75 years ago today, the first nuclear bomb was used in warfare, as the United States dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the US did the same to the Japanese city of Nagasaki with a nuclear device known by the nickname "Fat Man." Together, the two bombs ushered in a quick end to World War II in the Pacific, with Japan surrendering on August 15, and formally signing the instrument of surrender on September 2, aboard the USS Missouri, harbored in Tokyo Bay.
The 13-kiloton blast on Hiroshima destroyed nearly 5 square miles of the Japanese city. Upwards of 70,000 died instantly, and tens of thousands later perished from injury and radiation sickness. Though no official count was ever undertaken, estimates near 150,000 total killed are common.
No other nuclear device has ever been used in military combat since the two that ended World War II. Today's nuclear weapons are orders of magnitude more powerful than the two dropped on Japan. According to a 2104 article by the Brookings Institute, the largest ballistic missile warhead in the US arsenal is 455 kilotons on the W88, carried by the Trident II SLBM. The B83 nuclear weapon, which is the largest nuclear weapon currently in the U.S. stockpile is estimated at 1.2 megatons, 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, "Little Boy."
While these explosions occurred 75 years ago, there's another explosion evident today, that being the one in the price of silver, which is up more than 50 percent in just the last 30 days.
Overnight, the price of an ounce of silver not only passed $27 an ounce, it surpassed $28 per ounce. As of this writing, the bid price on August silver futures is $28.22. As is the case with gold, getting physical metal at anywhere near the futures or spot prices is basically an impossibility.
For instance, there's little availability of gold in bars or coins of over one ounce at dealers worldwide. Typical prices for one ounce gold coins or bars carries a premium of roughly $100 beyond spot. Silver is even more dear, with 30-40% premiums common. Typical prices for one ounce coins or bars is $34 and higher.
Money Daily has outlined the reasons for silver and gold's spectacular gains this year in previous posts, mostly attributing the rise to destruction of fiat currencies by incessant central bank counterfeiting and negative real interest rates. Outstripping every other asset this year, precious metals are just beginning what is likely to become known as the greatest rally ever.
The Federal Reserve, trapped into a corner of their own making, cannot do anything except prop up their favored equity and fixed-income markets via special buying programs that are essentially illegal and serve only as a temporary reprieve for companies that are insolvent and should be headed to bankruptcy. Beyond the roughly 30-40% of listed companies that are technically "zombies" - meaning current profits are not enough to pay the interest on their debt - US and other significant international banks have been frantically ramping up their loan loss reserves while also having taken advantage of handouts from the Federal Reserve.
Gold and silver's ascent is a signal the the entire monetary system of the planet - all based on faith and credit - is about to collapse. As it is, stocks are only being kept afloat by the Federal Reserve's ZIRP and special bond-buying programs. Their next step is to buy stocks directly, another violation of their charter. The same is being done in Europe and Asia. Japan and Switzerland have been buyers of equities for years.
It's not just big money institutional investors who see the damage being done to the global currency regime. Ordinary people are losing faith in the dollar, euro, pound, Swiss franc, yen, and China's yuan, though the US dollar has been the hardest hit recently when measured against other currencies.
Gold has been making record highs against all other currencies for months and years. Just last week gold topped the all-time high against the dollar, signaling that the real rout of all currencies is just beginning. Silver hasn't even come close to its record high of $49 an ounce, though it certainly will, probably early in 2021, if not sooner. The rocket-like nature of silver's price explosion gives credence to current thinking that it is the gentleman's way of saying good-bye to other currencies.
There's an old adage that goes something like this:
Gold is the money of kings.
Silver is the money of gentlemen.
Copper is the money of commoners.
Debt is the money of slaves.
Smart money is on gold and silver replacing the fiat currencies within one to three years.
You can have your stocks, your bonds, your Federal Reserve Notes, but gold and silver are blowing them all away. If you don't own physical gold or silver or other tradable hard assets within the next few years, you're going to be out of luck and likely out of money.
Right now, the economic wheels are wobbling on their axles. When they finally fall off - and they will - chaos will ensue. We've seen nothing yet.
At the close, Wednesday, August 5, 2020:
Dow: 27,201.52, +373.05 (+1.39%)
NASDAQ: 10,998.40, +57.23 (+0.52%)
S&P 500: 3,327.77, +21.26 (+0.64%)
NYSE: 12,731.55, +119.46 (+0.95%)
Showing posts with label Hiroshima. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiroshima. Show all posts
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