The economy is GREAT! Our economy is the envy of the world! We are the richest country of all time!
Three lies that we are constantly being fed by the mainstream media and our “leaders” that are so obviously false that they must think we have no functioning brain cells at all. They would like us to believe what we are told and not what we see with our own eyes.
Personally, as I have written for the past 10 years it appears that we have devolved into a third-world country. The numbers put out by our government are so different from the reality on the ground that it is amazing anyone believes the numbers at all. Just a couple of months ago we learned that 818,000 jobs that were reported never existed. The unemployment rate, if reported as it was in the 1980s would be north of 15% (Shadow Government Statistics) and inflation would be about the same.
All the following information is being written with information from USDEBTCLOCK.ORG.
Currently, the US government lists $35.7 TRILLION in debt. This number is concerning enough but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Between Social Security and Medicare add another 69 TRILLION to that number. With regards to the trust funds (which appear now are just IOUs from the government) there are serious questions. We are told the trust funds will deplete around 2033. I must wonder why, if the trust funds are really there, why did the Treasury report that $80 BILLION was conjured up to pay Social Security last year that the taxes did not cover and $460 BILLION to pay Medicare for the same reason?
Actual unfunded liabilities are listed as $219 TRILLION. Add the $35.7 TRILLION and each and every person in the USA is on the hook for over $749,000.00. Many of the people who are on the hook for these debts will never be able to pay- like the 89 MILLION people on Medicaid which means they have virtually NO ASSETS. Many of our children will never be able to pay either.
Another stunning statistic is that since the year 2000 our population has grown by over 50 MILLION and we have 400,000 fewer jobs than we did in the year 2000 BUT the unemployment rate is lower! Amazing! How did they do that? Just do not count over 100 MILLION working-age people. Problem solved!
These numbers are staggering enough but there is FAR more. The top 1% have an average of over 18 MILLION in assets. In a stunning surprise to me the bottom 50% of our country have assets of MINUS 37,000.00. This is more debt than assets. OUCH! This is with the stock “market” and home prices at all-time highs.
On top of the fact that we are drowning in debt, and we are pretending that this is actually growth, we are going deeper and deeper into debt that is spiraling out of control.
If we go back to the year 2000 the US net international investment position was positive. (We owned more global assets than we owed). By 2007, that position weakened to a negative $1.2 TRILLION. Today, I am sad to say that the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed that the USA, despite owning $36 TRILLION in foreign assets is $22.5 TRILLION in the red as foreigners own $58.5 TRILLION of US financial assets and liabilities. This is growing exponentially as we conjure up cash out of nowhere to purchase foreign goods while our manufacturing base has been destroyed. This leaves us with little to export (besides freshly conjured up cash that produced NOTHING and is a unit of DEBT) and is leading to faster and faster deterioration in our debt situation. To show just how dangerous this is:
Year 2000: We still had a positive balance.
Year 2007: Negative $1,200,000,000,000.00
Year 2019: Negative $11,700,000,000,000.00
Year 2024: Negative $22,500,000,000,000.00
Obviously, we are going in the wrong direction fast. Of the latest surge $6 TRILLION has been added to our deficit in just the last 2 years. This is what I mean when I say it is growing exponentially.
We are doing what every banana republic has done that I have researched over time.
First things are going well, everyone is optimistic and works hard. Eventually, there is a change and productivity falls. A lot of this has to do with corruption and the stifling of competition and growth to protect those “in charge” and their donors.
Everyone is used to certain things, so some go into debt to try and maintain their lifestyle. Politicians, for fear of losing the next election has the central bank start conjuring up cash to make up for the lack of tax receipts. As the situation deteriorates, more spending and debt creates the illusion that all is well. Unfortunately, the day comes when the piper must be paid. I believe we are there. What worked for a while gets undermined when, because of that lack of productivity and the conjuring up of trillions of computer blips or paper, too much faux “cash” is chasing fewer goods.
In many other instances like Weimar Germany and Venezuela, they saw the same things we have seen recently. Persistent upwards pressure on prices is the way it starts and then accelerates until you get the “hockey stick” moment where prices start to rise uncontrollably. My friend Andy Schectman has a saying – Gradually then all at once.
While this game in the USA has gone on for a long time- probably because all central banks have been debasing their currencies and have been working together, the end appears near. The cooperation between central banks appears to be breaking down. As economies are collapsing around the globe the central banks are starting to act in their own interests. An example would be Japan- an ally that is dumping US bonds and cash to prop up their collapsing Yen. Others, tired of sanctions and bullying are selling to get out of harms way. As I mentioned in a previous article central banks have bought over $1 TRILLION of gold since 2022 while SELLING $1 TRILLION in US Treasuries.
There are many reasons for this.
#1 Gold is an ASSET and not someone else’s promise to repay.
#2 Gold is the #1 performing asset since the year 2000 except for Bitcoin- which I label as a speculation- not an investment or any store of value.
#3 BRICS settlement currency- the UNIT is said to be backed by 40% gold and 60% local currencies or commodities. If so, then those countries will need plenty of the yellow metal.
#4 Gold held in the countries that own it can avoid the crippling sanctions that Western governments hand out to developing countries that defy their orders.
#5 I believe that all central banks know the end game. All are “printing” their currencies into oblivion so they, by buying gold, are betting against their own “product”. What does THAT tell you?
Be Prepared!
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