The level of fraud in the scientific community is absolutely out of control. It's even beyond that of the government and media, though the media probably holds the title of most disingenuous as it lies or distorts on practically everything.
On Friday, yet another clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine was halted, this time by the National Institutes of Health.
Citing that the drug has no ill effects on hospitalized patients - in opposition to previously unfounded claims that HCQ was dangerous - a data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) said the drug offered no benefit to hospitalized patients.
It's too bad that the mainstream medical authorities have to be so obviously stupid. HCQ is used as a preventative medicine. It helps the immune system fight off coronavirus, especially when used in a regular regimen with zinc and Azithromycin when asymptomatic or in early stages of infection as this study and many others have clearly shown.
Instead, the NIH, CDC, WHO and other "official" medical bodies refuse to release the proof of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as what doctors call a prophylactic remedy, insisting that COVID-19 is a deadly disease and that billions must be spent in search of a vaccine, when they know a vaccine will likely never be developed.
These people, who first told the world that wearing a mask was a waste of time, then promoted the use of masks when it suited their purposes, should all be met with swift justice because it is they, not the virus, who are causing countless deaths that could have been saved if proper preventive measures had been taken. They, and the media which continues to promote COVID-19, lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, absurdities like not allowing fans into sporting events, keeping restaurant customers six feet apart and other ridiculous notions should be tried for operating a criminal conspiracy.
Even this post, because it violates the dictatorial policy of Google, Twitter, or Facebook may be deemed conspiracy theory or in violation of their standards may be labeled with a warning or removed from public view.
The virus is a total scam. The rising cries of a coming "second wave" are nothing more than another attempt to scare people into rash behaviors using slanted statistics while playing on emotions. Places like Georgia, Texas, and Arizona have been cited as possible new hotspots for the virus, but the truth of the matter is that more testing has produced more cases, therefore increasing the daily bogus coronavirus counts. Additionally, all of the various tests have proven to show an abundance of false positives. Hospitalization and death statistics have been overstated since the beginning of the pandemic.
In other words, almost all of the data and scare-mongering from the media is bunk. Complete rubbish. Take off your masks and start living like a human being again. The chances of catching the virus are slim. It has mutated numerous times and most strains circulating are severe or deadly only to people over the age of 60 who have pre-existing health conditions or are obese, suffer from diabetes or heart disease. The general population is in no more danger from COVID-19 than from the common flu.
Get over it. Move on. Tell anybody who disagrees to take their opinions elsewhere. As it stands, there's no baseball this summer and there may not be football this fall. All this pandemic nonsense is about as important and vital as the BLM/Antifa protests. All of it needs to stop and the media is largely to blame for promoting false narratives.
The absurdities were on display at yesterday's Belmont Stakes, where no spectators were allowed into the sprawling Belmont Park facility and everybody on the grounds - except the horses - were required to wear masks. Even jockeys had to wear masks during the races. Please, somebody explain how a rider traveling at 25 to 40 miles per hour is going to catch the virus. It's as bad as the idiots who wear their masks while driving in their cars with the windows rolled up. Stupid. Banal. Idiotic. Is the world really populated by that many morons? If so, maybe the virus should relieve us of 30-40% of the population. More room for everybody. Happy days!
It's just all so annoying and stupid. This post was originally going to be about gold and silver, but the news of yet another HCQ trial being shut down changed those plans.
Go and check your local pharmacy or drug store or vitamin center. They're out of ZINC. Yeah, ZINC. Apparently, some people aren't buying the "we're all gonna die" narrative being shoved down the throats of the unsuspecting public. As the thrust of Money Daily posts over the past few days and weeks have been stressing, the media and government are doing you no good. You need to extricate yourself and your family from the clutches of creeping socialism and outright tyranny.
Let's get away from those who wish only to control everything and move forward to better lives. There is so much the word has to offer, having it ruined by a small minority of psychopathic monsters is a sin and an outrage.
Moving on to the markets and financial world from the week just past, stocks seem to have hit a stall space. The major indices, while all advancing for the week, have not recovered fully from the downdraft of Thursday, June 11. This week's gains were made mainly on Monday and Tuesday. Things slowed down in midweek and by Friday the bloom was off the rose once again.
Not to worry. There's a huge chance that the news will be cocked forward to produce a running start for the major averages and bourses around the world Monday morning. It's just how the Fed and the algorithm-pumping mechanisms operate these days. There's no market. There's no need to study charts or engage in fundamental analysis. Everything is fake, crooked, corrupted.
There is somewhat of a silver lining approaching for people who don't appreciate ever-rising stock prices when companies are showing dwindling profits or actually losing money, however. In a few weeks, publicly-traded companies will be releasing their second quarter financial reports and many of them figure to be absolute dumpster-diving material.
There's been a chart circulating recently showing the number of "zombie" corporations steadily increasing to a point at which nearly one in five US companies are insolvent. A zombie company is loosely defined as a business that has to borrow to survive and doesn’t make enough profit to cover the cost of its debt service. Simply put, these are companies being kept afloat by banks, or the Fed, or both. If it were possible to actually make sense of the books of large commercial banks like Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC) and Citibank (C) it's probable that the banks themselves would be zombies, underwater and headed to bankruptcy if not for the largesse afford them by the Federal Reserve.
The outcome from keeping zombie companies afloat is lower, slower growth in the overall economy. The Fed is actually exacerbating the effects of ultra-low interest rates and keeping insolvent companies alive with the most recent emergency measures that have the Federal Reserve buying debt from ETFs and corporate paper of individual (healthy and failing) companies. The Fed is also buying up municipal debt and may be positioning itself to fund states and cities that have deep budget deficits and buying individual stocks. Yes, the Fed may soon be buying stocks. And who said the markets weren't manipulated?
The bottom line is that we have a central bank producing counterfeit currency to buy assets offered by insolvent companies. Making matters worse, is that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow believe the companies that have received bailouts or funding from the Cares Act should not be disclosed to the public. So, on top of it all, the underhanded workings of the government, the Fed and big business should be kept secret. Nice. Not.
Treasuries basically spent the week flopping around like a landed fish. The yield spread for the entire curve, from 1-month to 30 years ended at 1.31% on Friday, June 12. As of this past Friday (June 19) the spread was 1.34%. Some steepening, but not notable. The 10-year note ended the week one basis point lower than the previous Friday, at 0.70%.
The July futures contract for WTI crude oil closed at a three-month high Friday, at $39.75 a barrel. Like the stock market, oil prices have engaged in a V-shaped rebound, the bottom coming in mid-April when oil hit $11.57 a barrel. While there has been some demand recovery, there's still a worldwide overhang of supply. The price of oil, with almost a direct pathway to gas prices, is another manufactured number. Most US shale producers can't survive below $50 a barrel, much less $40. Thanks to renewables like solar, wind, and hydro-electric, the oil business is dying a slow death. There's abundant resources available, but inroads have been made by so-called "green energy", and efficiencies in newer vehicles are crimping the use of oil and distillates. In an economy on a slowing glide path, there's no good reason for oil prices to rise other than to support the ailing old companies that rely on pumping and consumer use of the greasy stuff.
In the precious metals space, both gold and silver were dumped in the futures market on Monday and then rallied over the course of the week. Silver, despite a generally positive end to the week, closed at the lowest week-ending price ($17.52) since May 11. Since the March 19 bottoming at $12 an ounce, the trend has been higher, though it's been a slow grind despite high demand, shortages, huge premiums, and shipping delays.
Gold was flattened to $1710.45 on Monday, but rebounded to the high of the week at the close of business in New York Friday, at $1734.75. Like silver, gold has been rangebound since mid-April, suggesting a breakout on the horizon, though it could go either way.
Here are the latest free market prices for select items on eBay (prices include shipping, which is often free):
Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 26.50 / 39.90 / 31.52 / 31.12
1 oz silver bar: 24.75 / 46.00 / 31.35 / 28.70
1 oz gold coin: 1,803.85 / 1,963.52 / 1,875.30 / 1,865.36
1 oz gold bar: 1,780.00 / 1,852.38 / 1,833.92 / 1,840.45
Finally, Fearless Rick nailed the trifecta in the Belmont Stakes, making a public pick prior to the race for everyone. Such generosity! What a guy!
At the close, Friday, June 19, 2020:
Dow: 25,871.46, -208.64 (-0.80%)
NASDAQ: 9,946.12, +3.07 (+0.03%)
S&P 500: 3,097.74, -17.60 (-0.56%)
NYSE: 11,980.12, -92.48 (-0.77%)
For the Week:
Dow: +265.92 (+1.04%)
NASDAQ: +357.31 (+3.73%)
S&P 500: +56.43 (+1.86%)
NYSE: +112.95 (+0.95%)
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Friday, June 19, 2020
The Fifth Rail of Your Own Protest Movement and Freedom Is Solar Power
Thursday's post, How to Become Your Own Protest Movement, received very favorable responses and readership, as four ways to escape the tyranny of government were presented as Planting a Garden, Starting Your Own Business, Homeschooling, and Investing in Gold, Silver and Cash.
The cursory overview supplied plenty to expand upon, but with those four key components, overlooked was a key component to freedom, Becoming Your Own Energy Producer.
A brief overview of yesterday's fake, controlled, contrived, Fed-and-algo-induced markets will come at the end of this post, but let's take a look at the obvious energy source for independent thinkers, solar.
Solar power has been with us a long time. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. They were used to supply hot water for the first family and White House cafeteria.
In 1986, President Reagan, not a fan of solar power, had them removed. But, in 2002, the Bush administration installed solar water heaters on the Cabana’s roof to heat the White House pool and more solar photovoltaic panels were also installed on the White House roof in 2014 and they remain in use today.
Over forty years have passed and solar technology has exceeded all expectations, to a point at which it is now on a par - or in some cases cheaper - than energy produced by traditional coal or natural gas power plants.
Single-family use of solar panels has been on the rise for years, and prices for photovoltaic panels are now approaching $1 per watt, which is pretty cheap, or for a 100-watt panel, about $100. A single 100-watt panel can produce nearly a kilowatt (1000 watts) of clean power per day, and many panels now work well even on cloudy days.
Solar panels will even produce a small amount of electricity on clear nights with a full or nearly full moon. There are even solar panels designed to be efficient at generating electricity from moonlight.
There are countless studies on solar and it's efficiency, all of them showing vast improvement from the early pioneering days of the 1970s.
Connecting to the power grid is also optional, though many advanced users are now powering their homes almost completely with solar and the amazing power of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer battery banks which can store the power produced by the panels and convert it from DC to AC.
Of course, as more people convert to at least partial solar power, governments and power companies have fought the trend with various tax bills, permitting, and penalties for people who generate their own power and, in 2016, congress extended the tax credit for solar installations, but the credit is reduced to 26% (from 30%) in 2020, and to 22% in 2021. After that, the credit will be 10%.
In addition to providing cheap, renewable power, solar panels and an operating inverter/battery system can increase the value of your home.
This topic cannot be sufficiently explained in one article. There are many varied uses and types of solar power available to consumers. Those will be covered in subsequent posts, but adding energy independence to your cache of freedom materials is a sure-fire way to thwart the unequal system of governance and economy the US and other countries have promoted.
Instead of everybody relying on one big power producer, solar offers a distributed system whereby individuals, families and businesses can produce their own power at very reasonable costs. The fluctuations of a voltage regulator attached to your own solar panels serves as a near-constant reminder that you are freeing yourself from the corrupt, slavish system.
As far as stocks are concerned, they were nearly flat on Thursday, but Friday being a quad-witching day, there's likely to be a pretty good lift via the algorithms and some Fed pumping.
Oil, which continues to stubbornly increase in price despite constant nibbling away of demand is currently testing $40 for WTI crude, a ridiculous number that should have everybody thinking electric cars powered by home solar panels. The price of oil will continue to rise as countries and industries dependent on pumping it from the ground refuse to face reality and cut production, limiting supply. The oil market is probably more crooked than stock markets and has little to do with actual supply (there's a huge glut) and demand (it continues to decline).
Oil should be $20 a barrel or less in the US, and gas at the pump should be approaching $1.25 a gallon. Instead, both prices continue to rise as oil companies and state and federal tax revenues are choking to death with lower prices. Expect major disturbances and disruptions in supply and price over the coming months and years as the world transitions away from oil.
Gold and silver continue rangebound as the manipulators suppress the price of precious metals over fears that they will replace their unbacked currencies.
Change must happen. Those who oppose change will be effected with severe consequences.
At the Close, Thursday, June 18, 2020:
Dow: 26,080.10, -39.50 (-0.15%)
NASDAQ: 9,943.05, +32.52 (+0.33%)
S&P 500: 3,115.34, +1.85 (+0.06%)
NYSE: 12,072.59, -13.91 (-0.12%)
The cursory overview supplied plenty to expand upon, but with those four key components, overlooked was a key component to freedom, Becoming Your Own Energy Producer.
A brief overview of yesterday's fake, controlled, contrived, Fed-and-algo-induced markets will come at the end of this post, but let's take a look at the obvious energy source for independent thinkers, solar.
Solar power has been with us a long time. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. They were used to supply hot water for the first family and White House cafeteria.
In 1986, President Reagan, not a fan of solar power, had them removed. But, in 2002, the Bush administration installed solar water heaters on the Cabana’s roof to heat the White House pool and more solar photovoltaic panels were also installed on the White House roof in 2014 and they remain in use today.
Over forty years have passed and solar technology has exceeded all expectations, to a point at which it is now on a par - or in some cases cheaper - than energy produced by traditional coal or natural gas power plants.
Single-family use of solar panels has been on the rise for years, and prices for photovoltaic panels are now approaching $1 per watt, which is pretty cheap, or for a 100-watt panel, about $100. A single 100-watt panel can produce nearly a kilowatt (1000 watts) of clean power per day, and many panels now work well even on cloudy days.
Solar panels will even produce a small amount of electricity on clear nights with a full or nearly full moon. There are even solar panels designed to be efficient at generating electricity from moonlight.
There are countless studies on solar and it's efficiency, all of them showing vast improvement from the early pioneering days of the 1970s.
Connecting to the power grid is also optional, though many advanced users are now powering their homes almost completely with solar and the amazing power of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer battery banks which can store the power produced by the panels and convert it from DC to AC.
Of course, as more people convert to at least partial solar power, governments and power companies have fought the trend with various tax bills, permitting, and penalties for people who generate their own power and, in 2016, congress extended the tax credit for solar installations, but the credit is reduced to 26% (from 30%) in 2020, and to 22% in 2021. After that, the credit will be 10%.
In addition to providing cheap, renewable power, solar panels and an operating inverter/battery system can increase the value of your home.
This topic cannot be sufficiently explained in one article. There are many varied uses and types of solar power available to consumers. Those will be covered in subsequent posts, but adding energy independence to your cache of freedom materials is a sure-fire way to thwart the unequal system of governance and economy the US and other countries have promoted.
Instead of everybody relying on one big power producer, solar offers a distributed system whereby individuals, families and businesses can produce their own power at very reasonable costs. The fluctuations of a voltage regulator attached to your own solar panels serves as a near-constant reminder that you are freeing yourself from the corrupt, slavish system.
As far as stocks are concerned, they were nearly flat on Thursday, but Friday being a quad-witching day, there's likely to be a pretty good lift via the algorithms and some Fed pumping.
Oil, which continues to stubbornly increase in price despite constant nibbling away of demand is currently testing $40 for WTI crude, a ridiculous number that should have everybody thinking electric cars powered by home solar panels. The price of oil will continue to rise as countries and industries dependent on pumping it from the ground refuse to face reality and cut production, limiting supply. The oil market is probably more crooked than stock markets and has little to do with actual supply (there's a huge glut) and demand (it continues to decline).
Oil should be $20 a barrel or less in the US, and gas at the pump should be approaching $1.25 a gallon. Instead, both prices continue to rise as oil companies and state and federal tax revenues are choking to death with lower prices. Expect major disturbances and disruptions in supply and price over the coming months and years as the world transitions away from oil.
Gold and silver continue rangebound as the manipulators suppress the price of precious metals over fears that they will replace their unbacked currencies.
Change must happen. Those who oppose change will be effected with severe consequences.
At the Close, Thursday, June 18, 2020:
Dow: 26,080.10, -39.50 (-0.15%)
NASDAQ: 9,943.05, +32.52 (+0.33%)
S&P 500: 3,115.34, +1.85 (+0.06%)
NYSE: 12,072.59, -13.91 (-0.12%)
Thursday, June 18, 2020
How to Become Your Own Protest Movement
Albert Einstein once described insanity as "...doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
That would be applicable to describe voting in America. Every two years Americans have the opportunity to replace every inefficient member of congress in the House of Representatives. Instead, the voters in 435 congressional districts largely re-elect the same people who have done nothing for them - in some cases - for decades.
For the Senate, the term is six years. Incumbents often win re-election and since there are no term limits, many make careers out of their government "service," becoming inordinately wealthy (as do many House members) in the process.
Americans elect a president every four years, choosing between the choices made largely by Democrat and Republican party insiders. They come and go. Most of them are not effective leaders. The current one, Donald J. Trump, may have been different, but it seems that he too has been co-opted by the deep state that controls all of the federal government, and thus, most of the day-to-day lives of Americans.
The same applies to the governors of the fifty states, legislatures of same, county executives, mayors of cities, all the way down to your local code enforcement officers, police, and school teachers.
What congress and the president and every other elected official in the states and counties does matters. What matters more is what they don't do, and that is representing their constituents. Instead, members of the House and Senate are bought and paid for by lobbyists, industry insiders, political donors, corporate interests, and special interests. They haven't done much good for the American people in decades. Polls routinely show approval of congress in the teens. The teens! Less than one in five people of voting age approve of what congress does, so, the question one must ask is, why do we go along with their legislation? Why do we agree to their schemes, plans, rules and regulations like the hated Affordable Care Act, or the president's trade policies, wage rules, income taxes, pat-downs at airports, and all the rest?
Why? Because most Americans are either too brainwashed, too busy, or too self-absorbed to do any critical thinking of their own. The national public school system has been breeding ignorance, incompetence, and lack of responsibility for decades. Standards have been lowered so that students pass to the next level without any learning and certainly without learning how to engage in critical thinking. Everybody just goes along to get along.
Thus, America has become a nation of zombies, or sheep, led along by the nose to do what the elite in government expect. It has to change, because, as Einstein posited years ago, it's insanity. And, it's destroying the country and the society.
A movement is needed to change the structure and thrust of never-ending government. It does not have to be an organized effort like Black Lives Matter, or some pink initiative, or even have a Twitter hashtag. There are specific things anybody can do, on their own, to thwart the unrelenting intrusion of government into our lives and become your own protest movement.
Here, in no particular order, are just a few:
1. Plant a garden. Growing your own food not only saves you money and is healthier for you, it is liberating in a very real, earthy sense. Getting closer to nature, seeing seeds or small sprouts grow into thriving plants producing rich, delicious, nutritious tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn, and anything else you might desire is a rewarding, inspiring experience. Nothing tastes better than food you raised yourself. Besides being almost free, most of it is better than what you can purchase (at ever higher prices) from your local grocery.
Use heirloom seeds or seedlings whenever possible. Hybrids should be avoided because they are mostly GMO, provide little in the way of nutrition and don't taste as good as fruits and vegetables from heirloom sources. Other things you can do are raise chickens (farm fresh eggs are much better for you) or rabbits, or, for the truly adventurous, cattle or hogs. At the very least, buy produce direct from local farmers or farm markets.
2. Start your own business. Just because the government wants you to be a wage slave and work according to a set schedule for hourly wages that are inordinately insufficient and overtaxed doesn't mean you have to. Working for oneself is a challenging endeavor, but it doesn't have to be large scale. Start small. If you have to, keep your regular job and do your own thing on your own time. Do something you like. Make things or create services that people can use. In the beginning, you can sell at a small profit just to get the ball rolling.
There's nothing as thrilling or personally uplifting as getting paid for something you made on your own. Opportunities for small businesses are everywhere. Go to any department or dollar store and see the cheap junk made in China that people are buying. You'll find many items you can make and sell yourself. If you have a specific skill, all the better. Even mowing your neighbor's lawns or doing house-cleaning puts you in the status of a business owner. And, when you get paid, the money is all yours. You can choose whether or to to pay taxes and remit your "contributions" to the broken social security and medical systems the government routinely extracts from your paycheck.
Besides the obvious benefit of making your own way on your own terms, working your own hours, there are tax benefits galore for home businesses. You can write off expenses and reduce your overall tax burden. If you operate at a loss, it reduces the amount of tax you pay. If a local official tells you you need a license, file a lawsuit against them for restraint of trade. The lessons you'll learn about the court system will be invaluable.
3. Homeschool. Get your kids out of the public idiot factories. Public schools used to be pretty good, back in the 50s and 60s, maybe, in some districts, even into the 70s. Those days are long gone. The public schools of today are nothing more than indoctrination centers, gulags for adolescents. Children are forced to play by the rules, trained not to question authority, and expected to accept doctrinaire faux science as truth, without questioning. Kids are ridiculed for being smart, for being different, and the best students are routinely slowed down to match the median or common denominator. The goal of public education is to create generations of mindless drones who are easily coerced to do anything demanded by those in positions of power. Reject it. Take your kids out of the public schools and educate them yourselves or with your neighbors. Not only will your kids learn more, faster, but your own education will be enhanced. The internet is overflowing with ideas, lesson plans, and source materials for homeschoolers.
There's no reason to keep your children in public schools, especially now that they're mostly closed and operating remotely. Nobody needs a degree or certificate to get along in this country or this world. What's needed is education and skills. You can teach them as well as any self-serving, overpaid public school teacher. And your kids can learn better, learn to ask probing questions, learn how to think critically.
4. Escape the Currency Cabal. The currency (Most people call our Federal Reserve Notes - those paper things with pictures of presidents on them - money, but it's not. It's currency.) we use in America is not even constitutionally-sanctioned. According to the US constitution, only gold and silver are money in America. Being that it's currently impractical to abandon the accepted Federal Reserve Notes currency completely, at least educate yourself on the workings of money and currency. A good place to start is at the website of Mike Maloney, goldsilver.com. There's a wealth of information there.
If you don't own any gold or silver, get some. You don't have to spend a fortune. For less than $50 you can hold in your hands real money in the form of silver coins or bars, or what's referred to as "junk silver", coins that were in circulation prior to 1965 that contain 90% silver. You can buy gold and/or silver (gold is much more expensive, and silver offers better investment potential) from dealers across the country or right in your town or city. The best marketplace online is at eBay. There, you will find everything from one ounce silver coins and bars to massive bars of gold. It's almost a guarantee that once you hold real gold or silver in your hands, you'll want more of it and less of the fake, fiat currency that is widely in use today and is bound to buy less tomorrow than it is today.
It also wouldn't be a bad idea to horde some cash for emergencies or "out of the system" purchases. Governments hate actual, physical cash. They can't track it or you. Cash, gold, silver and the secret weapon, barter, renders their desire for control over you useless.
These are probably the top four ways to escape the clutches of over-reaching government control. There are many more. Since the financial system is hopelessly broken and controlled by computer algorithms, big banks and the Federal Reserve, it's almost pointless to focus on those markets. Instead, Money Daily hopes to delve into more ways in which regular, honest Americans can become their own protest movement and really make changes for a better America and a better world.
At the Close, Wednesday, June 17, 2020:
Dow: 26,119.61, -170.37 (-0.65%)
NASDAQ: 9,910.53, +14.66 (+0.15%)
S&P 500: 3,113.49, -11.25 (-0.36%)
NYSE: 12,086.49, -74.99 (-0.62%)
That would be applicable to describe voting in America. Every two years Americans have the opportunity to replace every inefficient member of congress in the House of Representatives. Instead, the voters in 435 congressional districts largely re-elect the same people who have done nothing for them - in some cases - for decades.
For the Senate, the term is six years. Incumbents often win re-election and since there are no term limits, many make careers out of their government "service," becoming inordinately wealthy (as do many House members) in the process.
Americans elect a president every four years, choosing between the choices made largely by Democrat and Republican party insiders. They come and go. Most of them are not effective leaders. The current one, Donald J. Trump, may have been different, but it seems that he too has been co-opted by the deep state that controls all of the federal government, and thus, most of the day-to-day lives of Americans.
The same applies to the governors of the fifty states, legislatures of same, county executives, mayors of cities, all the way down to your local code enforcement officers, police, and school teachers.
What congress and the president and every other elected official in the states and counties does matters. What matters more is what they don't do, and that is representing their constituents. Instead, members of the House and Senate are bought and paid for by lobbyists, industry insiders, political donors, corporate interests, and special interests. They haven't done much good for the American people in decades. Polls routinely show approval of congress in the teens. The teens! Less than one in five people of voting age approve of what congress does, so, the question one must ask is, why do we go along with their legislation? Why do we agree to their schemes, plans, rules and regulations like the hated Affordable Care Act, or the president's trade policies, wage rules, income taxes, pat-downs at airports, and all the rest?
Why? Because most Americans are either too brainwashed, too busy, or too self-absorbed to do any critical thinking of their own. The national public school system has been breeding ignorance, incompetence, and lack of responsibility for decades. Standards have been lowered so that students pass to the next level without any learning and certainly without learning how to engage in critical thinking. Everybody just goes along to get along.
Thus, America has become a nation of zombies, or sheep, led along by the nose to do what the elite in government expect. It has to change, because, as Einstein posited years ago, it's insanity. And, it's destroying the country and the society.
A movement is needed to change the structure and thrust of never-ending government. It does not have to be an organized effort like Black Lives Matter, or some pink initiative, or even have a Twitter hashtag. There are specific things anybody can do, on their own, to thwart the unrelenting intrusion of government into our lives and become your own protest movement.
Here, in no particular order, are just a few:
1. Plant a garden. Growing your own food not only saves you money and is healthier for you, it is liberating in a very real, earthy sense. Getting closer to nature, seeing seeds or small sprouts grow into thriving plants producing rich, delicious, nutritious tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn, and anything else you might desire is a rewarding, inspiring experience. Nothing tastes better than food you raised yourself. Besides being almost free, most of it is better than what you can purchase (at ever higher prices) from your local grocery.
Use heirloom seeds or seedlings whenever possible. Hybrids should be avoided because they are mostly GMO, provide little in the way of nutrition and don't taste as good as fruits and vegetables from heirloom sources. Other things you can do are raise chickens (farm fresh eggs are much better for you) or rabbits, or, for the truly adventurous, cattle or hogs. At the very least, buy produce direct from local farmers or farm markets.
2. Start your own business. Just because the government wants you to be a wage slave and work according to a set schedule for hourly wages that are inordinately insufficient and overtaxed doesn't mean you have to. Working for oneself is a challenging endeavor, but it doesn't have to be large scale. Start small. If you have to, keep your regular job and do your own thing on your own time. Do something you like. Make things or create services that people can use. In the beginning, you can sell at a small profit just to get the ball rolling.
There's nothing as thrilling or personally uplifting as getting paid for something you made on your own. Opportunities for small businesses are everywhere. Go to any department or dollar store and see the cheap junk made in China that people are buying. You'll find many items you can make and sell yourself. If you have a specific skill, all the better. Even mowing your neighbor's lawns or doing house-cleaning puts you in the status of a business owner. And, when you get paid, the money is all yours. You can choose whether or to to pay taxes and remit your "contributions" to the broken social security and medical systems the government routinely extracts from your paycheck.
Besides the obvious benefit of making your own way on your own terms, working your own hours, there are tax benefits galore for home businesses. You can write off expenses and reduce your overall tax burden. If you operate at a loss, it reduces the amount of tax you pay. If a local official tells you you need a license, file a lawsuit against them for restraint of trade. The lessons you'll learn about the court system will be invaluable.
3. Homeschool. Get your kids out of the public idiot factories. Public schools used to be pretty good, back in the 50s and 60s, maybe, in some districts, even into the 70s. Those days are long gone. The public schools of today are nothing more than indoctrination centers, gulags for adolescents. Children are forced to play by the rules, trained not to question authority, and expected to accept doctrinaire faux science as truth, without questioning. Kids are ridiculed for being smart, for being different, and the best students are routinely slowed down to match the median or common denominator. The goal of public education is to create generations of mindless drones who are easily coerced to do anything demanded by those in positions of power. Reject it. Take your kids out of the public schools and educate them yourselves or with your neighbors. Not only will your kids learn more, faster, but your own education will be enhanced. The internet is overflowing with ideas, lesson plans, and source materials for homeschoolers.
There's no reason to keep your children in public schools, especially now that they're mostly closed and operating remotely. Nobody needs a degree or certificate to get along in this country or this world. What's needed is education and skills. You can teach them as well as any self-serving, overpaid public school teacher. And your kids can learn better, learn to ask probing questions, learn how to think critically.
4. Escape the Currency Cabal. The currency (Most people call our Federal Reserve Notes - those paper things with pictures of presidents on them - money, but it's not. It's currency.) we use in America is not even constitutionally-sanctioned. According to the US constitution, only gold and silver are money in America. Being that it's currently impractical to abandon the accepted Federal Reserve Notes currency completely, at least educate yourself on the workings of money and currency. A good place to start is at the website of Mike Maloney, goldsilver.com. There's a wealth of information there.
If you don't own any gold or silver, get some. You don't have to spend a fortune. For less than $50 you can hold in your hands real money in the form of silver coins or bars, or what's referred to as "junk silver", coins that were in circulation prior to 1965 that contain 90% silver. You can buy gold and/or silver (gold is much more expensive, and silver offers better investment potential) from dealers across the country or right in your town or city. The best marketplace online is at eBay. There, you will find everything from one ounce silver coins and bars to massive bars of gold. It's almost a guarantee that once you hold real gold or silver in your hands, you'll want more of it and less of the fake, fiat currency that is widely in use today and is bound to buy less tomorrow than it is today.
It also wouldn't be a bad idea to horde some cash for emergencies or "out of the system" purchases. Governments hate actual, physical cash. They can't track it or you. Cash, gold, silver and the secret weapon, barter, renders their desire for control over you useless.
These are probably the top four ways to escape the clutches of over-reaching government control. There are many more. Since the financial system is hopelessly broken and controlled by computer algorithms, big banks and the Federal Reserve, it's almost pointless to focus on those markets. Instead, Money Daily hopes to delve into more ways in which regular, honest Americans can become their own protest movement and really make changes for a better America and a better world.
At the Close, Wednesday, June 17, 2020:
Dow: 26,119.61, -170.37 (-0.65%)
NASDAQ: 9,910.53, +14.66 (+0.15%)
S&P 500: 3,113.49, -11.25 (-0.36%)
NYSE: 12,086.49, -74.99 (-0.62%)
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Stocks Gain On Sensational Retail Report; NASDAQ Re-Approaching Record Highs
Stocks gained across the board on Tuesday, after May retail sales figures were up an eye-popping 17.7% as stores reopened across the country post-lockdowns from the coronavirus scare.
The number was more than double what many analysts had expected and prompted a wave of new buying in stocks of all varieties. The Dow gained more than 500 points. The S&P powered up by almost 60 points.
Despite the gaudy month-over-month numbers, gross receipts were 6.1% below a year earlier due mainly to uneven store re-openings, some states keeping stay-at-home restrictions in place longer than others.
With gains on both Monday and Tuesday, stocks have recovered most of the losses suffer last Thursday, June 11. The NASDAQ is about 175 points away from its all-time high, made on June 10. The intraday high was 10,086.89. At the close, the record was set at 10,020.35.
Of particular note is Friday's quad-witching day, which should introduce more volatility to the mix. It seems apparent, however, that bulls have regained the advantage and stocks appear set on a path upward, despite valuations in the stratosphere.
Bonds took a hit as yields on the long end of the treasury complex rose. The 30-year exploded nine basis points higher, from a yield of 1.45% on Monday to 1.54% Tuesday. The 10-year note was yielding 0.75%.
Precious metals were higher on the futures market but investors are becoming impatient with the constant niggling in the paper markets. Considering the level of disruption over the past four months, both gold and silver appear largely undervalued. Prices remain elevated on fair, open markets such as eBay. Dealers are still charging high premiums over spot and many are sold out of popular items.
It was recently reported that gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) added 623 tonnes of the metal worth $34 billion to their stockpile from January to May, exceeding in five months every full-year increase on record. That's an impressive figure, as the amount of gold held in storage by ETFs reflects a growing demand for the precious metal.
While the ETFs are required to hold gold in storage at a percentage of their actual outstanding stock, shares of ETFs are not redeemable in gold and serve as a buffer against physical price increases. Touted as a safe way to invest in gold, they serve to track price increases on the paper (futures and spot) markets. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF is up from 142 to 162 this year, roughly the same percentage in gold futures.
As pure derivatives, the gold and silver ETFs cause more confusion and actually dilute the pool of gold buyers. People investing in gold or silver ETFs are actually serving to keep a lid on prices by not engaging in active physical purchase and storage of their own gold.
The ETFs are yet another reason why gold and silver are orders of magnitude lower than where many believe they should be. Speculative in nature, they can be driven in any direction by well-timed buys, sells or shorts.
Oil prices have hit a rock at about $38 per barrel. That could change Wednesday when a monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is released.
At the Close, Tuesday, June 16, 2020:
Dow: 26,289.98, +526.82 (+2.04%)
NASDAQ: 9,895.87, +169.84 (+1.75%)
S&P 500: 3,124.74, +58.15 (+1.90%)
NYSE: 12,161.47, +218.57 (+1.83%)
The number was more than double what many analysts had expected and prompted a wave of new buying in stocks of all varieties. The Dow gained more than 500 points. The S&P powered up by almost 60 points.
Despite the gaudy month-over-month numbers, gross receipts were 6.1% below a year earlier due mainly to uneven store re-openings, some states keeping stay-at-home restrictions in place longer than others.
With gains on both Monday and Tuesday, stocks have recovered most of the losses suffer last Thursday, June 11. The NASDAQ is about 175 points away from its all-time high, made on June 10. The intraday high was 10,086.89. At the close, the record was set at 10,020.35.
Of particular note is Friday's quad-witching day, which should introduce more volatility to the mix. It seems apparent, however, that bulls have regained the advantage and stocks appear set on a path upward, despite valuations in the stratosphere.
Bonds took a hit as yields on the long end of the treasury complex rose. The 30-year exploded nine basis points higher, from a yield of 1.45% on Monday to 1.54% Tuesday. The 10-year note was yielding 0.75%.
Precious metals were higher on the futures market but investors are becoming impatient with the constant niggling in the paper markets. Considering the level of disruption over the past four months, both gold and silver appear largely undervalued. Prices remain elevated on fair, open markets such as eBay. Dealers are still charging high premiums over spot and many are sold out of popular items.
It was recently reported that gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) added 623 tonnes of the metal worth $34 billion to their stockpile from January to May, exceeding in five months every full-year increase on record. That's an impressive figure, as the amount of gold held in storage by ETFs reflects a growing demand for the precious metal.
While the ETFs are required to hold gold in storage at a percentage of their actual outstanding stock, shares of ETFs are not redeemable in gold and serve as a buffer against physical price increases. Touted as a safe way to invest in gold, they serve to track price increases on the paper (futures and spot) markets. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF is up from 142 to 162 this year, roughly the same percentage in gold futures.
As pure derivatives, the gold and silver ETFs cause more confusion and actually dilute the pool of gold buyers. People investing in gold or silver ETFs are actually serving to keep a lid on prices by not engaging in active physical purchase and storage of their own gold.
The ETFs are yet another reason why gold and silver are orders of magnitude lower than where many believe they should be. Speculative in nature, they can be driven in any direction by well-timed buys, sells or shorts.
Oil prices have hit a rock at about $38 per barrel. That could change Wednesday when a monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is released.
At the Close, Tuesday, June 16, 2020:
Dow: 26,289.98, +526.82 (+2.04%)
NASDAQ: 9,895.87, +169.84 (+1.75%)
S&P 500: 3,124.74, +58.15 (+1.90%)
NYSE: 12,161.47, +218.57 (+1.83%)
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Stocks Stutter, Rise On Fake Fed News; Federal Debt Surges Past $26 Trillion; Argentina Default Triggers CDS
Wall Street got a bit of a shock Monday morning as stocks sold off first in the futures market and transitioned into a gap lower at the opening bell. What looked like a continuation of Thursday's selloff - interrupted by the dead cat bounce Friday - turned out to be a short-lived event.
With the Dow down below 25,000, losing more than 700 points just minutes into the session, buyers began to emerge, pushing stocks higher by 2:00 pm ET, the major indices had made up considerable ground. The NASDAQ was already positive when the Fed issued a press release, rehashing some old news to make it look new to the algos.
The press released looked like the Fed was launching another credit facility for corporations when in fact this facility (SMCCF) had been in the pipeline since March. They announced they'd begin buying individual corporate bonds, so that when companies go looking for a lender - for whatever purpose - they need look no further than the Federal Reserve, now not only the buyer and lender of last resort, but of first resort as well.
Per the Fed's press release:
That sent all indices into positive territory, and everything was again alright with the world as stocks sported gains to start the week.
Whether the "recovery" looks like a V or no V, the US national debt vaulted past $26 Trillion over the weekend without much fanfare (in fact, none). Some thought it would make it by the 4th of July. It came in 45 lengths ahead of predictions, like Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
By the end of June the federal government will have added more than three trillion dollars ($3 trillion) to the national debt, an astonishing pace. At the current run rate of a trillion every two months, by the end of 2020, the debt would rise to $29 trillion, and to $35 trillion by December 2021. What's either frightening or amusing about the growth rate of the national debt is that it is more likely to accelerate than back off as the dollar heads for a fiscal cliff. Combined federal, state, and local government expenditures currently account for nearly half of America's GDP, and, since nearly half of that is borrowed, it means a good quarter of the GDP is an accounting fiction. Government produces exactly nothing of value. They spend. Total combined spending by government will exceed $10 trillion for the fiscal year ending on September 30.
If one were to take from the GDP calculation all government spending that was done on borrowed money, GDP wouldn't be over $20 trillion as the official version purports. Instead, it would be bumping up against $15 trillion. If one took out all the purchases made on credit cards or by mortgages, it would be even lower. The fact is that the GDP calculation is a convenient reference for Wall Street and government, but it does not really reflect the actual condition of the economy. What's happening is that as expenditures are growing, tax revenues are falling, and borrowing must continue to rise to fill the gap.
It's about as an unsustainable condition as one could imagine. With any luck (and even that's in doubt), the entire system might make it through to November, just in time to implode after the elections. That's hardly a certainty. The US and global economic systems are now so fragile that about a third of the entire global GDP is borrowed. Eventually, half of GDP will be borrowed, then all of it, at which time the system will have completely broken down. Companies which must borrow just to meet payroll cannot last. Governments which borrow to meet spending demands cannot last. Consumers with low to no income and piles of debt will default. It's beginning to happen and will accelerate in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
Everything is in play. Jobs, retirement funds, even Social Security, a ponzi scheme from the start that may not make it through the end of this decade.
Not to be outdone, Argentina extended the deadline for negotiations for a fourth time, to June 19, on $65 billion in sovereign debt.
They missed a $500 million interest payment in May, prompting the lenders to meet with Argentine officials to discuss a solution. It also triggered a credit default swap (CDS) event. Lenders of Argentina's debt include PIMCO, BlackRock, and Franklin Templeton. Because CDS are private contracts, it's not known whether any of them hold the swaps, which acts as insurance against default.
One thing is for certain. Somebody's out $1.5 billion and some other entities made a killing on the trade. Problem arise in credit default swaps are when the company insuring against the loss doesn't have the funds to cover the bet when it goes south. That's what happened with AIG in the GFC back in 2008. If Argentina doesn't solve this issue soon (it may already be too late) other swaps are sure to be triggered, more people will lose money and the derivative market may begin to look like a pock-marked battlefield.
Could Argentina be the canary in the coal mine that sets off a wave of sovereign defaults? Possibly, though such things tend to take years to develop and there are many attempts at remediation in the interim. Sovereign defaults are at the end of the list of things about which central banks need to worry. For now, they've got global stock markets that will melt down without their tacit support, growing civil unrest, and COVID-19 with which to contend.
Their plate seems rather full for the moment.
At the Close, Monday, June 15, 2020:
Dow: 25,763.16, +157.62 (+0.62%)
NASDAQ: 9,726.02, +137.21 (+1.43%)
S&P 500: 3,066.59, +25.28 (+0.83%)
NYSE: 11,942.91, +75.74 (+0.64%)
With the Dow down below 25,000, losing more than 700 points just minutes into the session, buyers began to emerge, pushing stocks higher by 2:00 pm ET, the major indices had made up considerable ground. The NASDAQ was already positive when the Fed issued a press release, rehashing some old news to make it look new to the algos.
The press released looked like the Fed was launching another credit facility for corporations when in fact this facility (SMCCF) had been in the pipeline since March. They announced they'd begin buying individual corporate bonds, so that when companies go looking for a lender - for whatever purpose - they need look no further than the Federal Reserve, now not only the buyer and lender of last resort, but of first resort as well.
Per the Fed's press release:
The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced updates to the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF), which will begin buying a broad and diversified portfolio of corporate bonds to support market liquidity and the availability of credit for large employers.
As detailed in a revised term sheet and updated FAQs, the SMCCF will purchase corporate bonds to create a corporate bond portfolio that is based on a broad, diversified market index of U.S. corporate bonds. This index is made up of all the bonds in the secondary market that have been issued by U.S. companies that satisfy the facility's minimum rating, maximum maturity, and other criteria. This indexing approach will complement the facility's current purchases of exchange-traded funds.
The Primary Market and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facilities were established with the approval of the Treasury Secretary and with $75 billion in equity provided by the Treasury Department from the CARES Act.
That sent all indices into positive territory, and everything was again alright with the world as stocks sported gains to start the week.
Whether the "recovery" looks like a V or no V, the US national debt vaulted past $26 Trillion over the weekend without much fanfare (in fact, none). Some thought it would make it by the 4th of July. It came in 45 lengths ahead of predictions, like Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
By the end of June the federal government will have added more than three trillion dollars ($3 trillion) to the national debt, an astonishing pace. At the current run rate of a trillion every two months, by the end of 2020, the debt would rise to $29 trillion, and to $35 trillion by December 2021. What's either frightening or amusing about the growth rate of the national debt is that it is more likely to accelerate than back off as the dollar heads for a fiscal cliff. Combined federal, state, and local government expenditures currently account for nearly half of America's GDP, and, since nearly half of that is borrowed, it means a good quarter of the GDP is an accounting fiction. Government produces exactly nothing of value. They spend. Total combined spending by government will exceed $10 trillion for the fiscal year ending on September 30.
If one were to take from the GDP calculation all government spending that was done on borrowed money, GDP wouldn't be over $20 trillion as the official version purports. Instead, it would be bumping up against $15 trillion. If one took out all the purchases made on credit cards or by mortgages, it would be even lower. The fact is that the GDP calculation is a convenient reference for Wall Street and government, but it does not really reflect the actual condition of the economy. What's happening is that as expenditures are growing, tax revenues are falling, and borrowing must continue to rise to fill the gap.
It's about as an unsustainable condition as one could imagine. With any luck (and even that's in doubt), the entire system might make it through to November, just in time to implode after the elections. That's hardly a certainty. The US and global economic systems are now so fragile that about a third of the entire global GDP is borrowed. Eventually, half of GDP will be borrowed, then all of it, at which time the system will have completely broken down. Companies which must borrow just to meet payroll cannot last. Governments which borrow to meet spending demands cannot last. Consumers with low to no income and piles of debt will default. It's beginning to happen and will accelerate in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
Everything is in play. Jobs, retirement funds, even Social Security, a ponzi scheme from the start that may not make it through the end of this decade.
Not to be outdone, Argentina extended the deadline for negotiations for a fourth time, to June 19, on $65 billion in sovereign debt.
They missed a $500 million interest payment in May, prompting the lenders to meet with Argentine officials to discuss a solution. It also triggered a credit default swap (CDS) event. Lenders of Argentina's debt include PIMCO, BlackRock, and Franklin Templeton. Because CDS are private contracts, it's not known whether any of them hold the swaps, which acts as insurance against default.
One thing is for certain. Somebody's out $1.5 billion and some other entities made a killing on the trade. Problem arise in credit default swaps are when the company insuring against the loss doesn't have the funds to cover the bet when it goes south. That's what happened with AIG in the GFC back in 2008. If Argentina doesn't solve this issue soon (it may already be too late) other swaps are sure to be triggered, more people will lose money and the derivative market may begin to look like a pock-marked battlefield.
Could Argentina be the canary in the coal mine that sets off a wave of sovereign defaults? Possibly, though such things tend to take years to develop and there are many attempts at remediation in the interim. Sovereign defaults are at the end of the list of things about which central banks need to worry. For now, they've got global stock markets that will melt down without their tacit support, growing civil unrest, and COVID-19 with which to contend.
Their plate seems rather full for the moment.
At the Close, Monday, June 15, 2020:
Dow: 25,763.16, +157.62 (+0.62%)
NASDAQ: 9,726.02, +137.21 (+1.43%)
S&P 500: 3,066.59, +25.28 (+0.83%)
NYSE: 11,942.91, +75.74 (+0.64%)
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