ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
September 20, 2024 | Art of the Collapse, October 2024
This series is monthly, which means the next one was scheduled to drop on October 1. But the first 19 days of September have produced so much absurdity that we have to go a little early this time around to avoid being swamped. Let’s start with a tip o’ the hat to those alarmists who […]
September 19, 2024 | Global Chaos, Part 1: Things Exploding Everywhere
Not so long ago, the coming financial crisis looked more or less manageable. Currencies would plunge, inflation would spike, the monetary system would be reset, and something resembling normal life would return (though of course with gold bugs as the new financial elites). Then the past few years happened, and now what’s coming looks a […]
September 15, 2024 | Finally, Gold/Silver Miners Outperform the Metals
Normally, when gold and silver are rising, it’s a good idea to buy the related mining stocks on the assumption that they’ll go up even more than the metals. That’s why mining stocks are frequently referred to as “leveraged plays on the price of the underlying commodity.” But for most of the current gold bull […]
September 10, 2024 | Matt Taibbi: Why Censorship Is Suddenly Fashionable
Matt Taibbi, superstar reporter who recently turned on his MSM former bosses, just published a cogent explanation for why it’s now trendy to favor the arrest of free-speech social media execs like Elon Musk and Telegram’s Pavel Durov. If you’d prefer to listen rather than read, scroll down to the audio version. Liberalism Removes its Mask Upper-class America […]
September 9, 2024 | From the Archives: Martin Armstrong (Correctly) Predicts Chaos
Originally published on August 9, 2023, this post featured some extreme predictions from forecaster Martin Armstrong — many of which seem to be coming true. So, as we blunder into WW III while running one of the most bizarre and least trustworthy elections in American history, revisiting some of Armstrong’s thoughts seems appropriate. People We […]
September 8, 2024 | Health Prepping, Part 5: Red Light Therapy
Winter is coming, which means many things depending on where you are and whether or not you like to ski. But one certainty is that millions of people in northern latitudes will get way less sunshine for five or so months. And that’s apparently bad for everything from aging to eyesight to arthritis. One solution […]
September 3, 2024 | Art of the Collapse, September 2024
Happy Labor Day!
August 29, 2024 | Recession Watch: Deep-Discount RVs, Worst-Ever Stock Market Breadth, Frozen Housing
Let’s start with the concept of “big toys.” These are things like boats, jet skis, and RVs that people (okay, guys) tend to buy after they’ve had a few good years and conclude that job security and rising pay are now guaranteed for life. Because this hubris peaks near the end of expansions, spiking demand […]
August 27, 2024 | Inflation Chronicles: The Aristocracy Decrees That Peasants Will Sleep In Parking Lots
I have a dog who wakes up with the sun and immediately wants a nice long hike. Over the years, he’s trained me to accept his schedule, so at the crack of dawn we drive to one of a dozen or so nearby trails that he counts as his territory. One of our regular hikes […]
August 21, 2024 | A World Priced In Gold
Pretend, for a moment, that it’s 1971 and you’re President Richard Nixon (admittedly disturbing fantasies, but bear with me). You face the perennial government income/outflow dilemmas, and other countries, noting your struggle, are trying to cash their dollars in for your limited pile of gold bars. But this time around you don’t cave and “close […]
August 20, 2024 | Where You Store It: Don’t Trust, and Definitely Verify
When negotiating with the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan’s oft-repeated slogan was “Trust, but verify.” Something similar applies to the world of precious metals, especially remote storage firms. But let’s go even further to: Don’t trust, and always verify. Here’s an example of why: A San Diego couple thought they’d invested in gold. Instead, they and hundreds of others […]
August 18, 2024 | Is Copper a Broken Story — Or Better Than Ever?
After a nice run in the first half of this year, copper suffered a serious correction, leading some to wonder if this story is broken: A recent post by commodities analyst Rick Mills answers that question. Here’s an excerpt from the (much longer) article: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) forecasts global copper consumption to grow 3.5% to 28 million […]
August 13, 2024 | Where You Store It: Here’s a New Option
The choices for remote gold/silver bullion storage are multiplying. Here’s a new one that seems worthy of consideration. From the press release: Money Metals Opens Idaho-Based Gold Depository Larger Than Fort Knox Eagle, Idaho (August 12, 2024) – The Western United States now has its very own Fort Knox, only substantially larger. After three years of […]
August 11, 2024 | Weekend Short Takes: The Carry Trade, Mass Migration, Google Spying
There are more interesting ideas than time in which to consider them. So here’s a new series that bundles bite-sized explanations and suggestions into a quick weekend read. The Yen Carry Trade The “carry trade” is making headlines without, in many cases, being adequately explained. Last week The Kobeissi Letter fixed that with a concise (if […]
August 7, 2024 | Airbnb Houses Are About to Flood the Market
New players will make this housing bust one for the record books. The current housing bubble features three new players, all of whom are about to switch from “buy/hold” to “panic sell.” They are: Boomers forced by declining health and/or shrinking stock portfolios to sell their McMansions. Wall Street private equity “landlords” who gorged on […]
August 2, 2024 | Japan Enters Its Death Spiral
Japan has been a big topic in this newsletter because it illustrates the no-win situation in which wildly overindebted countries eventually find themselves. Here are two articles that illustrate the point: How a Country Goes Bankrupt, In 10 Steps Japan Is In That Box Now For The Death Spiral Confronted with both a plunging […]
July 30, 2024 | Art of the Collapse, August 2024
The Paris Summer Olympics may have started a trend: Sodom And Gomorrah Set To Host 2028 Olympics (Babylon Bee) – In keeping with the Olympics’ commitment to sexual violence and Satan worship, the International Olympic Committee announced today that the 2028 games would be held in the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. “They’re a natural fit for […]
July 29, 2024 | De-Dollarization Update: October Surprise?
The next BRICS meeting is scheduled for October, in Russia. In the meantime, a lot is happening on the de-dollarization front. Some recent news: NATO just took Russian assets and gave them to Ukraine: Not surprisingly… Russia says it’s working with a group of countries to build a platform that doesn’t need the dollar (Business Insider) […]
July 28, 2024 | From the Archives: How to Short Stocks – Is it finally time??
First, the FAANG stocks (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) were going to rise forever. Then they morphed into the “Magnificent 7” which many believe will ride the AI boom to infinity and beyond. Either way, the result is a wildly unbalanced market (and economy) supported by a tiny group of multi-trillion-dollar companies. We’ve seen […]
July 27, 2024 | Recession Watch: The Un-Inverted Yield Curve and Plunging Copper
Headline economic stats like GDP continue to look pretty good. But the list of reliable indicators screaming “imminent recession” continues to expand. Some of the latest: Un-Inverted Yield Curve An inverted yield curve (where short-term interest rates are higher than long-term rates) is a well-known recession signal. But it really starts flashing when it un-inverts, i.e., when long-term […]
July 24, 2024 | Housing Is Seriously Rolling Over
Let’s start with the fact that the average American can’t afford the average house. Not even close: Houses have been unaffordable for a while, but for a while, “investors” — i.e., private equity companies with access to cheap credit — took up the slack, sometimes buying entire neighborhoods and converting the houses to rentals. Now […]
July 19, 2024 | Charles Hugh Smith: A Repeat of the 1970s Will Change a Lot of Things
Many people recognize the similarities between today’s world and that of the 1970s. But few understand the potential chaos that implies for a system this overleveraged. Charles Hugh Smith just posted an article that explains the impact on investors. Here’s an excerpt: Twisters on the Horizon: Is This Decade a Re-Make of ‘That 70s Show’? If […]
July 17, 2024 | Nomi Prins: Why Nuclear Power Is Back In Vogue
Best-selling financial writer and former investment banker Nomi Prins just posted a primer on nuclear power (and, by implication, the uranium mining stocks). Here’s an excerpt: The New Gold Rush: Unlock Uranium’s Soaring Demand Nuclear energy is the “Switzerland” of energy sources. It is increasingly popular with both sides of the political spectrum for several reasons. First, nuclear energy is […]
July 15, 2024 | How a Country Goes Bankrupt, In 10 Steps
Japan appears to have entered the inevitable fiat currency death spiral, where interest rates (and interest costs) rise while the currency falls. Fix one problem and the other gets worse, until the system breaks. Here, from March 2023, is a longer explanation: How a Country Goes Bankrupt, In 10 Steps The past few […]
July 14, 2024 | Two Takes on the Assassination Attempt
A friend just emailed about the Trump assassination attempt, predicting that it guarantees his election in November. I tentatively agreed, and responded with a story: You’re too young to remember Ronald Reagan. But back in the 1980s, his political honeymoon was fading and his approval ratings were dropping. Then someone shot him in the chest, […]