senior citizen himself, Joe doesn't actually like old people, other than as tax slaves. Joe's only interest is in fattening his own wallet, and that's best accomplished by taking it from you.

On the bright side, Biden's nominee for Treasury Secretary is former Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen. In addition to loose bowels, Yellen offered loose monetary policy during her stint at the Fed and promises to fulfill her role as chief destroyer of the value of the US dollar with the most dovish fiscal policy in the history of government. She's already advised the president and congress to "go big" on the stimulus package and she recently spooked the markets with talk of 50-year treasury bonds. If Yellen lasts more than a year on the job, she'll be lobbying for UBI (Universal Basic Income) and digital currency (FedCoin) along with negative interest rates.

Janet Yellen will be an absolute disaster for the US in terms of fiscal policy. Nobody will want to buy US bonds. The Fed will own them all, which, actually, could be the plan anyway.

So, overall, the federal government is going to take a wrecking ball to the US economy while at the same time skimming as much as possible from income producers and wage earners.

Advice? Good luck.

Anybody who gets a regular paycheck is completely screwed. The money comes right out of your paycheck before you even see it.

Own a business? Close it. Thinking of starting a business? Either go all cash or get a frontal lobotomy because you're insane. Investors should also be on the lookout for falling stock prices. They're at record levels already and the Biden administration is out to destroy every aspect of financial prosperity in America, though, admittedly, the stock market may offer some vestige of relief because that’s where the oligarchs play.

Anybody with the welfare of themselves and/or their family would do well to move to a "red" state with low taxes, out of cities and away from population centers greater than 50,000. Escaping to another country may be a preferred route should one have the ability.

Times up here. Gotta go.

At the Close, Wednesday, January 20, 2021:
Dow: 31,188.38, +257.86 (+0.83%)
NASDAQ: 13,457.25, +260.07 (+1.97%)
S&P 500: 3,851.85, +52.94 (+1.39%)
NYSE: 15,097.28, +109.94 (+0.73%)

Yellen Confirmation Hearings Portend Further Devaluation of the Dollar

With the inauguration of Joe Biden as president less then a day off, investors appeared confident that the United States would fare well enough with an influence-peddling grifter in the highest US office.

Putting aside all the stolen election rhetoric, the false flag "storming" of the Capitol building on January 6, and the resultant second impeachment of President Trump, investors sent stocks to reasonable gains, holding out hope for more stimulus and easy money policies from Janet Yellen, who sat for confirmation hearings as incoming Treasury Secretary.

Yellen's prepared remarks included a snapshot of her thinking, as she opined, "...with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big." In other words, the lower the interest rate, the more the government should borrow, since paying back any debt is less than a primary concern. Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chairperson, is signaling that Biden's idea to spend nearly another $2 trillion on a stimulus plan is rooted in some Keynesian logic that forgives spendthrifts and rewards the few wealthy open mouths at the spigot of the government fiscal firehose.

Transitioning her easy money policies at the Fed over to her new role at Treasury should be child's play for the grandmotherly, ancient economist, who will turn 75 on August 13. Born in 1946, she will celebrate her birthday just two days before the 50th anniversary of President Nixon closing the gold window on August 15, 1971, a fittingly ironic reminder of the profligate ways of the Baby Boomer generation. Yellen might as well be hoisting pom poms as she cheers on the accelerating demise of the world's reserve currency.

With intimate ties to many former colleagues over at the Federal Reserve, her loose fiscal policies should dovetail neatly into the Fed's plans to devalue the dollar completely.

She's the perfect fit.

At the Close, Tuesday, January 19, 2021:
Dow: 30,930.52, +116.26 (+0.38%)
NASDAQ: 13,197.18, +198.68 (+1.53%)
S&P 500: 3,798.91, +30.66 (+0.81%)
NYSE: 14,987.34, +93.17 (+0.63%)

WEEKEND WRAP: DC Armed Up; Bank Stocks, Gold, Silver Pounded; Chaos Before The Storm

Let's get right into it.

Washington, DC has been turned into a military outpost under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, President Donald J. Trump.

In addition to the supposed 25,000 National Guardsmen securing the grounds of the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and other government buildings, members from other services - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Special Ops, etc. - are on the ground, in the air, on the water around the capitol of the United States of America.

There is no doubt that President Trump is in charge though his whereabouts may change by the hour as his security and well-being are of paramount importance. He may be anywhere - Mar a Lago, Camp David, Philadelphia, elsewhere - but more than likely he'll be aboard Air Force One at many junctures over the coming days.

Now, the scene in Washington, DC may appear to many to be a military coup, a junta, but it is not. Troops are on the ground as a security measure as the President and the armed forces under his command take back the country from the forces which have occupied it for a very long time.

The fences erected around the Capitol, White House, and the National Mall serve a dual function. One is to keep criminals in, the other is to keep imposters out, the main culprit being Joe Biden, the presumed incoming president. Joe Biden will not be inaugurated on January 20, 2021, or at any time after that. The election of November 3, 2020, was won, overwhelmngly, by President Donald J. Trump and there is ample proof of that victory.

Democrats and some Republicans in congress conspired to steal the election, to impeach the rightfully-elected President of the United States, and plan on appointing Joe Biden as president. It's not going to happen. More than likely, many of these politicians and criminals will be arrested and tried for various crimes and likely convicted.

Major changes are coming to the United States and to the world, so it is best for everybody to stay informed (mainstream media is full of lies and propaganda; it's best to seek out the truth from alternative sources if available) and safe as this process proceeds. With that in mind, markets around the world are certain to be impacted in ways that nobody can accurately predict.

Here's what we know:

Stocks spent the past week foundering until Friday, when all of the indices took one for the team. Leading the charge downhill were banking stocks, which is surprising, because Citi, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase all reported fourth quarter and full year results Friday before the opening bell. Something big in terms of money and currency is about to come down. Price action in the banking sector is telling.

BAC Bank of America Corporation: 33.01, -0.98 (-2.88%)
C Citigroup, Inc.: 64.23, -4.78 (-6.93%)
JPM JP Morgan Chase & Co.: 138.64, -2.53 (-1.79%)
WFC Wells Fargo & Company: 32.04, -2.71 (-7.80%)
GS Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: 301.01, -6.86 (-2.23%)

Tech stocks took a small hit, led by Apple, (AAPL) (127.14, -1.77 (-1.37%)). Facebook (FB) (251.36, +5.72 (+2.33%)) was up sharply on Friday. Twitter is down about six points, or a little more than 10% since banning President Trump's account and laying waste to over 75,000 accounts. Censorship and declining user base pays, maybe, one assumes. Go figure.

Treasury yields were tame. Outflows were modest. Yield on the 10-year note and 30-year bond were each down two basis points over the week, from 1.13% to 1.11% and 1.87% to 1.85%, respectively. Nothing to see there or on the short end, maintaining at the zero-bound.

Oil prices are encountering little resistance at $53.83 a barrel for WTI crude. Further price gains are expected for the time being, though geo-political events could swing prices wildly in either direction. Everybody is paying more for fuel at the gas pumps.

Bitcoin and Etherium, the two main cryptocurrencies are bouncing around. There's too much uncertainty in global politics and markets currently for institutions and individuals to make meaningful investment commitments. Bitcoin ranged, over the week, between $30,000 and $40,000, currently holding the middle ground around $35-37,000.

Etherium (ETH) fared better, dipping down near $900 after ripping as high at $1300. On Sunday morning it is found closer to the highs than the lows, around $1200.

Precious metal continue to underperform thanks in no small part to the futures market controllers. Gold, which was as high as $1949.48 (January 5), slumped to $1828.45. It used to be that moeny flowed to gold in times of crisis, though that seems not to be the case, at least in the manipulated, paper markets. Instead, it is being shunned, though dealers will speak otherwise, citing high demand for physical with appropriate premiums attached.

Silver was also beaten down. On January 10, it topped out at $27.55 per ounce. It closed Friday at $24.78.

Presented below are the most recent prices for commonly-purchased items on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included:

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 33.75 / 44.95 / 38.42 / 37.80
1 oz silver bar: 30.50 / 41.00 / 36.68 / 37.45
1 oz gold coin: 1,925.00 / 2,051.31 / 1,970.14 / 1,963.36
1 oz gold bar: 1,850.00 / 2,295.00 / 1,974.85 / 1,947.09

Finally, there's no shortage of opinion on what's next for America and the world. While the mainstream media (MSM) continues to spew the false prophecies of a Joe Biden presidency, millions of Americans are watching in eager anticipation the days leading up to the scheduled inauguration on January 20. With troops spread out across the District of Columbia, fencing with barbed wire enclosing many locations, there's ample indications that something out of the ordinary is imminent.

The second impeachment of President Donald J. Trump is a complete hoax, a sham, nonsense. By the time a trial is commenced in the Senate, the president would be out of office in that case, the conviction or acquittal not binding by any law.

The most optimistic outcome, and increasingly likely, is that the troops on the ground will defend the actual, real constitution. They have taken an oath, as has the president. President Trump will restore the Republic, stolen after the Civil War, at various stages between 1870 and 1878.

It's best for people to make up their own minds about the direction they wish the country to take and think freely. The mainstream media is not to be trusted. There is an abundance of mis- and disinformation disseminated by the TV networks, the New York Times and Washington Post. Notice how Democrats in congress continually use the word "democracy" as opposed to republic, as in "saving our..." Democrats want to save a democracy, whereas the roots of the American experience and governance are as a constitutional representative republic.

Social media has crossed the line on censorship and bearing false witness to millions of users. Their executives should be behind bars rather than lounging in the luxury of their billions.

Seek information and do research. Do not accept anything on the airwaves, in newspapers, or on the internet at face value. Verify sources. Think. Keep a close eye on President Trump and his remaining cabinet. Investors and economists might do themselves a favor by watching and listening to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who remains loyal to the president. Ditto for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Until we meet again...

At the Close, Friday, January 15, 2021:
Dow: 30,814.26, -177.26 (-0.57%)
NASDAQ: 12,998.50, -114.14 (-0.87%)
S&P 500: 3,768.25, -27.29 (-0.72%)
NYSE: 14,894.17, -150.21 (-1.00%)

For the Week:
Dow: -283.71 (=0.91%)
NASDAQ: -203.47 (-1.54%)
S&P 500: -56.43 (-1.48%)
NYSE: -72.66 (-0.49%)

JP Morgan, Citi, Wells Fargo Blow Out Q4 Results on Lower Credit Loss Reserves

The rich get richer.

Citigroup quarterly profit beats estimates as loan loss provisions slow.

Wells Fargo records surprise quarterly profit

JPMorgan posts big Q4 earnings beat, releases credit reserves amid 'economic uncertainty'

JPM Q4 Results
Revenue (adjusted): $29.2 billion vs. $28.65 billion expected

Earnings per share (adjusted): $3.79 vs. $2.62 per share expected

The largest US bank by assets delivered net income of $12.1 billion, or $3.79 per share, up 42% from a year ago. Those results included $2.9 billion of credit reserve releases, resulting in a 72 cent increase in earnings per share, and boosted by surges in markets revenue and investment banking fees.

The bank reported a net benefit of $1.89 billion in credit reserves, but maintains a reserve topping $30 billion — reflecting what the CEO Jamie Dimon called “significant near term uncertainty” as coronavirus cases surge worldwide.

Credit card holders, people with car loans, student loans, personal loans, mortgages get deferrals (skip payments) with interest tacked on. Shareholders get dividends. Executives get huge bonuses. Landlords get shafted on rents. You get $600.

These banks have been fined billions of dollars since the sub-prime scandal of 2008-09.

Here is a partial list of JP Morgan's fines for criminal activity from 2009-2014. The amounts are staggering.

Where does the money go? Good question. To the government, into a slush fund perhaps, and maybe to pay off crooked legislators, judges, and lobbyists who let them get away with such behavior.

The Federal Reserve, under the CARES Act stimulus bill passed last May, gave the banks carte blanc to underreport their loan loss reserve provisions through December 31, 2020 and allows them to report the accurate amounts gradually, over a period of three years. In some circles, that's called fraud. In the banking universe, it's business as usual.

Soon, it's going to come crashing down upon their heads.

President Trump has declassified Obamagate documents:

Joe Biden cancels inauguration rehersal.

The Plan to Save the World
--Joe M

At the Close, Thursday, January 14, 2021:
Dow: 30,991.52, -68.95 (-0.22%)
NASDAQ: 13,112.64, -16.31 (-0.12%)
S&P 500: 3,795.54, -14.30 (-0.38%)
NYSE: 15,044.38, +60.77 (+0.41%)

Too Many Questions and Not Enough Answers; Initial Unemployment Claims at 965,000

Anybody professing to knowing what's going on is either lying or kidding themselves.

Why was it so important to impeach President Trump when he's supposedly leaving office in a week?

Why did the Democrats stage the assault on the Capitol building in the first place?

Why are there 20,000 National Guard troops in DC when there's no actual threat?

Why was a poster calling for armed marches on the Capitol and all 50 state houses circulated?

Who is responsible for creating the poster? No group has taken credit.

Why is Christine Lagarde so worried about bitcoin?

Why have gold and silver languished during this crisis?

Who is Q?

Why did Mitch McConnell, as soon as the House voted to impeach, say that the Senate would not be able to start a trial before the inauguration (January 20)?

Why does the mainstream media lie all the time?

Where is Nancy Pelosi’s laptop and what’s on it?

Why was it so important for Twitter to shut down the president's account and for Google, Apple, and Amazon to take down Parler?

Why has President Trump, since he was de-platformed by Twitter, been so eerily silent?

Why, in the first place, was it so important to steal the presidential election and then cover it up?

There are too many questions and not enough answers. It's OK to be angry. Don't go to the inauguration or to any state capitols to protest. It's a trap.

Moments ago, initial jobless claims for the most recent week were reported ot have soared to 965,000, far beyond estimates of 770,000 and a huge jump from prior weeks.

The economy continues to stall, but Wall Street continues to act like everything is just fine, with all the major indices close to record highs.

The level of disconnectedness has gotten to a point at which there is no return, with the Federal Reserve leading the chorus of money printers and the US government planning to send out more, larger checks to the American people just weeks after doling out $600 each to every adult making less than $75,000 a year, plus another $600 for each dependent.

America's economy is being boosted only by artificial means. At some point, there's going to be hell to pay in terms of inflation and mass discontent from people who would rather work than accept government handouts.

The country - and the rest of the world - is at a precipice. Some answers will be forthcoming within days, but there will remain much skepticism, doubt, fear, and anger.

At the Close, Wednesday, January 13, 2021:
Dow: 31,060.47, -8.22 (-0.03%)
NASDAQ: 13,128.95, +56.52 (+0.43%)
S&P 500: 3,809.84, +8.65 (+0.23%)
NYSE: 14,983.61, -26.68 (-0.18%)

Stocks Grind Slightly Higher; Bitcoin, Gold, Silver on a Break; Crypto vs. MSM; Collectibles FTW?

It appears that the incredible rise of Bitcoin over the past two months is leveling off and there could be further downside, but, as is the case with just about any investment these days, downside risk is a clear and present danger whether it be stocks, fixed income, precious metals, commodities, or baseball cards. Bitcoin offers significant upside in relation to fiat currencies, so this recent stalling and roughly 28% drop is likley nothing to cause worry. Six months from now, this is likely to appear as nothing more than a blip on the longer-term radar screen.

Nothing in the current environment serves as a safe haven because there continues to exist extreme political pressure and lack of price discovery in many asset classes. Probably the most free from manipulation are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherium, collectibles - which have their own immunity system built in from years of data and avid traders - and commodities, while on the other end are stocks (which only seem to go up) and precious metals (which only seem to go down).

Putting money to work in these times, where political, social, and financial events are being compressed into a tight-knit control regime, is challenging and possibly detrimental to longer-term goals. While it's difficult to focus beyond the horizon, it's what is keeping most sane investors from tearing out hair and running wildly down the street screaming "I can't take it any more."

Short-term, markets are very messy. In particular, the NASDAQ, guided, as it is by tech oligopolies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft (the FAAMGs) has seen days and weeks of erratic activity and recently has been whipsawed in the wake of the ongoing censorship purge.

At this moment, what's probably the best space for safety purposes is in collectibles. Coins, stamps, comic books, trading cards, art, antiques, and especially things that could actually have real life usefulness like depression-era glassware, sterling silver flatware, old tools, and so forth. Nobody knows, but in the case of a total global meltdown, those items that have useful applications could contribute as life-sustaining elements in addition to being prized possessions.

Outside of complete capitulation of the US dollar, collectibles maintain a unique posture among tradable assets. They're ultimately divisible - think baseball card collections - retain value well and, unlike many other assets mentioned here, have well-developed price discovery mechanisms.

So, instead of scouring stock boards, crypto messages, and coin shops, perhaps the best investments can be found at garage sales and flea markets. Aks anyone who collects anything tangible and they're sure to have a story about a great deal found at a thrift store, yard sale, or other off-the-beaten-path venue.

It pays to be diversified into several asset classes instead of the old 60-40 (stocks-fixed income) rule that many investment advisors are still employing for their clients. That's eventually going to fail. The new breed of investor is into all manner of asset diversification, with varied percentages of real estate, stocks, bonds, physical commodities, collectibles and art, crypto, and even sustainability items like solar panels (best ever hedge), canned goods, energy and water supplies.

This is a new world whether the deep state "Great Reset" comes to fruition or not. While the Klaus Schwaub adherents (download "COVID-19: The Great Reset" here [PDF] instead of paying for it on Amazon) feel comfortable in their castles in the sky above the rabble (us), there continues to be unrest among the populations being subjected to censorship, lockdowns, restricted movement, pushed to take unproven "poisonous" vaccines, and other nasty, harmful measures. The plebes are eventually revolt against the elite and that's not going to be pretty. It always happens. The ruling class overreaches and people just want to be left alone, so they're forced into rebellion. The natives, as they say, are restless.

In conclusion to today's mini-treatise on the human condition and implications for investors, keep thinking with a clear mind, don't let the mainstream media guide you because they are propagandists and liars, and be free to do your own things.

Here's a video from Altcoin Daily, focused on the relationship of mainstream media - specifically, CNBC's Jim Cramer - to Bitcoin. This is the first inclusion of a video from this source. Being that it's excellent, expect more in the future.

Just a note on the Cramer part of the video above: the mainstream, like the central banks (Fed, ECB, BOJ, etc.) have lost control of many elements of the financial system, such as interest rates. Bitcoin and crypto in general they have no control over, so all they can do is "jawbone." it's a sure sign of desperation that when things aren't going as they planned, they start to come out of hiding and into the light, making recommendations with faulty analyses, making spurious claims that cannot be supported by facts. It's best to fade them and stay ahead of the game.

At the Close, Tuesday, January 12, 2021:
Dow: 31,068.69, +59.99 (+0.19%)
NASDAQ: 13,072.43, +36.03 (+0.28%)
S&P 500: 3,801.19, +1.58 (+0.04%)
NYSE: 15,010.29, +72.29 (+0.48%)

Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple All Lower After Censorship Purge

Publisher's Note: If you're seeing blank spaces on this page or other pages on dtmagazine.com, then Google is still attempting to de-monetize it. Downtown Magazine's relationship with Google dates back to 2003. We've been revenue partners through Adsense for most of those years, but apparently, our commentary isn't to their liking of late, even though we've not been informed of any issues. Google's ads on this site could be replaced in a heartbeat. We have other partners, but Google (used to) pay better and the blank spaces now serve as a badge of honor. Nobody likes censorship, except those who live in fear of the truth. Downtown Magazine has always been devoted to reporting and opining on the truth and will continue to do so. Since the main revenue source has been shut off, if you feel the urge, there's a donation link in the left column on the Money Daily page at dtmagazine.com. Any amount is appreciated. A few bucks from a few people would likely exceed what Google used to pay. As long as there are blank spaces on this page and Google continues its purge of the truth - not just here, but widespread - this note will appear atop every Money Daily post.

I'm going to give it a week or maybe two to see if the censors at Google will come to their senses or the government steps in and seizes their servers (could happen).

Thank you,
Fearless Rick, Publisher, Downtown Magazine, Money Daily

First, the good news:

People like Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, will probably never be able to go out in public without bodyguards. They've censored tens of thousands of voices with their anti-free speech policies and people aren't happy about it. The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech in America. Those guys are enemies of free speech.

Appropriately, Twitter (TWTR) stock was down more then six percent on Monday. Facebook (FB) was off 4.01%. Fellow travelers at Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) (each of which killed the Parler app in their app stores), and Amazon (AMZN) (which took the extraordinary step of stifling free speech at Parler completely by shutting down their servers on AWS) were down 2.24%, 2.32%, and 2.15%, respectively.

By their actions, the executives of these companies are destroying the value of their companies. More power to them! They are joined at the hip with the fake news media (you know who they are, or you should) and the democrats in congress who have been trying to get rid of President Trump for more than four years. Should they wish to walk out into the public world, they do so at their own considerable risk and they know that is the case.

So, if these companies wish ot continue distorting news, lying to and censoring the American people, that's their choice. Short at will. (not investment advice)

As an extension of the censorship and denial of first amendment rights, social media site, gab.com has been taking in new users at an astonishing rate, something on the order of 600,000 a day. Conservatives who have had their voices silenced on other social sites are flocking there because the site is self-supported and does not censor its users. What a concept!

Elsewhere, while stocks were taking a little bit of a hit and the major indices were all lower, led by the NASDAQ.

Bitcoin and virtually all cryptocurrencies got hammered on Monday, many of them down 20% or more. Bitcoin touched down at 30,100 early Tuesday morning after reaching nearly $42,000 on Friday. Essentially, Bitcoin is down to where it was a week ago, so this looks like an ordinary correction with a little bit of FUD thrown in from the political and social universes. Probably not a big deal. Bitcoin's future still looks very promising both from an investment standpoint and as a stand-alone unassailable alternate currency.

Supposedly, President Trump plans to speak live from the Alamo (last stand appropriate?) on Tuesday at 3:00 pm ET. Livestream HERE.

Gold and silver made modest gains Monday. Yield on the 10-year note continues to rise, hitting 1.13% on Monday. Oil also continued its rally. WTI crude futures are looking at a $53 handle. The US dollar was higher against the main currencies, Euro, Yen, and Pound on Monday, but it is falling against them as the sun rises on the East coast of the United States.

Futures are pointing towards a relatively quiet, positive open. European stocks are fading. The VIX is higher.

Zero Day, if there is such a thing, looks to be on the immediate horizon.

At the Close, Monday, January 11, 2021:
Dow: 31,008.69, -89.28 (-0.29%)
NASDAQ: 13,036.43, -165.54 (-1.25%)
S&P 500: 3,799.61, -25.07 (-0.66%)
NYSE: 14,937.96, -28.87 (-0.19%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Stocks Rip, Bonds Flip, Metals Dumped, Cryptos Soar (dtmagazine.com demonetized)

Unless you've been under a rock, you're probably aware of the social and political developments that occurred over the past week. Wednesday saw the storming of the Capitol and the illegal, unconstitutional certification of the presidential and vice presidential electors from the states, making Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the choice of the congress, against the will of more than 70 million Americans who feel, justifiably, cheated.

There's no doubt that there was manipulation and tampering with the presidential vote totals from November 3, 2020, and probably of a good number of Senate and House races as well, especially the two just stolen on Tuesday in Georgia, giving Democrats and Republicans an equal 50-50 split in the Senate (Doesn't really matter. The Republicans were in on the scam, too.).

On Friday and Saturday, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon continued efforts to silence President Trump and other conservative voices. The president was banned on Twitter and Facebook, all accounts shut down, along with others like General Flynn, attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, Rush Limbaugh, many independent bloggers, and many others. Some have estimated Twitter purged more than 10,000 users over the past few days.

In an attempt to avoid over-politicizing this space - there are plenty of websites which cover that better - let's get right to the economic side of the equation.

Amid all the turmoil in the political space, just like public sector employees who haven't missed a single paycheck over the last nine months, Wall Street traders didn't skip a beat over the week, sending all the major averages to record highs.

The real action, however, was at the bond market where the 10-year note exploded higher, which, in the upside-down world of fixed income, meant a huge sell-off was underway. This only makes sense because the Fed believes they can make inflation happen while keeping interest rates near zero. Voodoo Economics has resurfaced, and it's located in the Eccles Building. There are trillions of dollars in malinvestments now, and more to come.

Yield on the 10-year note, which was as low as 0.54% on March 9, 2020, opened the new year on January 4 at 0.93%. By week's end, January 8, it was yielding 1.13%, a full 20 basis points higher. Uh-oh! This is not what the Fed had in mind, but it is what happens when you debase your currency, keeping the printing presses going 24 hours a day. Money in fixed income flees to the risk assets in the stock market.

Yield on the 30-year bond rose, from 1.66% on Monday to 1.87% as of Friday's close. Monday, and moving forward, is going to be interesting, to say the least.

In crypto-land, Bitcoin and Etherium continued their steady, unstoppable ascent. Bitcoin, which touched down at $27,678 on Monday, got as high as $41,986 on Friday, and is holding above $38,000 as of this writing. Etherium rocketed from $886 (Monday) to $1350 (Sunday), an impressive move.

Precious metals continue to be erratic, thanks in large part to being driven solely by the derivative, futures market. On Friday, both gold and silver were devastated by the criminal enterprises controlling the price. Silver was hammered, reaching nearly $28 an ounce on Wednesday. Friday's futures trading took it down as low as $24.41 (that's not a misprint) before closing out the week at $25.40.

Gold was walloped in similar manner. After hitting a three-month high at $1957.20 on Wednesday, controllers took it down as low as $1828.20 on Friday, settling out for the week at a depressing $1850.00.

Buyers and sellers were not amused in the least, as asset values for everything other than real money - which gold and silver have proven to be over thousands of years - were shooting higher. Buyers of physical sensed bargains, but paid severe premiums as supply continues to be strained. This is demonstrated by the weekly survey of prices on eBay, below.

The latest prices for common gold and silver items on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 31.05 / 52.00 / 39.64 / 38.48
1 oz silver bar: 34.30 / 49.50 / 39.66 / 39.52
1 oz gold coin: 1,915.00 / 2,054.59 / 1,976.41 / 1,969.40
1 oz gold bar: 1,859.00 / 2,027.00 / 1,953.40 / 1,952.21

Oil continued to rise through the week as anybody checking gas prices will attest. WTI crude and gas at the pump are at the highest prices since March of last year even though most of Europe and half of the US is on lockdown. It's criminal behavior, as prices should be leveling off or dropping post-holiday.

The coming week is going to be epic. Beyond the political struggle, which is rapidly descending into armed camps in Washington, DC (9,000 National Guardsmen on the ground for an indefinite stay) with congress calling for President Trump's impeachment, again, while the president refuses to concede the election.

Earnings begin rolling out this coming week, though on a limited schedule due to the calendar and annual reports being prepared. Friday should be the most interesting day, with reports prior to the opening bell from banking giants JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citi (C), Wells Fargo (WCF) and PNC Financial (PNC). The rest of the biggest banks - Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC) - will report the following week. It will be especially interesting to note which banks, if any, begin to report credit loss reserves that have been building, largely unreported, since the end of the first quarter. Millions have had credit card, mortgage, and personal loan deferrals or forbearance which the banks have not had to report due to regulations enacted under the CARES Act.

Good Luck!

At the Close, Friday, Janaury 8, 2020:
Dow: 31,097.97, +56.84 (+0.18%)
NASDAQ: 13,201.98, +134.50 (+1.03%)
S&P 500: 3,824.68, +20.89 (+0.55%)
NYSE: 14,966.83, +38.08 (+0.26%)

For the Week:
Dow: +491.49 (+1.61%)
NASDAQ: +313.69 (+2.43%)
S&P 500: +68.61 (+1.83%)
NYSE: +442.03 (+3.04%)

December Non-Farm Payrolls -140,000; Stocks Gain, Bitcoin Soars Over $41,000

Heading into the NFL's Super Wild Card Weekend, while the nation tunes into six pro football playoff games, there's a good chance that a lot more will be happening on the ground in Washington, DC.

That's all we know for now. More as the story develops.

In economic news, stocks were up sharply the day after protesters - following ANTIFA radicals disguised as pro-Trump demonstrators in a planned false flag designed to demonize Trump supporters - stormed the Capitol, Wall Street took the news rather lightly, one might assume.

What do they know that the rest of the world does not? There's a very good chance they know almost nothing other than how to push "BUY" buttons and that they're wrong, actually. Things are about to change in meaningful ways.

Some readers may be saying that Money Daily has been saying "change" as often as Obama did in his 2008 campaign, and they're right. But change takes time, or, as in the case of Bitcoin, not very much time. The meteoric rise of the first and largest - by market capitalization - has been flying. Just this morning, it topped $41,000. Bitcoin was at $29,000 just a week ago, on January 1. If that's not change we can believe in, then what is?

Maybe it's the December Non-Farm Payroll report referenced in today's headline. Reading from the BLS press release linked above, notes huge job losses in leisure and hospitality and in private education, partially offset by gains in professional and business services, retail trade, and construction.

Does anybody need a playbook to understand that leisure and hospitality, otherwise know as cruise ships, hotels, bars, and restaurants has been hammered to death by the lockdowns?

From the press release: "In December, employment in leisure and hospitality declined by 498,000, with three-quarters of the decrease in food services and drinking places (-372,000). Employment also fell in the amusements, gambling, and recreation industry (-92,000) and in the accommodation industry (-24,000). Since February, employment in leisure and hospitality is down by 3.9 million, or 23.2 percent.”

“Employment in private education decreased by 63,000 in December. Employment in the industry is down by 450,000 since February.”

Drops in bars and restaurants were the most pronounced, obviously, because that's where humans are not allowed to tread, although it's perfectly OK for everybody to shop at Target or Wal-Mart, because they're public corporations and stocks have to go up. Small business, the kind owned by your neighbors or friends, real people, people who are just trying to get ahead or out of the corporate slog (old-timers used to call it the "rat race") that dehumanizes and demoralizes people, have been shattered by the lockdowns. Not by the virus itself, which, unless your a "maskhole" you know is a complete media-driven sham, just like the fake election and just about everything else coming out of the mainstream media.

And let's not forget that private schools are also bad. Your kids must go to public schools for indoctrination. So much BS.

“The unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 10.7 million, were unchanged.”

Out of here for the weekend. Stay alert.

Ezekiel 25:17
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

At the Close, Thursday, January 7, 2021:
Dow: 31,041.13, +211.73 (+0.69%)
NASDAQ: 13,067.48, +326.69 (+2.56%)
S&P 500: 3,803.79, +55.65 (+1.48%)
NYSE: 4,928.75, +139.92 (+0.95%)

Best Wishes, Joe & Kamala, From 80 Million Deplorables; Mudville, Bitcoin, and Max Keiser's Reveal

So, it's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, right?

Congress made it official, albeit a little later than they had planned, thanks to a small insurrection and breach of the nation's capitol. Not a biggie.

What congress and their newly-appointed president and vice have to now consider is how to deal with:

80 million angry, disenfranchised, armed adults

millions more on lockdown

hundreds of thousands of small businesses shuttered for good

millions more unemployed

$600 checks that were spent on guns, ammo, and bitcoin

millions of past due rents of six months or longer

millions of mortgages in forbearance

fake news

tech censorship

fake plague

vaccines that are killing recipients

$27.8 trillion national debt

$4 trillion current deficit

US$ sinking

wealth disparity at all-time high

broken election system

ongoing, self-inflicted pandemic

Those are just for starters. Soon to come on the menu are regional wars, China, Europe's inevitable implosion, unworkable Brexit in the UK, a blizzard here and there, and maybe a natural disaster down the line. Joe has the answer: mandatory mask-wearing everywhere and a 90-day, nationwide lockdown.

This is what is expected to be handled by the uniparty in congress, an aged, grifter president who often doesn't know where he is, and a VP with no foreign relations or governance experience. And Janet Yellen at Treasury. Oh, joy!

They've got less than two weeks to get plans together to deal with all of this, besides the usual moving-in disruptions, internecine office warfare, a few doses of graft and bribery, undermining of plans by their new hires, and more demands of Green New Deals, reparations, and loony leftist ideas from AOC and her "squad."

While a peaceful demonstration turned into a brief storming of the barricades early Wednesday afternoon, wall Street was enjoying another make-believe rally on the back of the falling US dollar. The trading crew in the tall Manhattan buildings expect big spending by Biden and company, and they're not wrong about that at all. There will be massive give-aways of money and priviledge, and inflation running north of 15% per annum.

Joe and Kamala ought to be given a prize or trophy for wishing to inherit the wind... and getting it.

Hosea 8:7: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Gold and silver took their usual weekly beating with appropriate humility. An ounce of silver (it's assumed that Mike Pence got a number of those, as a Judas of biblical fame) sold down into the $26.60 range. Since the start of December, it's continued to climb upwards from $23.

Gold stumbled badly, losing nearly $50 an ounce, but it's holding its own between $1910 and $1920. This too has been in rally mode for weeks. It's likely to soar right past $2050 shortly, then beyond. Silver will finally breach $30, then higher.

Bitcoin and Etherium, the two major cryptocurrency assets, continue to amaze. Just a moment ago, Bitcoin topped $38,000. A week ago it was $28,500. Less than a month ago, it was $17,500. Less than a month ago, Ether, or Etherium, was $550. A week ago, it was hovering around $750. This morning it's over $1200.

Bitcoin is a rocket ship to Nirvana. Ether is heading to Valhahla, all because what central banks issue as currency is counterfeit and people are catching on. Not everybody, but enough people are scared to death about what's happening to - as Larry Kudlow calls it - "King Dollar" that they're scurrying to other asset classes besides stocks. One can tell by the dollar index that something is afoot, but looking no further than the yield on the 10-year note, opening today at a nine-month high of 1.04% is as good a proxy for dollar flight as can be found anywhere.

Treasury bonds have reversed course with yields heading higher. This is not a head fake. The Fed's efforts to keep rates low while stoking inflation with ceaseless cutesie "Quantitative Easing" (counterfeiting) is about as crude a bludgeon to the economy as a pole axe to the side of the head. The bleeding will never stop until the victim is exhausted. It's happening. It's not going to stop.

Across America, 787,000 people filed initial jobless claims last week. So much for the V-shaped recovery. The letter q or Q might be a more distinct impression for the chartists.

Although it's the heart of the "dark winter" that Quid Pro Joe has promised us, it's hard not to have some hope that in about seven weeks, young and aging pitchers and catchers alike may possibly be assembling on various playing fields of Florida and Arizona for the start of baseball's Spring Training. If the Ides of March are kind, the regular season might start around the first week of April, if April Fools Day passes without incident and the annual tax filing deadline isn't extended too far into the future.

For those still optimistic about our new congressional and executive branches, and, to all the wheezy economists at the Federal Reserve, offered is the final quatrain of Ernest Lawrence Thayer's humble addition to the national consciousness, Casey at the Bat.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Max Keiser Reveals Bitcoin Price Forecast for 2021:

At the Close, Wednesday, January 6, 2021:
Dow: 30,829.40, +437.80 (+1.44%)
NASDAQ: 12,740.79, -78.17 (-0.61%)
S&P 500: 3,748.14, +21.28 (+0.57%)
NYSE: 14,788.83, +252.30 (+1.74%)

Georgia Goes Full Democrat, Triggering Bond Yield Spike, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin Gains

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Democrats took two more seats in the US Senate on Tuesday, which will put the chamber at an even 50-50 split between Republicans and Democrats (two independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and angus King of Maine caucus and almost always vote with Democrats). That will leave it to the Vice President (whoever that turns out to be) to break any ties, which may not be a problem as the Republican party features three Senators - Utah's Mitt Romney, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, and Maine's Susan Collins - one of which, if not all, can usually be swayed to vote with the Democrats.

So, you're thinking, great, more free everything for everybody. But, hold on a minute. Wall Street, ever vigilant in keeping their DC enablers on a short leash, don't like the idea of Democrats or Republicans holding all the cards. With a slim margin in the House, a breakable tie in the Senate and Joe Biden ostensibly the next president, Democrats have tipped over the balance of power to their favor.

Wall Street prefers split government, simply due to the idea that when the government is fractured, it can't pass any new laws to screw up the orderly function of business. Thus, they're a little bit miffed over the developments out of Georgia and stock futures are pointed dramatically lower. Gold is adding to Tuesday's gains and silver is approaching $28 an ounce. Bitcoin rallied as high as $35,868 overnight and has settled in around $34,500.

Later today (Wednesday, Jan. 6) a joint session of congress will consider the electors in the presidential race for certification. There will be objections from Republicans and debates on dual slates of electors from as many as seven states, maybe more. Out on the streets of DC, millions - yes, millions - will be rallying for Donald J. Trump and to save the nation from what many consider a stolen election and other grand crimes committed by Democrats in the quest for power. In all likelihood, the pro-Trump demonstrators will be joined by groups from ANTIFA and BLM. It's going to be quite the spectacle, although the mainstream media will give it about 30 seconds of coverage, call the crowds "large" and try to move on to their coronavirus agenda.

That's the agenda today in the newly-crowned banana republic of America, where rich people and Democrats get 60 days for most crimes if they're even arrested, arraigned, tried, and convicted and poor people and Republicans get thrown into dungeons if they aren't shot first.

Perhaps the most alarming number to come out of recent events is the rise in yield of the benchmark 10-year note, which topped 1.00% overnight, a number that everybody agrees is bad for the economy, stocks, the federal debt, this year's deficit, and probably NFL TV ratings. Rising interest rates mean that debt cannot be so easily disposed of and the cost of servicing the massive debt on government, business, and individual books is higher.

If anything is capable, by itself, of bringing down the house of cards that is the US economy, it's higher interest rates. While the appearance of 1.00% on the 10-year yield may be just another number in a sequence, but the psychological impact will be felt far and wide, especially if that sequence continues higher, which has been the recent trend.

The last time the 10-year yield was above 1.00% was on March 19 of last year when it closed the day at 1.12%. It was during that period in which stocks were bottoming out and the Fed was in the process of cutting the federal funds rate to Zero. On Friday, the yield on the 10-year note was clipped by 20 basis points, to 0.92%. By Monday of the next week (March 23), the Fed having issued more emergency policies over the weekend, the 10-year would yield 0.76. The one-month bill caught a yield of 0.01%, its lowest ever.

As yields on bonds rise, issuers scramble to sell what they're holding at discount, as their lower-yielding bills, notes, and bonds are of lesser value. The danger is of setting off a vicious cyclical event, a selling panic in the bond market, pushing yields even higher. In the most extreme cases, yields spiral out of control, much fixed-income wealth is destroyed and lending eventually siezes up. With the Fed intent on keeping interest rates as close to zero as humanly possible, rising rates is the last thing they want to see. It's a sign that they've lost control of the currency, the economy, the whole ball of wax.

While the circus in Washington continues to play out, people with money are going to focus more on the realities of the economy. Rising interest rates natuarally pulls investment away from stocks and into fixed income. If rates continue to rise, the stock market will crash as money flees to the less-risky and more profitable fixed income space.

The trend toward higher rates is not something that began with the election of two Democrat Senators from Georgia. The entire treasury complex has been gradually rising since the March lows, but the 10-year note in particular has been gaining momentum since October of 2020, topping 0.90% a couple of times in November and remaining above that level all of December, the highest yield of 0.97% coming on December 4. The rising yield will probably be hailed as a positive sign that the economy is recovering by the putrid financial press at Bloomberg and CNBC when the truth is that inflation is about to run rampant and push the economy further into recession.

Be prepared for fireworks on political and economic fronts beginning Wednesday and for the immediate future.

Here’s a very entertaining interview with Lawrence Lepard... "The Currency Reset Is Coming | Gold, Silver & Mining Stocks Will Moonshot"

At the Close, Tuesday, January 5, 2021:
Dow: 30,391.60, +167.71 (+0.55%)
NASDAQ: 12,818.96, +120.51 (+0.95%)
S&P 500: 3,726.86, +26.21 (+0.71%)
NYSE: 14,536.53, +159.83 (+1.11%)

BOHICA: On Being A Boy Scout As Government, Economy Disintegrates Into The Greater Depression

Are you thinking about getting some young chicks from Tractor Supply in a couple of months?

You should be, if you like eggs and if you want to stay alive because here in the United States, the Greater Depression - that has been delayed via actions by the Fed and the federal government - is about to go live.

Since March of last year, when the pandemic went live in the US, profound changes to the landscape of life have been underway, though the immediate effects have not been felt. The lockdowns and COVID-related restrictions damaged millions of small businesses and devastated many to the point at which they closed their doors permanently. Incomes were slashed, employees laid off, and extra money was pumped into a collapsing economy via additional unemployment insurance checks, mortgage forbearance, a moratorium on evictions, and other safety net remedies.

While the economy was salvaged for a while and the stock market boomed, there was still a massive degree of income and wealth destruction. Rents and mortgages haven't been paid for nearly in year in many circumstances. A huge number of people are facing either eviction or foreclosure within months, if not weeks.

The Greater Depression (a coinage which should hold up as a comparison to the "Great Depression" of the 1930s) is likely to last anywhere from six to 12 years. There's only so much money and resource that the federal and state governments can throw at the problem. Eventually, either the rents and mortgages get paid or they don't and the probability of them not getting paid is rising by the hour.

Our political class is about to engage in internecine warfare on Capitol Hill. Forget the Georgia elections, which conclude tonight. That's a sideshow to the electoral college counting of votes on Wednesday, January 6 in a joint session of congress. Republicans are poised to contest the electors chosen for Joe Biden in six or seven states, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and possibly New Mexico, where dual sets of electors - one each for Biden and President Trump - have been delivered. Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, will present, in alphabetical order by state, the slates of electors for confirmation by the House and Senate. When he gets to Arizona, after Alabama and Alaska, the fireworks begin and the process is not likely to go smoothly. It could last days if House members and Senators object and trigger debates on all six or seven contested states.

In the meantime, maybe a million or two million supporters of President Trump, opposed to what they consider an attempt by Joe Biden and the Democrats to steal the presidential election through various means of fraud, will be occupying much of Washington, DC. Along side the protesters will be the National Guard and maybe elements from ANTIFA and BLM, just to make things interesting.

It's going to get crazy and at the end of it, there is going to be one enormous segment of the population that's not going to be happy, and another, equally large segment that thinks it has won. Or, it could drag on and on without resolution for days or weeks, even beyond the scheduled date for inauguration, January 20. There's a chance that the nation's capitol will be under siege, as has been the case in countries that have endured so-called "color revolutions" in places like Tunisia, Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia, and elsewhere.

What a sight for the world to behold would be an encampment of Americans at the seat of government, protesting everything corrupt, everything wrong, everything suspect, basically, everything.

Thus, for those of us not interested or otherwise occupied, the world will seemingly stop. Nobody will really know what's going on for at least 48 hours, probably from the reveal of the Georgia Senate elections around 9:00 pm ET Tuesday through the joint session of congress and bayond, through, at least, 9:00 pm ET Thursday night.

The power may go out. The internet may go down. Telecommunications networks may be compromised, so it would be a good idea to adopt a Boy Scout mentality based on their "Be Prepared" model, to charge up your phones and computers (even though they may not work anyhow), get candles and generators ready, have extra batteries ready for the worst if only because it could happen.

With the coming mad side show in Washington, DC - oh, yeah, and maybe some urban terrorism, like last summer, in big cities, courtesy of our progressive friends - ushering in the Greater Depression, being prepared just makes sense. Beyond the next few days to a few weeks, people should be preparing for the long haul, like making plans for a garden and buying those young chicks or getting some adult ones from producers.

If you've never tended to a garden, you're about to find out how much hard work and fun it is. For those in the Northern exposures, you're going to have a wait a few months for the pleasure (and, not to be facetious, it can be an enjoyable experience) unless you've got a working greenhouse. Southern folks can get an early start because temperatures are warmer and soon will be conducive to growing hardy vegetables like broccoli and various greens.

Let's not forget that the media will be constantly bombarding you with contagious disease stories to keep you off the streets and on your toes... at home. The stock market and all other markets will probably continue to function, albeit imperfectly, and the possibility of not just a long-overdue correction in stocks, but a outright crash is not to be dismissed. After all, the Fed can print up as many new dollars as it pleases and send them to the banks for quick entry into stocks, but only for so long. They've been pumping the market for years with counterfeit funds. Eventually, even big money will seek an escape from hopelessly rigged markets.

As a prelude to where all this is heading, stocks opened trading for 2021 on Monday with a nasty sell-off. At the same time, gold and silver were being bid up, as was Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin actually topped $34,000 on Sunday (Jan. 3) before drifting a little lower. It's still well above $30,000. It was less than $20,000 three weeks ago.

Silver is at its best level since September, checking in above $27 an ounce while gold continues to climb, hitting $1950 as of this writing. Stock futures are pointing toward another negative opening on Tuesday.

At its core, everything in stocks, bonds, crypto, commodities, politics, and daily life is all about the demise of the US dollar, the world's reserve currency, which has been in a downdraft since well before the pandemic struck, continues to this day and will experience unrelenting decline through all 2021.

The era of fiat money is coming to an end. The Fed already has plans in place for a cryptocurrency of its own which is not likely to provide much in the way of a "reset" or restart unless it's backed by gold and is limited, which it won't be, at least not right away. Otherwise, the Fed is prepared to go full frontal MMT, complete with UBI (Universal Basic Income) for the masses. Everybody will get some to spend, but it's going to be like the $600 checks being delivered in the second big COVID relief bill, not enough for anything beyond the basic necessities.

Hollowing out the middle class through inflation and government confiscation (taxes) has been the aim of the Federal Reserve and the central bank global cabal since the GFC of 2007-09. It's now about to reach a new phase with 800,000 new jobless claims every week and even more devastation, lockdowns, forced evictions, crime, and yes, starvation.

Those who have been willing to seek the truth and discount the lies of government, medicine, and media will probably manage to survive most of the coming carnage. It's unavoidable at this point as the politicians, whether by accident or with full knowledge and purpose, have pushed people to the edge and segregated them into two opposing groups of liberals and conservatives, blue team and red team at each other's throats while the real villans play out their evil charade.

The events in Georgia and Washington, DC, may pass without dispute or disruption, but only the most wide-eyed optimists or criminally insane are counting on that. Better to be prepared for the worst than experience it unprepared.

Like all depressions or disruptions of economies, this one will end in war or revolution or both. Probably both.

Get some chicks and some batteries. Be A Boy Scout for once in your life. Be Prepared.

Some Bitcoin wisdom from Michael Saylor:

At the Close, Monday, January 4, 2021:
Dow: 30,223.89, -382.59 (-1.25%)
NASDAQ: 12,698.45, -189.83 (-1.47%)
S&P 500: 3,700.65, -55.42 (-1.48%)
NYSE: 14,376.70, -148.10 (-1.02%)