Japan's Nikkei 225 (^N225) a Leading Indicator of a Bankrupt, Zombie Planet

The metric of Debt to GDP is a simple enough concept, a lazy way of viewing the economy of an entire nation or amalgam of nations (such as the European Union) with a snapshot of its indebtedness versus its supposed productive output.

Both sides of the equation are subject to wildly varying interpretations, many of them decidedly arguable against the accepted norms of economists and globalist thinking.

Japan, a victim of its own hubris and misguided principles in banking and governance for the past forty years is widely believed to claim ownership of most-indebted developed nation on the planet status. Its running Debt:GDP calculus falls in the range of 266%, by far the highest among developed and emerging countries.

In other words, if the government of Japan endeavored to pay down its debt or to retire it altogether, It would require more than 2 1/2 years of the entire country's gross production - all sales, transfers, payments in both the private and public sectors - to do so. It's an absolute absurdity to consider. The total cost of every plate of sushi, every circuit board or car or government payout for anything would have to go toward debt payment.

It's obvious to anyone who's ever tried to balance a budget that included a job, a mortgage, car payment and maybe some credit card revolving debt that to do so would require an impossibility. You would not be able to buy food, pay for utilities, or spend any money on anything other than debt owed. After a week, you'd be unable to proceed for the simple fact that you'd be dead. So it is with a nation's debt. It's simply not possible to pay it all back quickly, if at all. In fact, the debt of all developed nations continues to grow, not contract. There is not a single developed or emerging economy that is even attempting to address these odious debt loads.

They cannot ever be repaid, thus, they never will be. They will only grow and grow until the interest alone, even at a paltry 0.01% becomes an unbearable burden. While Japan may be the worst-case scenario, the EU, USA, Great Britain, India, and China are on the same pathway of economic destruction. The ability by central banks to conjure money (currency) out of thin air and then lend it at interest to any interested party - usually a government entity or multi-national business concern - has put the entire planet into an untenable condition of insolvency from which there seems to be no escape.

The calculation of Debt:GDP is, however, only the beginning. What's not included in that formula is personal and business debt. Most people, whether they own a home or rent, are insolvent. A seemingly successful family with two-wage earners living in a tony suburb are probably in over their heads with a massive mortgage on their property, probably car payment, maybe a student loan and possibly even some outstanding credit card debt. They're underwater. Should one of them lose their job, the result would likely be the loss of their home and most of their good intentions. There simply wouldn't be enough money to pay all the bills. The result, likely after months if not year of struggling to make ends meet, would be a visit to the bankruptcy court, whisking away all the debt by yet another government fiat, ordering your debts dissolved.

The same is true for many of the largest companies listed on the various stock exchanges. When measuring a company's net worth, one will find, invariably, that the amount of debt exceeds the company's equity, usually expressed as shares of stock, plus retained capital in various assets. While these companies routinely return some shareholder value in reported earnings, their bottom lines are a disaster common to the business world. In Wall Street parlance, this is known as debt to equity. Many firms are overweighted in debt. When they payments come due, they borrow more. The Federal Reserve and other central banks enable such behavior by buying up the debt of even the most egregious debt offenders.

There are some, though not many, companies that aren't underwater, that have large cash hordes above and beyond their debts. These would be the Googles, Apples, Berkshire-Hathaways, and Amazons of the world. They accumulate cash at such a mind-boggling rate that they don't need to borrow at all to meet payroll, normal operating expenses or even business expansion. They, and the central banks effectively own the world.

Taking into account all the individual, business, and government debt (right down to state and local levels), the total level of indebtedness for any country dwarfs the oft-cited Debt:GDP formula making the complete condition much worse than the superficial analysis touted by experts and TV talking heads lead the public to believe.

Japan's situation is at the leading edge. The government is completely insolvent, though their investments cover the spectrum of financial instrument madness. They own debt. They own mortgages. They own stocks. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) owns a piece of just about everything. They cannot collapse because the result would be a global catastrophe, but the reality is that they are the linchpin of the financial system. Their hands are tied into every aspect of modern life, with emphasis on their own population. The Japanese people, surprisingly, are savers, not spenders, which is cited often as a major reason the Japanese economy has stagnated for so long.

That may or may not be true, but the fact of the matter is that many astute Japanese households don't trust the financial system and are invested in hard assets beyond the currency of the yen, primarily gold. Some individuals in Japan are like the "preppers" in the United States. They've prepared for what they see as the inevitable decimation of the global financial system.

There's a certain mathematical probability to all of this and the Nikkei 225 is a proxy for the world's bankrupt, zombified status. Should the Nikkei break down, so with it goes the economy of Japan, and like dominoes, the rest of the world.

Those of us in the United States or Europe focus on our own stocks, our own trades and economy, our own problems, but it would be wise to keep a jaded eye on our neighbors across the seas.

Approaching the final trading day of April, stock futures have turned ugly, with the Dow sporting a -145 and NASDAQ futures off nearly 100 points. The Nikkei closed down 241.34 points, at 28,812.63, well off the February 16 high of 30,467.75, a 5.4% decline over the past 2 1/2 months. Should the Nikkei's losses extend to 10% or 15%, the effects will be felt far and wide. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow is May 1. Enjoy the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and have a great weekend.

AT THE CLOSE, THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2021:
Dow: 34,060.36, +239.98 (+0.71%)
NASDAQ: 14,082.55, +31.52 (+0.22%)
S&P 500: 4,211.47, +28.29 (+0.68%)
NYSE: 16,376.00, +53.87 (+0.33%)

Fed Shrugs Off Inflation, Again; Biden Plan: Handouts and Higher Taxes

A funny thing happened on the way to the FOMC rate policy meeting which concluded Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 pm ET.

Stocks ramped higher immediately upon the release. For some reason, a reiteration by the Fed that interest rates would remain at the zero bound was celebrated as good news. But, as the session would to a close, stocks retreated to almost exactly where they were just prior to the announcement.

See here:

Index: at 2:00 pm / at close
Dow: 33,828.81 / 33,820.38
NASDAQ: 14,054.91 / 14,051.03
S&P 500: 4,184.23 / 4,183.18

So, does that imply the Fed is out of the loop? That whatever they say - as long as it's roughly the same message as the prior statement - is disregarded?

Probably yes on both counts. The Fed is just there to oversee the destruction of the fiat regime, which is on its final descent into oblivion. People trading chits, stocks, certificates, even cryptos, realize that it's all just paper, backed by nothing, soon to revert to its intrinsic value, near zero. With short term interest rates at .01% or .03%, the time value of money has been eliminated from any quantifiable equation. Money, in terms of fiats, has been deemed by the Federal Reserve, to have almost no value. There is literally no reason to hold onto it for any longer than necessary, which, if one is a functioning member of society, would mean hours, or even minutes.

Get your check. Pay your bill. Buy food, clothes, gas, a car, a bird cage. It's better to have a physical object in hand than wait for the price to come down or a better deal elsewhere, because it's probably not going to happen, at least not as long as the Fed insists on easy monetary policies and printing more at the drop of a hat.

The Fed also doesn't see inflation as a long term issue, though nobody in the building trades see the price of lumber coming down any time soon. The same goes for people who shop for food. Canned goods remain one of the smartest purchases one can make in this environment. For what it's worth, that 79-cent can of cut green beans will hold its value for years while the dollar loses the remaining 2.15% of its purchasing power.

So much for the first iteration of Wednesday's public finance double-header.

In the nightcap, Joe Biden took to the podium before an assemblage of other brain-dead political hacks to explain how he plans to help usher in the complete destruction of the US economy, outlining his absurd plan to spend another $1.8 trillion that the government neither has in hand nor possesses the ability to borrow and repay. Not that they can't borrow $1.8 trillion, or $5 trillion or even more. The Fed will gladly loan it out. The federal government simply has no reasonable way to repay it. They've already ballooned this year's deficit to over $1 trillion, and the fiscal year is just past the mid-point. And, there's that $28 trillion in outstanding debt that continues to accumulate interest that they cannot and never will pay back.

Calling his agenda "The American Families Plan" the White House bills Biden's hair-brained $1.8 trillion spending fiasco as "a once-in-a-generation investment in the foundations of middle-class prosperity – education, health care, and child care."

Excuse people for being dense or old-school, but isn't the foundation of middle-class prosperity a good job, stable home, hard work, and individual responsibility?

Biden seems to have lost touch with his own Baby Boomer roots and maybe even those of Millennials, Xs, Ys, and Zs. Education hasn't paid benefits in decades. That's why people with degrees are working as baristas at Starbucks. Health care is an expense that continues to skyrocket out of control, and child care is only a consideration if one has kids under the age of eight.

Anyhow, the "plan" is a blend of tax credits, free tuition to community colleges, paid family and medical leave, expansion of the child care tax credit and a string of tax hikes aimed at the upper echelon of society by increasing the top individual tax rate from 37% to 39.6% and raising the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 39.6% for taxpayers making over $1 million.

Coupled with the infrastructure plan currently dying in congress, the latest spending proposal by the occupier-in-chief would not create any new jobs, raise anybody's pay except maybe some social workers and IRS agents, and would result in higher taxes for individuals and businesses.

Joe's plans are no-go. The government can’t afford it and people won’t want to pay for it. Biden might as well be whistling past the grave of the US economy with these numbskull, Obama-era-inspired ideas.

AT THE CLOSE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021:
Dow: 33,820.38, -164.55 (-0.48%)
NASDAQ: 14,051.03, -39.19 (-0.28%)
S&P 500: 4,183.18, -3.54 (-0.08%)
NYSE: 16,322.13, +48.82 (+0.30%)

Google's Blowout Earnings; Investor Disconnect As Markets Struggle; #Etherium Taking Crypto By Storm

The earnings parade continues.

After the close on Tuesday, Alphabet (parent of Google, GOOG) released first quarter earnings which blew away Wall Street with stunning numbers, especially the EPS of $26.29, on expectations for $15.45. Revenue was $55.3 billion, also ahead of forecasts.

Google advertising revenue of $44.7 billion, rose 32.3% in the quarter, comprising 80.8% of companywide revenue.

Off numbers that were truly spectacular, the company is being rewarded by investors in the pre-market, with shares up by more than five percent (2,423.35 +116.23).

Meanwhile, with stocks set for an open in just over a half hour's time, futures are collapsing, with Dow futures off nearly 100 points. The S&P and NASDAQ futures are also trending lower.

There seems to be a disconnect between stocks and investors developing. Even though the main indices are at or near all-time highs, advancing further has been an issue over the past week to 1 days. As an illustration, the S&P made a new all-time closing high on April 16, finishing at 4,185.47. After failing to follow through for a week, it finally made its way to another record close on Monday, ending at 4,187.62, though the gain was a mere seven points. Tuesday's small dip kept it from setting another record.

The Dow has been trading in a very similar way, closing at record levels on April 5th, 8th, 15th and 16th, but the 30 industrials can't seem to find a way higher. Tuesday's session was the seventh straight in which it failed to make a new high at the close of the day.

Another issue facing markets - aside from stocks - is in the precious metals space. While god and silver have had some success over the past few sessions, they are still trading in the futures market at levels well below their August 2020 highs and were crushed again overnight. As of this writing, silver, which closed at $26.25 in New York, is trending at 25.82, down .43 cents.

Gold is down $11.10 from Tuesday's NewYork close, at 1,764.70. Resistance is substantial for $1800 gold and $26 silver.

Then there's Bitcoin and the universe of cryptocurrencies. Top performing Etherium has been the best crypto this year, outpacing even the grandaddy, Bitcoin. Just peaking above $2,700, ETH is up 58% in just the past month. It has taken most of the action away from Bitcoin and some of the other high-flying altcoins.

Bitcoin, however, has struggled. Since peaking at $64,899 on April 14, it fell to a low of $47,044 this past Sunday, April 25. It has recovered quite well over the past two days to a current level just above $55,000, but still far from the all-time high.

There just seems to be an uneasiness in all markets, as though everything is not as it appears and that something big is about to occur. There are many distortions, dislocations, and distractions in the world, from supply chain issues to congress and the presidency. Joe Biden will make a speech tonight at 9:00 pm ET to a joint session of congress (an unusual event) to unveil yet another massive spending program.

Well before that the FOMC of the Federal Reserve will issue a policy statement at 2:00 pm ET, followed by a press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell.

More earnings hitting the street as well today, so there are plenty of events to affect prices and trading.

Money Daily HQ is in the process of getting a new roof today. It's difficult to concentrate on anything as it sounds like a thunderstorm overhead, so this note is going to be cut short...

AT THE CLOSE, TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021:
Dow: 33,984.93, +3.36 (+0.01%)
NASDAQ: 14,090.22, -48.56 (-0.34%)
S&P 500: 4,186.72, -0.90 (-0.02%)
NYSE: 16,273.31, +32.10 (+0.20%)

Musk Tweets, Tesla Beats; JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Green Light's Bitcoin; NASDAQ Closes At ATH

Since the early hours of April 14, when Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $64,899, the price of the world's dominant cryptocurrency went into a protracted tailspin, dropping to $47,044 on Sunday, April 25, a decline of some 28 percent, prompting cries of "told 'ya so", "tulips" and "ponzi scheme" from the usual chorus of no-coin losers.

Prior to hitting what turned out to be a short-term bottom, however, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk sent forth a tweet, simply asking, "What does the future hodl?" which caught the attention of more than a few investors and acolytes, being that Musk is a Bitcoin believer, having committed $1.5 billion of his company's funds to the currency. "Hodl", a discrete misspelling by Musk in his tweet, is a commonly-used acronym popular among Bitcoin devotees, meaning “Hold On for Dear Life.” Thus, people who own and keep Bitcoin are known as hodlers.

Whether Musk was the actual catalyst, the price of Bitcoin began hurtling forward at a rapid pace Sunday evening, catapulting beyond $52,000 by midnight. But, that was only the beginning, because on Monday morning, none other than world-class Bitcoin basher, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, announced that his bank would begin offering investments in Bitcoin to its wealthiest clients via an actively-traded fund by partnering with institutional investor NYDIG.

For JP Morgan's investment arm, the goal will be to offer high net worth individuals and institutions exposure to the world of cryptocurrencies without them actually having to own or acquire any of it. Dimon's early Monday morning missive sent Bitcoin higher still. By midday, it had climbed back over $54,000 and as of Tuesday morning has cruised past $55,000, considered by a score of Bitcoin analysts to be a critical pivot point.

Those who had - for the 489th time - decried Bitcoin's demise, seem presently to have been wrong again, as the cryptocurrency launched in 2009 continues to careen into the stratosphere. Did Musk know something about JP Morgan's imminent announcement when he tweeted or was he just lucky to get such favorable timing? We many never know, but his tweet and Dimon's announcement were certainly an opportune coincidence for anybody who BTFD (Bought the F***ing Dip).

Bitcoin followers note that on the way to "the moon", Bitcoin often experiences severe pullbacks such as this most recent one, but it's become well known that these instances of bearishness are common, normal, and healthy for the continued success of the crypto world. The instances of selloffs are usually short - lasting between seven and 15 days - and routinely severe, with declines of 15 to 30 percent. Weak hands get shaken out during these drawdowns, replaced by more serious, often institutional players who are less inclined to panic on short-term price volatility, giving Bitcoin a more solid base of support.

Where the price of Bitcoin will eventually head nobody really knows, but serious investors such as Max Keiser and Raoul Pal believe the price will eventually soar into six digits. For instance, Keiser has set a price target of $220,000 for "sometime in 2021." Other crypto champions offer similar predictions, many of them higher.

Also helping Bitcoin forge a path forward are comments made by legendary investor, Bill Miller, who spoke on CNBC last week, opining that Bitcoin isn't a bubble, and that this year's outstanding growth is a sign of it going mainstream and appealing to institutional investors. He points out that one of the main features of Bitcoin's rising price structure is simply a supply and demand issue. Bitcoin miners increase the stock by two percent a year, while demand for it is growing at a much faster pace, thus raising the price naturally.

Acceptance of Bitcoin by the institutional investor crowd, especially such high-profile statements by the likes of Miller, Musk and Dimon, ensures that the federal government will not crack down on cryptocurrencies as many have feared. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has commented repeatedly that Bitcoin and altcoins need to be regulated, but her office has not issued any new rules regarding cryptos. Any rules or restrictions Yellen may wish to put upon investors are being made much more difficult now that Wall Street is beating a hasty path to the crypto universe. The one thing she is certain NOT to do is upset the masters of the universe at the big banks and investment brokerages.

Elsewhere on Monday, stocks were mixed, with the Dow losing ground while the NASDAQ was playing catch-up to the rest of the major indices, joining the Dow, S&P, and NYSE Composite by setting a new closing all-time high at 14,138.78, surpassing the February 12 close of 14,095.47. The other indices have been setting records on a regular basis for the past few months, but now the averages are in lockstep, prompting the bulls to press forward.

Announcing after the closing bell, Tesla (TSLA) returned 93 cents in the first quarter, topping estimates of 79 cents per share on revenue of 10.39 billion. The stock fell in after-hours trading. As of Tuesday morning, shares were trending lower by just more than two percent. A decline in the share price of the electric car manufacturer would not be devastating to anyone who's been on the Tesla train for a while. The stock has been one of the best performers in the market since the start of the plandemic back in February 2020.

In March of 2020, the price of TSLA shares fell into double digits, bottoming out around $85. It has since skyrocketed as high as 883, a ten-bagger for bottom feeders. It's since pulled back, as have most of the big cap tech stocks, but is still elevated above 700. It closed Monday at 738.20. Nobody's crying over another solid quarter at Tesla.

Many more companies are reporting first quarter earnings Tuesday and the rest of the week. The Fed begins a FOMC meeting on Tuesday with a policy statement due out at 2:00 pm ET Wednesday.

AT THE CLOSE, MONDAY, APRIL 26,2021:
Dow: 33,981.57, -61.93 (-0.18%)
NASDAQ: 14,138.78, +121.98 (+0.87%)
S&P 500: 4,187.62, +7.45 (+0.18%)
NYSE: 16,241.21, +35.21 (+0.22%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Biden's Green Promise Is Full of Hot Air; Bitcoin Bombs, Bonds Flat, Silver On the Radar

One of the major stories from the week just past was the virtual global climate summit (via Zoom) in which Joe Biden made a commitment to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 50% by the year 2030.

Biden's promise, just like everything else that comes out of this man's mouth, is ambiguous, inaccurate and misleading. It offered no significant plans - only objectives - on how this was going to be accomplished (hint: it won't be) other than the usual platitudes about more green jobs, a commitment to renewable energy, and reducing the use of fossil fuels. Like most political affairs, this one was full of hot air, suggesting that if politicians would, in the aggregate, shut up for a couple of years, the problem would be solved.

According to the White House "fact sheet" (honestly, it was difficult to find any "facts" at all, though there were plenty of promises and loads of political posturing), the target aims at 50-52 Percent Reduction in U.S. Greenhouse Gas Pollution from 2005 Levels in 2030. The key phrase missing from almost all news reports is highlighted (2005 levels).

In 2005, total gross U.S. greenhouse gas emissions were 7378.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MMT CO2 Eq).

In 2019 (latest data), total gross U.S. greenhouse gas emissions were 6,558.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MMT CO2 Eq).

Overall, net emissions decreased 13.0 percent from 2005 levels. So, Biden's team has a running start. To get to -50% from 2005, they need to lower emissions to 3,689.4 MMT CO2 Eq, which would be about a 43% reduction from the 2019 figures. Considering that 2020 was probably a net winner for the climate changers, since automobile traffic, factory output and many other greenhouse gas emitters were significantly lower because of all the lockdowns, restrictions, and stay-at-home mandates, the Biden administration's EPA will probably make some bogus claim about 2020 greenhouse gas reductions being down some seven to 13 percent from 2019. So, yes, more innuendo, ambiguity, misdirection and glad-handing all around to come.

But it's not all that simple. Here's an NOAA article claiming that despite pandemic shutdowns, carbon dioxide and methane surged in 2020, and carbon dioxide levels are now higher than at anytime in the past 3.6 million years.

However, the very same article links to another article which claims that the economic recession was estimated to have reduced carbon emissions by about 7 percent during 2020. So, let's follow the science, which is apparently leading in opposite directions. All this stuff makes one's head spin.

For some perspective, here's Joakim Book of the American Institute for Economic Research on Zero Hedge with a view of how journalists and media distort the facts and findings on climate change (and just about everything else). The Zero Hedge version is the same as the original, but with funny cartoons and a lively discussion section following.

There are a number of scenarios. By 2030, Biden will likely be dead and buried and all of his mouthpieces, spokespersons, aides, and entourage will have moved on to other things, so nobody working at the White House today will have any accountability issues. Even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 10% or 15%, which could happen either due to population reduction (don't laugh, it's a thing!) or "green" measures, that's going to be enough for Democrats to call it a win, as in, "well, we're close, we tried." Like Obamacare, the upfront lies - "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" - will largely be overlooked down the road.

Advice to anybody worried about any of this: punt. It's not worth anybody's time or effort to get excited, depressed, or concerned about this or any other program coming out of the bogus white house and fake media. Remember, these are government programs. They're destined to fail or fall far short of their stated goals. Besides, there's a vested interest by researchers to conclude that global warming or climate change is really a problem, because their funding and livelihoods depend upon it, so the findings are subject to goal-seeking erros and mass delusions. We were supposed to be underwater by now. We're not. And if the world is supposedly getting hotter every day, how come the US had a major snowstorm in April?

Not to put to fine a point on it, the sudden resurrection of the climate change argument is more about politics and money than actual scientific data.

If you're interested, there's plenty of data. The links below offer a good place to start reading up on the government’s version of climate change. Warning: may cause nausea to conservatives, scientists, or anybody over the age of 60.

Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2019

Executive Summary [PDF]

In the financial world, it was a great week to be a trader or broker because stocks were flipping from red to green faster than pancakes at Waffle House. Headlines and algos produced a week of three down days and two to the upside. The losses on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday were offset by bounce-back gains Wednesday and Friday. Investors were thankful for rebounding trades but likely miffed over the losses, especially Thursday's, when the market suddenly slammed into reverse on rumors of a 39.5% capital gains tax suggestion coming from the Biden administration.

As it turns out, this particular FUD attack was put in play by Bloomberg, always acting at the behest of the Fed and other financial handlers. Because the proposed near-doubling of the capital gains tax turned out to be something Biden's team proposed months ago, the cynical view was that insiders on Capitol Hill and elsewhere made bank on the algo-moving story, shorting all the way down and buying back in on the way back up the following day.

That the losses Thursday were overcome by gains on Friday in all of the indices except the Dow Industrials speaks to the anguish over controlled markets and the pack of transparency caused by algorithms, front-running, spoofing, and massive dark pools operated by the largest brokerages and trading houses.

In the end, stocks and those who invest in them suffered what amounted to a flesh wounds. Small caps on the NYSE actually ended up slightly on the positive side for the week even though the roller coaster ride may have been unsettling along the way.

AT THE CLOSE, THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021:
Dow: 33,815.90, -321.41 (-0.94%)
NASDAQ: 13,818.41, -131.81 (-0.94%)
S&P 500: 4,134.98, -38.44 (-0.92%)
NYSE: 16,030.62, -90.99 (-0.56%)

AT THE CLOSE, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021:
Dow: 34,043.49, +227.59 (+0.67%)
NASDAQ: 14,016.81, +198.39 (+1.44%)
S&P 500: 4,180.17, +45.19 (+1.09%)
NYSE: 16,206.00, +175.38 (+1.09%)

FOR THE WEEK:
Dow: -157.18 (-0.46%)
NASDAQ: -35.53 (-0.25%)
S&P 500: -5.30 (-0.13%)
NYSE: +19.71 (+0.12%)

While stocks were getting bumped and pushed higher and lower, fixed income flat-lined. At the long end of the treasury complex, yield on the 30-year bond round-tripped a whole five basis points, finishing the week one bip lower than the prior Friday, at 2.25%. The 10-year note yield was similar, with a four basis point range resulting in a loss of one basis point, to 1.58%. Bills of one to six months duration were pressed as low as possible, with the 30-day bill yielding 0.1%, the six-month, 0.3%.

From all appearances, the Fed has been able to exert some manner of yield curve control on agency-issued debt, sparking a rally in the long-dated maturities off the scary high yields from a month ago. In mid to late March, the 30-year yield was as high as 2.45%, the 10-year pumped as high as 1.74%. Jawboning the inflation fright out of bonds was child's play for Fed officials. All they had to do was convince the entire planet that those inflationary signals coming from the commodity space (especially lumber and base metals) and grocery prices (think ground beef at $4.95 a pound and up, plus "shrink-flation" in packaged consumables) were either transitory or temporary, two words which are like a magic potion in the world of central bank counterfeiting.

Now that the Fed has proven capable of keeping the lid on bond yields, thanks to a lapse in government hand-outs (no new stimulus proposals, yet) and some slight apparent return to almost normal conditions in the real world, in some places, in a fragmented, localized manner, bonds can continue on their path to zero-boundness or the passé euro-branded negative rate structure. In sympathy, the dollar came under pressure against most other fiats as the planet winds down the currency debasement road to monetary hell.

In keeping with the no-inflation containment theme, oil prices were wrangled down over the past seven days, with WTI crude dropping from $63.13 a barrel to as low as $61.35, finishing up Friday at $62.14, down just over a buck for the week. There was little to no further pain at the pump. In the United States, drivers don't appear to be concerned with fuel prices hovering around a national average of $2.89 a gallon, even though it is the highest in more than a year and up by more than a dollar from this time a year ago.

The matter falls to the cost of extraction across the universe of drillers and riggers. At $60+ a barrel, even most shale drillers can turn a profit, putting the current price somewhere in "Goldilocks" territory, not too high, nor too low, but just right. Unless there's a sudden demand spike - which could be manufactured due to pent-up vacation demand by locked down US citizens - the current range just above $60 may persist into the summer driving season, though the potential for profit-driven price hikes cannot be ruled out in the current context of mass control.

While stocks, bonds, and crude oil were forging a bridge to an unchanged shoreline, the case in cryptocurrencies was more panic-stricken, as Bitcoin continued to tumble off new highs made just days prior. It was April 14 when Bitcoin priced at a record high of $64,899. Since then the world's original crypto has fallen off a proverbial cyber-cliff, bending to a low of $47,464 as of Friday night (4/23).

There have been two major drawdowns over the past ten days for Bitcoin, both occurring, for whatever reason, on, or close to, the weekends. The first, which saw the price plummet from $60,000 to $53,000 in hours, happened over last Saturday night (4/17) into Sunday morning (4.18). The latest fallout - from $54,860 to $47,464 - was this past Thursday into Friday.

If this becomes a trend, a drop from around $48,000 to somewhere in a range of $41,000 to $42,000 could be in the offing. For now, Bitcoin is holding in a range between $48,000 and $51,000 over the past 24 hours. Directionally, the trend is lower, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Moves of 18% to 30% in a tight time frame are not unusual in the crypto space. Putting the recent pullback into perspective, six months ago - October, 2020 - Bitcoin was trending in a range between $11,000 and $13,000. The rise to the recent high was a 500-600% move. Some profits are being taken, not unexpectedly.

Precious metals found midweek upside by Wednesday only to be squelched by a wicked selloff Thursday and Friday. Gold ended the prior week (4/16) at $1782.50, moved as high as $1793.90, only to close out the week in the red, at $1,778.18. Silver was also bounced around, starting from Sunday's price of $25.97 the troy ounce to as high as $26.55 on Wednesday, only to be slammed to a loss at $25.57 by week's end.

The continuing sideways to lower pricing in the futures market of gold and silver has prompted a call to arms by Sprott Money's Craig Hemke, who penned a note on the site's blog, aligning himself with the reddit group r/WallStreetSilver, which has been in the process of trying to squeeze the COMEX and LBMA of their existing stocks of 1000-ounce bars stored mostly in London vaults.

Hemke's post, "A Time To Fight Back", appeared on Tuesday, April 20, and caught the attention of many in the precious metals community. In it, he makes an impassioned plea to the redditers and others to purchase 100 ounces of physical silver on May 1, ten years to the date of the near-fatal cramdown in silver that kicked off a nearly decade-long bear market.

As well-intentioned as Hemke's proposal may have been, there are two major points of contention in his plan. First, the reddit crowd and other silver stackers have never stopped buying physical silver since the first raid back in February. Second, May 1 is a Saturday. In addition to it being the date for the annual "Run for the Roses" Kentucky Derby, the futures markets are closed. Thus any mass buying spree on that day would give the LBMA and COMEX all day Sunday to plot any counter attack, should one even be appropriate.

Perhaps, Hemke might have chosen not to let his emotions rule his thinking by timing the assault to the day of a prior massacre, but spread the buying out over time. Perhaps the late week drawdown in silver - and gold - was a reaction or warning shot by the bullion banks. They're not accustomed to being challenged on social media or elsewhere and they can fight dirty. That's well known. Whatever the case, the battle has been re-engaged and this coming week may be one for the History Channel.

Closing out the WEEKEND WRAP, here are the most recent prices for common gold and silver items purchased on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 33.29 / 49.95 / 41.41 / 41.45
1 oz silver bar: 35.00 / 53.49 / 42.79 / 40.50
1 oz gold coin: 1,904.15 / 2,155.77 / 1,981.67 / 1,977.96
1 oz gold bar: 1,854.25 / 1,885.49 / 1,873.05 / 1,872.20

The key takeaways from this week's survey are that sales are brisk, many non-numismatic one ounce gold coins have come out of hiding and are fetching exceptionally good prices, the average premium more than $100 higher than one ounce gold bars, whose prices are routinely uniform, in a $31 range, whereas gold coins are spread out over a $250 range. It's more than apparent that gold coins are more highly valued to investors than similarly-weighted bars. Prices for coins are higher this week than at any time back to February. The average and median prices for gold bars was down slightly from the prior week.

Silver held up well, despite the drop on the COMEX leading into the weekend. The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) did suffer a loss, dropping from $42.99 down to $41.54. The benchmark remains above $40 a troy ounce for the 12th consecutive week.

A final word: Many listed companies report earnings this week. Among the big names putting out first quarter results are Tesla (TSLA), General Electric (GE), AMD (AMD), Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Visa (V), 3M (MMM), Boeing (BA), Yum Brands (YUM), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Caterpillar (CAT), McDonald's (MCD), Amazon (AMZN), Merck (MRK), Twitter (TWTR), ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), and AstraZeneca (AZN).

There's also a meeting of the FOMC of the Federal Reserve, Tuesday and Wednesday, with a press conference following the policy rate decision after 2:00 pm ET, Wednesday.

OK, that's it. Have a good week, everybody.

AT THE CLOSE, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021:
Dow: 34,043.49, +227.59 (+0.67%)
NASDAQ: 14,016.81, +198.39 (+1.44%)
S&P 500: 4,180.17, +45.19 (+1.09%)
NYSE: 16,206.00, +175.38 (+1.09%)

FOR THE WEEK:
Dow: -157.18 (-0.46%)
NASDAQ: -35.53 (-0.25%)
S&P 500: -5.30 (-0.13%)
NYSE: +19.71 (+0.12%)

Biden Tax Proposals Shake Markets; Stocks, Cryptos, Precious Metals All Suffer Losses

Anybody with a solid understanding of Democrat politics saw this coming.

By the time Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20, there were already whispers of tax increases on the way from Democrats controlling the House and Senate. On Thursday, Joe Biden's team - via leaked advance information to Bloomberg (the usual suspect) - crushed markets when it was revealed that Biden's administration would seek to raise capital gains taxes as high as 39.5 percent, nearly doubling from the current 20 percent.

There's also information circulating that Biden will propose raising the top income tax rate to 43.4% from the current 39.6%.

The news sent not just stocks, but precious metals and cryptocurrencies tumbling. The Dow Jones Industrials, which were down just 10 to 20 points as of 1:00 pm ET, fell off a cliff, dropping 240 points in a matter of minutes as the report from "anonymous sources" hit the news wires. It only got worse from there, sending the Dow to its third loss this week. Wednesday's gain was nearly equal to the losses on Thursday.

The same was happening over at the NASDAQ, S&P, and NYSE, which all suffered damaging, though not fatal losses. Other markets were also affected negatively. Gold finished down nearly $10 on the day, closing out the NY session at $1783.90. Silver lost 44 cents, finishing at $26.11.

The crypto market was stunned, as Bitcoin fell below $50,000 for the first time since early March, hitting a low overnight at $47,464. Most altcoins, including Etherium, also suffered losses in the range of seven to 20 percent.

As markets prepare to close out the week Friday morning, stock futures are barely clinging to gains, although Dow futures are already in the red as of 8:15 am ET. Bitcoin has recovered to just above $50,000, but gold and silver are both up sharply.

International markets were affected, though Asian markets appear to have shrugged off the damage on US stocks. European stocks are mostly lower in Friday's trading.

The news that tax hikes are on the way sent a serious message to investors, though the timing and the fact that the reporting is still unsourced speaks to a little gamesmanship in the inner circles of finance. Stunning markets in such a manner is one way to shake out weak hands and, if that was the intention, it worked like a charm.

It remains to be seen whether the Biden team's plans will come to fruition, as most, if not all, senators are primarily funded by wealthy individuals and corporate donors. It would be working against the interests of the entire Senate should these massive tax hikes become reality.

Of course, any tax increases would not take effect until next year, when returns for 2021 would come due. This is a test for markets and investors to see if the market has finally topped out or whether it can recover and move on to new highs.

Thank your Democrat oligarchs for putting a melancholy edge to the end of the week.

AT THE CLOSE, THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021:
Dow: 33,815.90, -321.41 (-0.94%)
NASDAQ: 13,818.41, -131.81 (-0.94%)
S&P 500: 4,134.98, -38.44 (-0.92%)
NYSE: 16,030.62, -90.99 (-0.56%)

Bitcoin Suffers Declines as Hodlers Seek Policy Guidance from Entrenched US Government

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general have been under some price pressure in recent days. This article looks to explore some of the possible reasons for the recent weakness and attempt to look beyond the FUD and examine some of the elements contributing to the ongoing crypto debate both inside and outside the government.

As recently as last week, Bitcoin soared to new highs after Coinbase, the leading crypto exchange, went public, listed on the NASDAQ as COIN. Shortly thereafter, on late Saturday, April 17, and into early Sunday morning, Bitcoin tumbled from $60,900 all the way down to $53,371, mostly on rumors and a power outage in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, home to many Bitcoin miners.

The power outage was probably more the issue than anything else, as the hash rate (speed at which Bitcoin is mined) fell precipitously, and took price, which correlates well to hash rate, down with it. The outage has since been fixed and Bitcoin's price has recovered somewhat, but it has continued to languish between $53,000 and $57,000 this week.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act, creating a joint working group between the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity & Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Representatives from FinTech companies, financial firms, academic researchers, and investor watchdogs would also be invited to participate.

Within 90 days of passage into law, the working group would have one year to analyze the country’s current laws and regulations which affect digital assets. The legislation now heads to the Senate.

Meanwhile, according to Fox Business' Charlie Gasparino, the Biden administration is working towards a regulatory framework for cryptos via the Treasury Department headed by Janet Yellen. His sources tell him that Treasury is developing an overll approach to crypto regulation, which will give Gensler, the newly-appointed head of the SEC, guidance on specific rules and regulations. It's a very touchy issue and one that has some crypto investors worried.

Gasparino does not believe that the government would ban cryptocurrencies, but that regulations to track investments and reporting requirements will be forthcoming, possibly in a little as a month.

With so much attention focused on crypto at the highest levels of government, there's ample reason to be skeptical for the future of Bitcoin, Etherium, and other cryptocurrencies, altcoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi) as a whole. The US government is beholden to the central bank, the Federal Reserve, and their currency of choice is, of course, Federal Reserve Notes. Crypto poses a threat to the financial system, which is already facing serious headwinds from other fiat currencies. The US dollar has lost nearly all of its purchasing power and inflation is furthering its decline, another reason many investors and individuals are flocking to crypto and alternatives like gold and silver.

At issue is how the United States, European Union (EU), and other countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Russia, and China will deal with a novel currency which competes with their own favored fiats. It would not be beyond the pale to suggest that the G7 or G20, in cahoots with the World Bank and IMF to at some point outlaw cryptocurrencies or at least regulate them to the point at which they become useless.

Thus, there is nervousness among hodlers, though the widespread use and adoption of cryptocurrencies by major financial firms has so far kept governments at arm's length. For now, cryptocurrencies have been embraced by the likes of PayPal and their app, Venmo, Square, and other FinTech interests. Others, such as Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, have made significant investments in Bitcoin, and, supposedly, other cryptos.

Because of the business angle, Gasparino is probably right. Government is unlikely to overreach and ban Bitcoin and others outright. The crypto universe is already worth more than $2 trillion and growing. There might be significant backlash if the government was seen to be overstepping its bounds. Skeptics argue that after the plandemic, lockdowns and mask mandates, the federal government is willing to stop at nothing to protect its self-interests. Individual states may have opinions of their own.

The situation is fluid, filled with suspense and moving parts. Upon the fate of Bitcoin may hinge the future of freedom and liberty in the United States and around the world. Nothing gets people's juices flowing like money and the government's handling of it, which, to date, has not been a stellar track record. In the background is the potential of FedCoin, the Federal Reserve's own digital currency (CBDC), which is reportedly in development, but likely still years away from implementation. It will take a wholesale collapse in financial markets to usher in a CBDC, but, unless you've been living under a rock, the potential for catastrophe has been a constant backgrounder ever since the GFC of 2008-09.

Already on the radar of governments around the globe, Bitcoin's revolutionary approach to currency is and will continue to be a bone of contention. Anonymity, which was initially a strength of the world's first cryptocurrency has been challenged and quite possibly already defeated. The IRS already has a checkbox on Income Tax Form 1040 asking whether or not the filer has engaged in cryptocurrency buying and/or selling. That's a major intrusion to privacy and threat to anonymity, as not telling the truth to the IRS can be costly as well as criminal.

This story has an ending, somewhere down the line, but, from all appearances, we're nowhere close to it.

A couple of final thoughts: with Bitcoin experiencing outflows, where did all that money go? Some of it may have gone into gold and silver, both of which have been gaining over recent days, with silver topping out over $26.50 on Wednesday and gold closing in on $1800.

As far as stocks are concerned, CNBC recently reported that the $569 billion invested in global equity from November 2020 to the present is more than all of the investment inflows from 2009 to 2020, $452 billion, proving somewhat definitively, that most of the stock market gains following the GFC were fueled primarily by the Fed and stock buybacks.

Wednesday, stocks were up across the board, with the Dow, S&P, and NYSE closing shy of their all-time highs. The NASDAQ continues to peek at it's Feb. 12 all-time high (14,095.12). It sits just 150 points short of that mark.

Unearthed is this video from March 1 with a mere 960 views which offers some insight to what Gary Gensler, the newly-confirmed head of the SEC, may do concerning Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Gensler is supposedly pro-crypto, having taught classes related to cryptocurrencies at MIT. On the other hand, he was also head of the CFTC, which has a long-standing history of suppressing the price of precious metals, which may lead one to believe he may not be so friendly towards crypto.

This video from altcoin daily explains in some detail the cause of the recent Bitcoin mini-crash which, expectedly, morphed over to affect the entire crypto universe.

AT THE CLOSE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021:
Dow: 34,137.31, +316.01 (+0.93%)
NASDAQ: 13,950.22, +163.95 (+1.19%)
S&P 500: 4,173.42, +38.48 (+0.93%)
NYSE: 16,121.61, +177.00 (+1.11%)

Did NASDAQ 'Ring the Bell' On a Market Top? #SilverSqueeze Prepares Another Assault

A Wall Street adage dating back to the turn of the previous century (1800s-1900s) warns that "nobody rings a bell at a market top or bottom." There are many iterations of the quote of which nobody to date has definitively discovered the originator. Still, the message is clear. Market tops and bottoms are tricky devils to discern, and there isn't a man, woman, or child who has been able to call them correctly in advance with any kind of accuracy.

Many have tried and failed. Even some of the greatest investors have missed market tops or bottoms and more than a few have called for markets to turn one way only to see them go in the opposite direction. Timing may be everything in life, but it's a difficult, if not impossible art to master. So, one must proceed with all due caution.

It's been obvious in recent weeks that the tech giants leading the markets have fallen back to a secondary position, guiding the NASDAQ from a front-runner to a laggard. While the S&P, Dow Jones Industrials, and the NYSE Composite Index all made new all-time highs this past Friday, the NASDAQ was still playing catch-up, though it did close within striking range of it's all-time closing high (14,095.47, 2/12/21) on Friday when it finished at 14,052.34, it's highest close in two months.

Subsequently, the NASDAQ closed lower both Monday and Tuesday, dropping 137 points Monday and another 128 Tuesday. As markets prepare for Wednesday's trading, futures are again trending to the downside, indicating another negative open. How that plays out throughout the session will be important to note, especially if one is intent on making buys or selling winners and losers in the near term. The NASDAQ's failure to recapture all-time highs may be a "bell ringer" double top and if it is one would do well to sell just about everything.

This is not an endorsement nor a prediction. It is just something to which one should pay close attention. If the NAZ continues to try and fail or just continues to slide, it could be a top. How far all markets may slide from this point forward nobody knows. It could just be a normal turn of trading, the beginning of a correction, or, worst case, the beginning of a bear market. Everybody and their sister-in-laws knows that stocks are priced beyond perfection and bull markets do not last forever, no matter how much funny money Jerome Powell and his friends at the Fed print.

That said, some investment advice from the inscrutable Yogi Berra: "You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, ’cause you might not get there."

Besides equities being tanked pretty well on Tuesday, some other news has been making the rounds. It appears that the rascals from the reddit group, r/Wallstreetsilver have found some allies in their fight to bring down what they consider the evil and criminal COMEX silver futures market riggers. Craig Hemke of Sprott Money penned an editorial on the site's blog Tuesday, titled, A Time to Fight Back in which he calls out to all silver stackers for an assault on the physical and ETF silver markets to buy 100 of physical silver on May 1.

The logic behind Hemke's call to arms is that it is the 10-year anniversary of the May Day Massacre of 2011.

After the price of COMEX Silver had closed at $48.50 on Friday, April 29, many expected the price of silver to continue rising. It was on a tear and there seemed to be no reason why silver should not continue rallying. On Sunday May 1, as Hemke writes, "during the very quiet and pre-Asia early evening Globex trade..." the price of silver futures fell by $6.50 in 12 minutes and from there it continued to decline for weeks, then months, then years, finally settling in at a low of $12.00 in March of last year, at the onset of the CV-19 crisis.

Since then, silver has moved up nicely, hitting nearly $30/ounce in August, and then again in February when the #SilverSqueeze was in full flight. The redditeers haven't actually backed off from their efforts and recently the LBMA actually admitted to some danger from social media.

So, for the Silver Squeezers, it's "once more unto the breach," this time with reinforcements. Hemke also noted in his blog the efforts of Chris Marcus, scion of Arcadia Economics, who is in Washington, DC this week trying to get some straight talk from the CFTC. Marcus, author of The Big Silver Short is very much engaged in the fight for freedom and market transparency.

We all wish him the best.

AT THE CLOSE, TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021:
Dow: 33,821.30, -256.33 (-0.75%)
NASDAQ: 13,786.27, -128.50 (-0.92%)
S&P 500: 4,134.94, -28.32 (-0.68%)
NYSE: 15,944.61, -162.94 (-1.01%)

Shift From Growth To Value Is Now a Blip, But Could Become a Trend

An unusual event occurred on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down to start the week for the second week in a row. That has only happened one other time this year, on January 4th - the first trading session of 2021 - and January 11th. It would be one thing if the two events were synchronized to be at the start of a new quarter, but the first Monday of this quarter was April 5, and the Dow was up some 374 points.

Delayed reaction? Has the stimulus money been already spent and now institutions are pulling back? That could be the case, but more to the point may be that so far, first quarter earnings reports have been pretty good, with more than 90% topping estimates after the first full week of reports, spearheaded by bank stocks, which reported knockout quarters, but were aided by unusual accounting gimmicks. Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) each drew down credit loss reserves, which went straight to the bottom line and produced blowouts to the estimates.

It is those kind of earnings reports that elicit skepticism in investors, and skeptical investors are ones who don't buy the stocks of these companies or sell them if they are already stakeholders. Insiders, analysts, and veterans of stock markets have better knowledge of how companies operate and how their books are managed by accountants whose main goal is to increase the price of shares, not necessarily to enhance shareholder value.

That quest for honest results and long term shareholder value may be what's moving stocks presently and what will move them in the near term. There's been a preference towards growth stocks since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-09 which has become even more pronounced in the past 18 months. Just recently - in the past few months - value stocks have staged a comeback, though it's hardly definitive and too early to call it a trend change. The shift has taken place mostly in the stuttering performance of high-tech large cap stocks, like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix. These charts offer a glimpse of the longer term trends in play.

Changing sentiment among institutional investors is usually at the heart of market trend shifts, which may be what is on the horizon and exemplified in a couple of down Mondays on the Dow. By no means is there any confirmation of a real shift from a powerful bull market to a growling bear, but it bears watching. Stocks have performed marvelously over the past year, five years, and even since the GFC, now 12 years behind us. Bull markets are wonderful things, full of opportunity, but they all come to an end at some time, and this current bull, built on hope, momentum, steady injections of cash and help from the Federal Reserve, and anything other than fundamentals, has morphed into an enormous bubble.

We all know that it's going to pop and end badly, but just how badly and when are still matters of great speculation.

As has been offered as advice for decades, "the trend is your friend," but this recent shift has not been at all sizable, especially in big name stocks. If there's an ill wind blowing and investors begin to take profits, who can blame them? Returns have been magnificent. But, as the late Kenny Rogers informed so brilliantly in his song, "The Gambler", you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.

AT THE CLOSE, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021:
Dow: 34,077.63, -123.04 (-0.36%)
NASDAQ: 13,914.77, -137.58 (-0.98%)
S&P 500: 4,163.26, -22.21 (-0.53%)
NYSE: 16,107.56, -78.74 (-0.49%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Why A Return To Normal Won't Happen; Bitcoin Battered, Gold, Silver Gain

What better way to start off a Sunday morning than with a bit of a rant.

Why the heck not? The world, as we all knew it a little more than a year ago, is vastly different. Comparisons of 2021 to even just 30 years ago, are like night and day. Not that we didn't all have iPhones (though that's certainly a big part of the problem) or streaming video on the internet, it's that we didn't have maniacs and sociopaths at all the highest levels of media, medicine, and government running - and ruining - our lives.

Lockdowns, mandates, constantly changing medical recommendations, stolen elections, people dressed up in masks, social distancing rules, government checks doled out like candy, massive budget deficits, rioting and looting characterized by the press as "mostly peaceful" protests, talk of systemic racism, 56 genders, anti-white bias and hatred of "white privilege", media censorship, stock markets that always go up, and now, a mass shooting nearly every day are not normal. Not even close.

30 years ago, normal was a house in the suburbs, two kids, two cars and a dog or cat. People were generally happy, well-adjusted. The government was kind of over the top, but not criminally insane as it is today. Most people had decent jobs, stable lives, prospects for a future for their kids.

Now, what do we have? CRAP. Utter garbage out of the mouths of politicians and the media. A virus that isn't harmful to 99.97% of the population has been unleashed to bring about total control, a return to medievalism, neo-feudalism and slavery. The aim of the fake crisis was to create an environment ruled by fear, uncertainty, and doubt - the fabulous FUD - and, by most measures, the elitists operating behind the faces of the politicians and media mouthpieces have been highly successful.

These people in government and media are not the real enemies. They are just the faces of the new world order. They're all controlled, ordered from another authority to continually frighten, harass, shame, and above all, demean the human spirit. They all have handlers and take orders from people we do not see and do not know. The world is now effectively a massive plantation run by twisted sociopathic monsters.

Do you think Anthony Fauci says the - mostly moronic - things he says because he believes them? Do you think Joe Biden makes policies and decisions for the United States? Get a grip. They have handlers, controllers who design their every word, every action.

People have been scolded, hounded, rounded up, told what to do and when to do it, and most have responded like good little sheep. Don't go out. Don't hug your husband or wife or kids. Wear a mask. Take the jab. Twice. No, make that every six months. Bleat, bleat, bleat.

You go to bed thinking everything is OK, then wake up the next day to realize that the narrative has changed again overnight. People are maskless in Texas and Florida while the province of Ontario wants to lock people down for months on end, still.

This won't end. As soon as you think the crisis is over, the psychopaths will trot out their media minions to scare you with new variants and hold TV specials urging you to get vaccinated with an experimental drug. How sick is that? NBC will air Roll Up You Sleeves Sunday night, featuring politicians, including Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama and his wife, and Hollywood stars urging you to become a guinea pig.

They have to do this because there's a lot of what's called "vaccination hesitancy", otherwise known as "heck no, don't stick me with your Frankenstein potion!" Millions of people aren't getting vaccinated because they neither trust the government, the media, nor the medical community.

Some people get it. Other people get shots. The world is not going back to normal, however that's defined. There is going to be massive dislocation, disruption, and more insanity. If you thought this episode of oligarch madness or the ruling elite versus the serfs was over, forget it. It's just getting new legs. End of rant.

---

Like just about every other week, stocks had ample reason to be on the rise. The Dow was up for the fourth straight week and the 11th in the last 15, which covers all of 2021. By contrast, the NASDAQ has had eight winning weeks in 2021 and seven losers, though it has managed to climb to within 43 points of it's all-time closing high (14,095.47, February 12).

The S&P 500 and NYSE Composite, like the Dow, are now both on four-week winning streaks. For the year, both have been up 10 weeks, down five. The Dow, S&P 500, and NYSE Composite each closed out the week at record highs.

Not only have all the major averages done bang-up so far this year, the gains from the start of November, when the office of the president was decided, have been dramatic, to say the least. Since October 30, which pretty much marked the bottom of a slight downward blip in markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 7,699.07 points, from 26,501.60 to 34,200.67, a 29% rise in just more than five months. Joe Biden? Yes, thank you.

The S&P hasn't skipped a beat either. On October 30, it closed at 3,269.96. Through Friday, it's up 915.51 points, or 28 percent. The NYSE bottomed a few days before the other indices, closing at 12,415.42 on October 28. Through Friday's close at 16,186.29, it's up 3770.87 points, a gain of 30.37%, outdoing the others by a smidge. The NASDAQ, though it's been seen as a laggard, actually isn't. It's October 30 close was 10,911.59. With Friday's close at 14,052.34, it's up only 3140.75 points, 28.78%, a bit better than the Dow, but behind the NYSE and S&P. How will the tech billionaires cope? Anyone with basic match skills might question the probability of all four major indices all up by nearly the same percentage, only 2.37% separating their gains.

Is it rigged? Please, although we've been told "there are no dumb questions," this one actually is. The rich have to get richer, no matter which stocks they own.

The coming week is going to be heavy with fist quarter earnings reports as the bulk of stocks listed on the major exchanges report this week and next. There are simply too many good ones to list. Consult your favorite website or source for all the headlines which are certain to be positive.

With that in mind, there's plenty of evidence that the stimulus checks boosted the stock market and the stimulus is far from over. Most of the $1400 checks to individuals have been sent out (and probably spent), but the ongoing unemployment enhancement and child tax credit adjustment are rolling right along. Unemployed people are getting an addition $300 a week on top of their state benefit. People with kids are doing OK as well. A couple earning less than $150,000 or an individual making under $75,000 is slated to get a $250 monthly payment for each child aged 6 to 17, from July through December. For children under 6, the payment is $300, according to the schedule laid out by the IRS as part of the expanded child tax credit.

It's not like people with kids need any extra money - some do for sure, others largely don't - but it's more of the government's way of letting you know that they control you and, especially, your kids. The expansion of the child tax credit is nothing more than a test run for Universal Basic Income (UBI). Eventually, your kids won't have to work. They'll just get a monthly stipend from the government to pay for their rent, food, video games, cell phone and whatever else people will do in a few years time. That is, until the government figures out how to eliminate them, quietly, little by little, there will be no useless eaters left.

So, buy more stocks. They're good for everything, including little dogs, insects, and even the New York Yankees, losers of four straight through Saturday.

Bonds did their part to keep the stock market flying high with a fairly significant rally at the long end of the treasury curve. Yield on the 10-year note dropped eight basis points, from 1.67% to 1.59% over the course of the week. The 30-year bond yielded 2.26% by Friday, down from 2.34% the prior week, losing eight basis points as well.

Lower yields keep things like stocks on the bid. Fixed income earning less than the dividends on popular stocks is a recipe for huge risk asset purchases. How the Fed manages to keep treasuries in the doghouse is a very nifty trick. Some people actually know how they do it, but they might be sworn to secrecy. For the rest of us, we just marvel at the brilliance of the bond markets and rates that remain lower than inflation, continually debasing the currency until there is no purchasing power left.

On the subject of purchasing power, some Bitcoin hodlers awakened Sunday morning to the horror of a massive price collapse in their pet cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, on the heels of the Coinbase (COIN) IPO, recently topped out at $64,899.00 (Wednesday, April 14), but overnight Saturday into Sunday plummeted as low as $51.300, on reports of a mass power outage in China's Xinjiang province where much of bitcoin mining is done. This sent the hash rate cycling down, negatively affecting the price.

Around the same time, FXHedge tweeted that US regulators were about to charge some financial institutions with money laundering using cryptocurrencies. The tweet wasn't backed up by any credible news and it claimed anonymous sources, which makes is even less believable. Regardless, some people get agitated by FUD, and it wouldn't be a surprise if the story was planted by one of the three-letter agencies or if there's a false-flag event staged to spread fear of crypto. Some banks may get charged with crimes. Nobody will go to jail. There won't even be a trial. just a fine, but the media will be all over it, citing how nothing should be used as currency other than the usual fiat toilet paper.

That's just how they roll (sorry for the unintentional pun).

In any case, the price of Bitcoin has resurfaced, trading back around $56,000, where it was about three weeks ago. A 10-12% overnight price blink isn't anything Bitcoiners haven't seen before. As podcast host Steven Livera tweeted, "Just Bitcoin doing its thing on the way to $10M+." And that's how crypto podcasters roll.

In the commodities space, the price of crude oil (and everything else) was higher over the course of the week. WTI crude hit a four-week high on Thursday when futures closed in New York at $63.46 a barrel. That was up from the previous week's close at $59.32. Friday's trading backed it off a few cents, ending the week at $63.13.

WTI made a double top at just over $66 a barrel in March and has traded in a generally tame manner since coming back down, but with summer driving season on the horizon and many states in the USA reopening businesses and people simply wishing to get out more, there's reason to believe that gas prices will continue to hold at high levels, if not go to ridiculous extremes. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was stable, at 2.87. States along the West coast, plus Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada are all averaging over $3.00 a gallon.

Gold bugs and silver stackers got some welcome relief from recent declines in the prices of precious metals. While rumors of shortages have persisted for months, the LBMA and their daily fixes and naked short selling in the futures markets have forced down precious metals from last August's highs.

Silver gained from $25.22 to close out the week at $26.14 as the LBMA released a report on the status of silver in a report titled Silver Investment 2021 [PDF]. Among other juicy tidbits, the report mentioned that silver bullion in London vaults was at low levels and virtually depleted during the so-called #SilverSqueeze engineered on social media, spearheaded by an unruly gang on reddit.com. Bullionstar.com' Ronan Manly dissected the report, penning an excellent "must read" piece on the website's blog, titled "LBMA acknowledges “Buying Frenzy” in Silver Market and silver shortage Fears."

Gold had a stellar week, rising from $1741.20 to $1774.45 as of Friday's close. With interest rates coming back down on the long end, gold may begin to look like a sensible alternative. Of course, to anybody skeptical of the purchasing power of Federal Reserve Notes or any other fiat currency, gold has always been an extremely attractive alternative and store of wealth.

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

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 39.00 / 49.59 / 43.00 / 42.93
1 oz silver bar: 37.50 / 49.99 / 43.29 / 42.75
1 oz gold coin: 1,889.00 / 2,048.30 / 1,948.82 / 1,937.28
1 oz gold bar: 1,855.50 / 2,021.22 / 1,886.53 / 1,873.82

The results from this week's survey see gold stable, despite rising prices in spot and futures markets. The silver prices have been rather significant, however, reflecting not just the potential shortages in London vaults but the real possibility that shortages may persist for some time. Massive retail buying shows no sign of letting up, as the new Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) improved to $42.99, jumping by more than a dollar from last week's benchmark ($41.71).

On that positive development, that's a WEEKEND WRAP.

AT THE CLOSE, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021:
Dow: 34,200.67, +164.68 (+0.48%)
NASDAQ: 14,052.34, +13.58 (+0.10%)
S&P 500: 4,185.47, +15.05 (+0.36%)
NYSE: 16,186.29, +69.45 (+0.43%)

FOR THE WEEK:
Dow: +400.07 (+1.18%)
NASDAQ: +152.16 (+1.09%)
S&P 500: +56.67 (+1.37%)
NYSE: +229.12 (+1.44%)

Federal Government Keeps Digging $28 Trillion Hole Deeper And Deeper

The Dow, S&P 500, and the NYSE Composite each closed at all-time highs Thursday, as initial unemployment claims fell to the lowest level in over a year and first quarter earnings by financial institution boosted sentiment.

According to the US Department of Labor, 576,000 people filed for initial unemployment claims in the most recent reporting period. That figure is the lowest since March 14, 2020, when new claims totaled 256,000.

Though both finished lower on the day, Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) reported large earnings beats for the first quarter of 2021, largely by drawing down loan loss reserves. The reserves go straight to the bottom line, which is a neat accounting trick in vogue this earnings season. JP Morgan Chase used it to report a near-400% year-over-year EPS gain on Wednesday. While accounting gimmicks may boost a company's bottom line over the short run, they're essentially one-off events, an understanding by Wall Street which resulted in sending the bank stocks lower.

Banks and other companies have to report to shareholders, but that's not the case for the free-spenders in Washington, DC. Congress managed to set two new records in March, neither of which should be cause for celebration by US "shareholders", the American public.

In March 2021, the feds took in $267 billion in tax receipts but managed to spend $927 billion, producing a monthly deficit of $660 billion. The nearly $1 trillion in spending and the mammoth deficit are both record amounts. If the US government was traded publicly as a stock, in normal times it would be drug down and beaten by the Wall Street establishment and be begging for bids.

These, however, are not normal times. The spending and deficit are just more proof that the federal government is completely out of control, about 10 times as large as it should be, and that the people who pass these spending bills don't share an ounce of financial discipline between the lot of them.

The $660 billion just gets lumped into the burgeoning national debt, already at $28 trillion and growing by nearly a trillion dollars per quarter presently.

Media types often blame presidents for growing the debt, but it's congress that has to approve the spending. The president just signs it away, figuratively blowing up the budget with the stroke of a pen. The past few White House occupants have presided over massive spending. Under George W. Bush, the debt nearly doubled, rising from $5.67 trillion in 2000 to just over $10 trillion in 2008. Barack Obama's eight years (2008-2016) nearly doubled it again, to $19.57 trillion. Donald Trump, in his four years, was nearly on track for another doubling had he won a second term. Through fiscal year 2020, the federal debt stood at $26.9 trillion.

Under Biden, his congressional team has been hard at work bankrupting the nation. This year's deficit is already $1.7 trillion, through the first six months of fiscal 2021, and it looks as though it will top the prior year's record of $3.3 trillion. The total debt will be close to, if not beyond, $30 trillion.

Making it personal, since technically, US citizens are on the hook for all this debt (thank you, politicians!), it will amount to over $90,000 per person. To say that we're in debt up to our eyeballs would be an understatement. The country is underwater and drowning and there's no way that massive debt is ever going to be repaid, making all Americans nothing more than debt slaves.

Regardless of the fact that slavery in America was abolished more than 150 years ago, the simple fact is that our own government has run up a debt that puts every man, woman, child, and even unborn generations into financial chains, and we can blame politicians for nearly all of it. In 1913, the year the Federal Reserve System was approved as a central bank by congress and then-president Woodrow Wilson, the total accumulated national debt was just short of $3 billion. The government now spends that in a matter of hours.

World Wars I and II, plus the Great Depression began the borrowing blowout. By 1946, the debt had risen to $269 billion. We scoff at these numbers today as inflation (otherwise known as debasing the currency) has driven economic reality to extremes. Still, in the first 33 years of the Fed, the banking elites had managed to increase the national debt nearly 100-fold. It took another 75 years to increase the debt another 100-fold, putting the government into its present state of insolvency. At the current pace, which happens to be approaching hyperbolic, the government will be borrowing $7 to $10 trillion a year by 2030 and the debt will have risen at least to $65-75 trillion.

Last year, fiscal 2020, interest on the debt alone accounted for more than $500 billion, and that's at ridiculously low interest rates. The size of the federal debt and annual deficits are a primary reason interest rates can never go up again, at least not until some basic laws of mathematics are repealed.

Congress should get to work on that... right after they pass another spending bill and take another two-week recess.

AT THE CLOSE, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2021:
Dow: 34,035.99, +305.10 (+0.90%)
NASDAQ: 14,038.76, +180.92 (+1.31%)
S&P 500: 4,170.42, +45.76 (+1.11%)
NYSE: 16,116.85, +116.70 (+0.73%)

Banks Report Blowout 1Q Earnings, Smashing Expectations by Releasing Loan Loss Reserves

Bank earnings are out. Oh, those paragons of fairness, honesty, and everything good about America. They're kicking in doors and taking names with their first quarter results so far.

Goldman Sachs was the first to rock onward into the second quarter with stunningly-positive results from the first. The investment bank reported revenue of $17.7 billion and GAAP earnings of $18.60 per share, crushing analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Goldman Sachs declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, in line with the previous dividend. The investment banking segment generated record quarterly net revenues of $3.77 billion.

Goldman Sachs was up two percent after the news, but the clincher is how well its done since the start of the manufactured crisis of 2020. The stock has risen from a low of 138 last March to its current price of 335. That's a 142% gain in just over a year's time. Even Bitcoin hodlers can be impressed by those numbers.

JP Morgan Chase, however, really set the tone for the narrative of the current earnings season. By slashing their credit loss reserves by some $5.2 billion - all recorded on the books as profit - they smashed analyst expectations, delivering a quarterly EPS that was nearly 400% better than what they posted in the same period a year ago.

Those results came in on Wednesday. Thursday morning, prior to the opening bell, Bank of America reported, and, right on cue, dropped $2.7 billion from its credit loss reserves, sending that money straight to the profit column. The bank reported EPS of 0.86 per share, as opposed to expectations of 0.65. Without the credit loss provision reclaimed, BAC may have still beaten the estimates, but only by a slim margin.

Citigroup was next up. Net income tripled to $7.94 billion, or $3.62 per share, from $2.54 billion, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $2.60 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

The bank's bottom line was bolstered by its decision to draw down $3.85 billion in reserves it had built up for expected loan losses. So, subtract the reserves from net income and they did $4.09 billion in the quarter. EPS would have been $1.86 per share. Better, but not nearly the blowout quarter they reported.

And so it goes. Banks have everybody believing that the economy is buoyant and thriving and recovering. Other companies in other industries may not meet up to the standards of bang-up earnings the banks have provided because they just don't have as many ways to cook the books.

Sure, it's fine to finally be done with the fake crisis, maybe, and things are getting better, but certainly not as good as the banks' earnings would have one believe.

Stocks are set for a monster open after the Labor Department reported first time jobless claims at 576,000 in the reported week, a one-year low.

Hang on. It's going to be a busy Thursday.

AT THE CLOSE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021:
Dow: 33,730.89, +53.62 (+0.16%)
NASDAQ: 13,857.84, -138.26 (-0.99%)
S&P 500: 4,124.66, -16.93 (-0.41%)
NYSE: 16,000.15, +37.80 (+0.24%)

Bitcoin Surging Prior To Coinbase IPO; CPI Highest In 8 1/2 Years

Two seemingly unrelated stories are today's focus, though they may be more relevant to each other beyond a first glance.

On Tuesday, the BLS reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.4 percent in February. The month-over-month increase was the largest since a 0.6 percent increase in August 2012.

Not seasonally-adjusted, the tally over the past 12 months was 2.6 percent, the highest in 2 1/2 years.

Contributing to the gains were gasoline prices, which were up 22.5% over the past year. Fuel oil and natural gas were respectively 20.2% and 9.8% higher over the same period. Food gained 3.5% and used vehicles gained 9.4%.

Both the Federal Reserve and the White House characterized the increases as temporary, which is what they said last month when the year-over-year number was 1.7%, and the month before that. The problem with "temporary" inflation is that it often becomes permanent. Prices, once they rise, seldom come back down significantly. When they do, the adjustment is either sudden, as in market crashes, or very gradually, as consumers adjust, seek alternatives, or hold back on purchases.

Inflation has been a hot topic since the Fed increased M1 money supply from $4 trillion to $18 trillion in 2020. It is still rising, though at a slower rate, in 2021. Many scholars of economics consider the government numbers to be flawed, as the measure of CPI has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Hedonic adjustments and the overall makeup of the "basket of goods" the government employs contribute to lowering the CPI, which is used to calculate cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for government pensions and social security benefits. Private and public opinions on CPI range from mildly skeptical to calling it outright fabrication.

The other, still developing, story is that of the Coinbase IPO. The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States will begin trading Wednesday on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol COIN. Coinbase boasts 56 million users and the company became profitable in 2020, with growth accelerating in the first quarter of 2021. The exchange handles billions of dollars worth of transactions daily in Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin and other cryptos.

Late Tuesday, the company set a reference price to open at $250 per share in a direct listing, valuing it near $65 billion, well below estimates of $100 cited by some analysts and insiders. The company has foregone the traditional IPO route, instead opting for a direct listing, or DPO (Direct Public Offering), which makes shares available to the general public instead of engaging with a bank and underwriters. This option avoids the usual roadshow and fees while freeing up insider shares with no lockup period. Coinbase is not looking to raise additional capital, but rather to see what the public is willing to pay in a more democratic process. Recent direct listings were undertaken by Spotify and Slack.

Reaction to Coinbase listing as a publicly-traded company has been extremely positive, especially for prices of various cryptocurrencies. Over the past week, Bitcoin, the world leader by market capitalization ($1.2 trillion), has gained 11 percent over the past week, topping out at $64,899.00 Wednesday morning. Being listed on the NASDAQ gives Coinbase and the entire crypto universe credibility as a bona fide asset class.

How the Coinbase listing and the CPI release become interwoven is a matter of imagination and math. The CPI, as a measure of inflation, is based on fiat money in circulation. Since the national debt (actually money owed though bond issuance by the federal government) is a reflection of excessive spending, the more than $28 trillion in debt on the books acts as a drag on the natural economy, measured in fiat, which can be issued without limit. That causes inflation, which is why there is a CPI in the first place.

Most cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin in particular, have a set limit on the amount of issuance. In Bitcoin's case, that number is 21 million. There will never be more than that amount in existence, which adds to its appeal both as currency and as an investible asset. To put the CPI, national debt, and the Coinbase listing in perspective, at Bitcoin's current price and market cap ($1.2 trillion), it would only pay off 4.29% of the national debt.

Another way to look at it would be to figure how much Bitcoin would have to be worth to entirely extinguish the national debt. If all the Bitcoin to be mined (21 million) were mined today, the price of one Bitcoin would have to be $1,333,333.33 in order to pay off what the government owes. This is something the naysayers and no-coiners should bear in mind when dismissing crypto and Bitcoin. Cryptos are better money than what's currently used by the Fed (Federal Reserve Notes, or FRNs, US$) because it cannot be debased, as is happening now and has been happening since the Federal Reserve began issuing its debt notes in 1914.

The idea that some people would prefer a currency that isn't issued by a central bank, has a purchasing power that doesn't depreciate over time, and thus can act as a store of value (wealth) is not new. It's just been out of vogue for the past 100 years or so. Coinbase's public listing and the advance of cryptocurrencies are signals that the time for change is upon us.

AT THE CLOSE, TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021:
Dow: 33,677.27, -68.13 (-0.20%)
NASDAQ: 13,996.10, +146.10 (+1.05%)
S&P 500: 4,141.59, +13.60 (+0.33%)
NYSE: 15,962.34, -15.16 (-0.09%)

Is There An Escape From The Matrix?

Clearly, something is wrong in what we call our world.

In America, we have imposters occupying the highest elected offices in the land. We are told by the propaganda outlet media that we elected these people, but hardly a man or woman alive believes that to be so.

We've spent the past year fighting a disease that kills fewer people than the annual seasonal flu. We've been told to stay indoors, close businesses, curtail travel, stay away from each other, wear masks and follow guidance from health officials that seems to change as often as the weather. All of it has been extremely dehumanizing.

We are living in a world that most people do not recognize. We long for a return to "normal" existence, whatever that was, but it may not be coming back. We're told to prepare for a "new normal," whatever that might be. It's likely to be distasteful to average working folks and profitable to the elitists and schemers who like to believe they have everything under control when it's obvious that they don't.

For instance, if they really had control over things, would there be $28 trillion in debt as shown graphically at the US Debt Clock? That's something difficult to overlook. Americans are told that we're all on the hook for it, but that's not true. The federal government owes that debt to rich people and other countries. Not really our problem, and most people go about their business without thinking much - if at all - about the burdensome debt overhanging what is essentially a bankrupt, insolvent government.

Instead, we have our own issues and our own debt. We're told that if we continue to make our mortgage payments, eventually, we will own our homes and have vast wealth. As of the fourth quarter of 2020, the median home price in the United States was $346,800. A down payment of 20%, or $70,000, gets one into such a place, granted he or she (usually two people, married) has excellent credit and enough income to make the payments.

Buy a home. Boom, all of a sudden, you're stuck in the matrix to the tune of $1,167 every month for the next 30 years. That's 360 payments totaling $420,120, and that's just the principal and interest. There's upkeep, property taxes, insurance, and the constant inner and external nagging about keeping your credit score high. Don't miss a payment, and, by the grace of God, don't ever lose your job or think about quitting it. You're stuck there and there's no escape.

Certainly, in what we call the real world, there's no chance to get out of what we used to call the "rat race." We now call it - because we're so much more sophisticated and conditioned by fear - the matrix. We can thank two sisters, Lana and Lilly Wachowski for the screenplay that brought about The Matrix series of films and a conceptualization of what our world really is. It was some groundbreaking work and most people are familiar with the story or at least the understanding of being trapped within a system.

Here's the original 1999 trailer:

Predecessors to the matrix "meme" were other dystopian realities, reflected in the works of George Orwell (1984), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), Franz Kafka (The Trial), and Jean-Paul Sartre (No Exit). Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot was a satirical drama written in 1952 which explored the frustrations of living in an uncontrolled reality.

Thus, the concept of being trapped or encaged or under the thumb of oppressive government or society is nothing new. We've been at this point for centuries, but today, it just seems to be worse than ever and maybe it is.

Financially, few can escape. Being very rich has virtues all its own, but there's the slavery of taxation at every turn, the banking system, differentiating currencies and plenty to worry about. Moving to another country may solve part of the problem, and there may be fewer restrictions on one's freedoms in other places, but few can afford to take advantage of such a luxury.

So, we're stuck here in the matrix. Perhaps the only way out is to free one's mind. It's at least worth a try and there are more than jsut a few people who have made their minds up about how they're going to deal with the rules and restrictions, the taxes and penalties for non-conforming, the stomping foot of authoritarianism.

Kirstie Pursey provides a step-by-step approach to freeing one's mind and offers some interesting observations.

The approach is similar to that of author, Carlos Castaneda, who ushered in new age understanding in his writings, especially in his seminal works, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, 1968,
A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan, 1971, and Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, 1972.

Here is a selection of his quotations to help get to another level of knowledge and understanding, the beginning of enlightenment, and a forwardly-alternative approach to modern existence.

“Things don’t change, only the way you look at them.” - Carlos Castaneda

The point is that to escape the matrix of the modern world, as expressed in almost all of the references above, one needs to look inside as well as outside one's own perception. That is the beginning. How one proceeds from there is on a path of one's own making.

... to be continued.

AT THE CLOSE, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2021:
Dow: 33,745.40, -55.20 (-0.16%)
NASDAQ: 13,850.00, -50.19 (-0.36%)
S&P 500: 4,127.99, -0.81 (-0.02%)
NYSE: 15,977.46, +21.09 (+0.13%)