4.30.15 - All Gold Is NOT Created Equal
Gold last traded at $1,182 an ounce. Silver at $16.15 an ounce.
NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell again on Thursday amid weak earnings and mixed economic data. Warnings of a stock market correction are becoming louder each day. Mark Faber, editor of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, believes that stocks in the U.S. and in many places around the globe are in a central bank-fueled bubble. "The market is in a position where it's not just going to be a 10 percent correction. Maybe it first goes up a bit further, but when it comes, it will be 30 percent or 40 percent minimum!" Faber told CNBC. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar drifted lower along with precious metals due to month-end technical selling. Right now is the perfect time to convert some paper wealth, like stocks, into real wealth such as gold and silver.
MID-EAST: Crude oil prices rose to a four month high, near $60 a barrel, amid rising demand and worries about the possibility of another Iran-instigated supply crisis. The destabilization of governments and expansion of terrorism in Libya, Egypt, Iraq, and Yemen added to these concerns. In their new report, AMERICA ENGULFED, Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte show how Iran, by using terrorists as their delivery system for nuclear weapons, could turn 32 American and two Canadian cities, into "radioactive holes beneath their mushroom clouds that will remain 'clicking hot' with radioactivity for the next 20,000 years." Smith and Ponte explain how one spark could ignite this highly flammable region. If the Middle East catches fire it will melt down the global economy and U.S. dollar.
ECONOMY: "A blizzard of shockingly weak figures raise the awful possibility that America's six-year growth cycle since the Great Recession has already rolled over, with unsettling implications for the world," writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the London Telegraph. "Worse yet, this apparent exhaustion is taking hold even before the Federal Reserve has begun to raise interest rates or to drain any of its $3.7 trillion of quantitative easing and balance-sheet expansion." As Harm Badholz from UniCredit added, "it is hard to put lipstick on that pig."
ALL GOLD IS NOT EQUAL: Craig R. Smith shares the ninth in a series of ten two-minute stories entitled, The History of Your Money.
"Near-zero bank interest has meant near-zero taxes on our savings - until now," write Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte.
A new political scheme to tax bank accounts, according to the Australian Financial Review, might be locked in place in Australian banks as soon as January 1, 2016. This could quickly be copied by other tax-hungry welfare states, including ours.This bank deposit tax will likely begin at a low percentage, to create a legal precedent, but it is expected to grow rapidly, as the income tax did in the United States. Like many modern taxes, this planned tax on bank accounts is being framed as a tax on the banks, not on individual customers. Its cost, however, will be passed on to depositors in the form of higher fees or lower interest paid on their accounts.
This tax on bank deposits is projected from its start to raise around $500 Million each year, purportedly for a “Financial Stabilization Fund” to help protect banks from collapse in future financial crises.
In the United States, such designated taxes are often diverted to fund other politician wishes. Hundreds of billions in gasoline taxes went to the Highway Trust Fund, then was shifted elsewhere by the same politicians who complain that "our highway infrastructure urgently needs more spending." Such politicians even looted $2.66 Trillion from the Social Security trust fund, leaving behind only I.O.U.s that must be paid for with ever-heavier taxes on future generations or the denial of benefits to today's older generations.
Truth be told, our spendaholic politicians loot whatever pools of public or private money they can grab to pay for their out-of-control spending addiction.
On November 16, 2014, President Barack Obama at the Brisbane, Australia meeting of the G-20 global economic powers agreed to a new financial doctrine called the "bail in." We explained and documented in detail what happened there in our 2014 White Paper, AFTER THE G-20.
In a nutshell, President Obama agreed that you no longer own your bank accounts. The United States now regards your bank account as an asset that, in effect, belongs to your bank and can be seized by the government to pay bank debts and obligations.
Is it any wonder why so many people are turning to smarter, safer and more secure ways of protecting their money? FULL STORY
FREE WHITE PAPER: The Biggest Bank Heist In History!
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4.15.15 - Death, Taxes & Bank Accounts
Gold last traded at $1,201 an ounce. Silver at $16.27 an ounce.
* Metals Rise As Dollar Falls
* Stocks Rise As Economy Falls
* Bank Accounts You Don't Own
* Making Death A Non-Taxable Event
NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices jumped higher Wednesday on dollar weakness after disappointing industrial production and manufacturing economic data. U.S. stocks also rose as investors focused on upbeat Intel and Delta stock earnings, rather than downbeat economic news and rising oil prices. Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard says he supports an interest rate hike because he sees a coming "boom" in the U.S. economy. One wonders if this "boom" Mr. Bullard sees coming will turn out to be an economic expansion or an economic implosion.
BANKS: Your Bank Account Isn't Yours - By Craig Smith & Lowell Ponte
Last November in Brisbane, Australia, President Obama agreed with G-20 global economic leaders that you no longer own your bank accounts. The United States now regards your bank account as an asset that, in effect, belongs to your bank and can be seized by the government to pay bank debts and obligations.As we document in DON'T BANK ON IT! The Unsafe World of 21st Century Banking, the bank we used to trust to safeguard our money has become one of the riskiest places to put it. You are already losing money every day that you have a bank account paying less in interest than you are losing to inflation, a deceptive form of taxation. Get ready in the near future to pay the bank a fee, and the government a tax, just for the honor of having a high-risk bank account that pays you nothing.
TAXES: "Repeal The Death Tax And Send It To A Deep Grave," writes Investors Business Daily. "The death tax was originally enacted as a 'temporary' measure in 1916 to help fund that war. World War I ended 97 years ago, on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918. Now is finally the time to bury the death tax. The Republican-controlled House has scheduled a vote on H.R. 1105 to repeal the tax on Thursday .... Death should not be a taxable event. The IRS should not be a mandatory guest at the funeral of a loved one. Over 70% of Americans support repeal of the death tax..."
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4.14.15 - Freeing Your Savings From Banks
Gold last traded at $1,192 an ounce. Silver at $16.16 an ounce.
STOCKS: U.S. stocks traded mixed on Tuesday amid economic weakness, dollar volatility and rising oil prices. "Stocks are priced for perfection in an imperfect world," reports Marketwatch. "To be sure, the money that central bankers have flooded the planet with has fought off a deflationary economic catastrophe. By employing 'inflation targeting' these central bankers believe that they can also create growth. They are wrong .... Stocks, from China to Germany to the U.S. are all priced now as if global growth were about to take off."
FED: The Federal Reserve is running out of injections to boost the U.S. economy and could use a "stress test" of its own, reports CNBC. "Over the past 6 ½ years, the Fed's two weapons of choice have been printing money, or more precisely, creating it digitally, to buy up various securities including U.S. Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities; and keeping its short-term target funds rate near zero." According to Ted Peters, a former member of the Philadelphia Fed board, "The Fed's really out of a lot of bullets here". Whether the Fed would be able to navigate the economy out of another crisis, he said, "really depends on what type of crisis occurs."
BANKS: As mentioned yesterday, authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte believe the government's next tax target may be your bank account. According to Smith and Ponte, "A precedent was set for seizing bank accounts under the 'bail in' doctrine in Cyprus, where people awoke one March 2013 morning to find their banks locked and ATM access to their accounts shut down. President Obama has embraced such bail ins."
"Now, we have a similar new legal precedent being set in Australia for taxing your bank accounts ... for your protection, of course. America might quickly adopt this, too. Get ready in the near future to pay the bank a fee, and the government a tax, just for the honor of having a high-risk bank account that pays you nothing," write Smith and Ponte.
"We were taught that thrift is good, but real thrift now means freeing your savings from today’s banks. Don’t Bank On It! and our newest free White Paper The Biggest Bank Heist In History! will show you how to escape the tax cage being built by politicians to snare you and your hard-earned money."
GOLD: Precious metal prices dipped early then rebounded as the dollar turned lower after U.S. retail sales and producer prices data came in weaker than expected. Near-term it appears the Fed is in the drivers seat, as the financial world awaits their decision on raising interest rates this year. Smith and Ponte do not see interest rates increasing until 2016, due to upcoming economic reports which will confirm jobs and GDP weakness. Such weakness could boost gold interest as investors seek the safest place to park their wealth for short and long-term wealth protection.
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4.13.15 - Is Your Bank Account a Tax Target?
Gold last traded at $1,199 an ounce. Silver at $16.29 an ounce.
* New Scheme To Tax Bank Accounts
* 52% of Americans Shun Stocks
* When Recession = Recovery?
* Upstate NY The Next Detroit
BANKS: According to authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte, the government's next tax target may be your bank account. "Tax day, April 15, reminds us of just how overtaxed we have become, and how a circular cage of taxes on earning, spending, investing and saving is being created to snare us. A new political scheme to tax bank accounts, according to the Australian Financial Review, might be locked in place in Australian banks as soon as January 1, 2016. This could quickly be copied by other tax-hungry welfare states, including ours. This bank deposit tax will likely begin at a low percentage, to create a legal precedent, but it is expected to grow rapidly, as the income tax did in the United States." Last year Americans were shocked to read The New York Times investigation "Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required," using a law that lets government confiscate the bank accounts of those who deposit or withdraw even relatively small amounts of cash.
STOCKS: U.S. stocks gave up modest gains and turned mostly lower Monday as concerns about weak earnings reports, as well as looming interest-rate hikes, eroded investor confidence. Some analysts are now calling for a 10% stock market correction this month. Meanwhile, "Over Half Of Americans Aren't Investing In The Stock Market," reports Forbes. "The stock market, which gained 30% in 2013 and 11% in 2014, is up less than 1% this year. According to a new survey from Bankrate, some 52% of Americans say they don’t own any stocks, even as the market has enjoyed positive returns for the last six years and counting."
RECESSION: "Recessions Are Absolutely Beautiful, And Should Be Renamed 'Recovery'" writes John Tamny at Forbes. "Writing recently in the Wall Street Journal, Greg Ip, one of the Journal’s chief Fed watchers, comically suggested that the world’s foremost central bank “is getting what it wanted from six years of near-zero interest rates and trillions of dollars of bond buying: unemployment approaching levels often thought of as ‘full employment.’” Can Ip really believe this? Do the individuals who staff the Fed believe what is so plainly false? As explained in Don't Bank On It!, the U.S. has yet to get out of The Great Recession of 2008 thanks to the Fed.
TAXES: "Upstate New York is becoming Detroit with grass," reports Deseret News. "Binghamton, New York - once a powerhouse of industry - is now approaching Detroit in many economic measures, according to the U.S. Census. In Binghamton, more than 31 percent of city residents are at or below the federal poverty level compared to 38 percent in Detroit." Authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte warned about this in THE GREAT WITHDRAWAL: How the Progressives' 100-Year Debasement of America and the Dollar Ends saying, "Detroit was to be a workers' paradise, a symbol of Progressive success. Instead, it has become a symbol of Big Government failure, corruption, violence and decay. In 2013, after a great withdrawal of more than a million productive residents, once-great 'Debtroit' became the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy." Today the residents of many high-tax cities and states such as New York, California and Illinois are voting with their feet by seeking to live in states with lower tax rates such as; Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.
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4.10.15 - Celebrating National Coin Week
Gold last traded at $1,204 an ounce. Silver at $16.38 an ounce.
* GE Exits ZIRP Banking World
* Free Marketeers Turn Liberal
* $20 Bill Shrinks To 3.3 Cents
* Gold Rises Despite Dollar Bounce
STOCKS: The Dow touched the 18,000 level again on Friday, despite the bleak outlook for first-quarter corporate earnings expected to fall as much as 5%. Meanwhile, General Electric has decided to get out of the banking business due to low interest rates. They announced today they are selling GE Capital to boost shareholders with a $50 billion share buyback. CNBC's Art Cashin says that in recent years trillions of dollar in stock buy backs have artificially boosted stocks prices and earnings ratios. Watch out!
FREE MARKET: Swiss America Chairman Craig Smith was a guest on Fox Business Thursday evening discussing why the last six years have been such a hostile environment for the free market - which is the bedrock of conservatism. Craig points out the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have grown tremendous wealth and achieved great success such as those from Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, often turn against the very conservative principles that helped them built their empire by financially supporting liberal policies and candidates. The result is the public policy blunders like Dodd-Frank and Net Neutrality that have crippled U.S. business growth. "It is only a matter of time before these Progressive/Liberal policies are shown to be failures," says Smith.
MONEY: The History of Your Money with Craig Smith
2015 National Coin Week begins in April. This year marks the American Numismatic Association's 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. To celebrate, Craig Smith shares a series of ten two-minute stories entitled The History of Your Money. The goal is to help inspire Americans to rediscover the rich history behind U.S. gold and silver coins, which also offer financial security during uncertain times like these.
$20 BILL VS. $20 GOLD - Listen to Craig Smith
The History of Your Money today focuses in on a $20 gold piece and a $20 bill. If you go back to the early 1920's, a $20 bill and a $20 gold piece worked exactly the same in our economy. It used to be that you could go down to a local men's shop and buy a beautiful three-piece suit with either a $20 bill or a $20 gold piece.
Now lets accelerate ahead in history 95 years later. You walk into a shop today with a $20 gold piece and a $20 bill, and what happens? Well, with a $20 paper bill, you'd be lucky to find a nice tie, but a $20 gold piece, even in the worst condition is worth $1,200 today -- still ample enough money to buy a nice three-piece suit.
Did the $20 paper bill maintain buying power? No! If you look at American history, it illustrates that gold will always outperform its paper counterpart.
Do you want to have all of you money in paper, or should you have a little of your money in real money -- gold? Lets learn from history to better prepare our family and our finances for the future. -Craig R. Smith
GOLD: Precious metal prices bounced up 1% on Friday, despite a stronger dollar, with gold prices holding firm near the $1,200 an ounce level. "Gold Gains on Expectations of Weaker U.S. Economy," reports WSJ. Key economic reports to be released next week will likely further bolster the argument that the U.S. economy is still recession-bound. Without the promise of higher interest rates this year the dollar will likely fall. As both Fed Chair Janet Yellen and former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan have warned, the U.S. dollar is just another fiat currency which no longer offers a store of value for the long-term. Gold and silver still rule the world of currencies and should be physically owned today, regardless of price, as wealth insurance. As Craig Smith's example above shows, a $20 bill today retains only 3.3 cents of its original buying power. Sadly, that's the fate of our in-credible shrinking dollar.
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4.9.15 - The Courage to Act ... Badly
Gold last traded at $1,193 an ounce. Silver at $16.45 an ounce.
* Moral Courage to Print Money?
* You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!
* Defending The Free Market
* Shining Silver Opportunity
FED: The new memoir written by former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be titled The Courage to Act and released in October. AP reports, "... the title of the book was inspired by the Fed's 'moral courage' in the face of 'bitter criticism and condemnation.'" It is amazing how six years of financial repression spearheaded by Mr. Bernanke is now being spun into 'moral courage'. We agree with ZeroHedge.com that "The Courage To Print" would have been a better title choice. An alternate and perhaps more fitting cover cover posted on Twitter by @Not_Jim_Cramer includes a chart showing Bernanke's achievements at the Fed - revealing both the "courage" (to drop interest rates to zero) and the "aftermath" (a U.S. economy six years later stuck in zero jobs and growth).
BANKS: "You ain't seen nothing yet, when it comes to market wreckage from a financial crisis, according to J.P. Morgan boss Jamie Dimon," reports Marketwatch. "In his annual letter to shareholders, the bank’s chief executive warned 'there will be another crisis' - and the market reaction could be even more volatile, because regulations are now tougher." Author Craig Smith writes, "We have been warning Americans that the 2008 banking crisis was just the warm-up and the real crisis is still ahead. Now we have the head of one of the top five banks in the world warning everyone that the banks may not have the ability to get through it. Can you say BAIL-INS?" Risk #8 in Don't Bank On It! on page 216 states: "8. Laws and rules are being changed to make government confiscation of bank deposits as 'unsecured assets' easier via what governments now call 'bail-ins.'"
FREE MARKET: Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith will be a guest on Fox Business tonight discussing the role of conservatives in Silicon Valley. According to Mr. Smith, "If you look at the amazing success of the technology sector in every American's life you cannot ignore the power of the free market and conservative capitalism has in increasing U.S. productivity and creating wealth." Tune in live at 5:30pm ET to watch it.
METALS: Precious metal prices zig-zagged on Thursday pressured by a firmer dollar. Gold ended just below $1,200 an ounce. With silver spot prices just above $16 an ounce, the case for stocking up on silver is very strong. Worldwide market demand for silver is growing, while supplies are dwindling. Both gold and silver bars and coins have a long history of serving as an excellent store of value to protect wealth when the trillions of government stimulus dollars created finally impact consumer prices. More: The Truth About Gold & Silver
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4.8.15 - Fed Speaks, Markets Yawn
Gold last traded at $1,203 an ounce. Silver at $16.45 an ounce.
* FedSpeak: Rear View Mirror Economics
* Obamanomics Has Failed To Create Jobs
* Gold Bullishness is Rising, Here's Why ...
FED: Today market watchers anxiously awaited clues about the Fed's much heralded interest rate lift-off with the release of the March 17-18 Fed minutes. Last month some Fed governors favored a June launch, while others suggested waiting until early 2016. The financial markets yawned at the latest Fed news. The problem with trying to interpret Fed comments from weeks ago is that fresh economic data often changes the perspective, such as the surprisingly bad jobs report last Friday. Meanwhile, Interest Rate Observer publisher Jim Grant disputes the argument that there's no harm in the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates near zero percent, instead calling for the cost of borrowing money to be determined by the free market.
JOBS: "Obamanomics Has Failed Utterly," reports Investors.com. "This is a pitiful economic recovery, and the underperformance didn't happen by accident.
The chart shows the difference in job growth under President Reagan (whose policies underscored his philosophy that government was 'the problem, not the solution') vs. Obama. We are some 6.5 million jobs short of where we should be. That can't be blamed on the weather. The policy takeaway? Obamanomics is a grand failure. We've spent and borrowed $7 trillion in six years. The Fed has printed and expanded its balance sheet by over $3 trillion and pursued near-zero interest-rate policies." These failed policies were predicted by authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte in their last five books and most recently in their white paper The Biggest Bank Heist In History!
GOLD: What the Fed does, or does not do, with interest rates this year is not the only factor propelling precious metal prices this year. With growing concerns about the diminishing amount of gold reserves, rising expectations for Asian demand and an aging U.S. stock market bull that's overdue for a downturn; it is no surprise that more and more investors are turning more bullish on gold and feel prices are very reasonable right now. Call a Swiss America representative today at 800-BUY-COIN (289-2646) to discuss special U.S. gold and silver coin buying opportunities available right now.
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4.7.15 - Redefining the U.S. Dollar
Gold last traded at $1,210 an ounce. Silver at $16.84 an ounce.
* Pricey Stocks Drift Lower
* Dollar = I.O.U. Nothing
* CNBC Turning Pro-Gold?
STOCKS: U.S. stocks inched lower Tuesday, despite last Friday's weak unemployment report which soothed interest rate-hike worries. But there is "Little Room for Error in Pricey U.S. Stock Market," reports WSJ. If the economy stays soft at a time when investors already are nervous about the Fed's rate-increase plans, the result could be more trouble for stocks. "There is not a lot of room for error," said Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman Private Banking, which oversees $27 billion in New York.
DOLLAR: The dollar recovered some lost ground following Friday's dismal March employment report. Meanwhile, the reality is that "The U.S. Dollar No Longer Qualifies As 'Real' Money," as we explain in our Timeless Truth About Money DVD and report.
Our U.S. money system has gone from a foundation of 'real money' to now being 'virtual', or 'IOU money' - and is quickly becoming 'IOU nothing money'. The U.S. dollar has declined over 30% since 2001 and an amazing 98% since the 1930s! Sad but true. Yet few Americans really understand why.
Historically our U.S. dollar was defined by its content of gold or silver. A real U.S. dollar was defined as 1/20 ounce of gold, or about an ounce of silver. But starting in 1913, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve began a slow process of redefining the dollar - from representing a weight measurement of pure gold or silver to representing only public confidence in the U.S. government.
The result: today's dollar retains less than two cents of its original buying power in relation to gold. The famous Austrian free-market economist Ludwig von Mises once said, "The government is the only entity on earth that can take a perfectly good piece of paper, slap some ink on it - and make it become totally worthless!"
Read more here: https://www.swissamerica.com/goldtruth.php
GOLD: Precious metal prices dipped early on a firmer dollar, then rebounded on bargain hunting. Could it be that CNBC is turning bullish on gold? Several recent program segments have put the spotlight on gold, telling their viewers; "Investors should buy gold as safe haven" ... "Dennis Gartman: Gold is going higher" ... "Gold is beating stocks this year - Here's why." Clearly there are many compelling reasons to add gold to your portfolio in 2015.
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4.6.15 - Zero Interest = Zero Growth
Gold last traded at $1,218 an ounce. Silver at $17.11 an ounce.
* Bad Jobs Data Boosts Stock Prices?!
* Cash: An Inconvenient Store of Value
* Gold: The Premier World Currency
ECONOMY: The dismal U.S. unemployment report for March was quietly released on Good Friday, which showed just 126,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created, about half of what the markets expected. In addition, February's jobs numbers were revised lowered by 20% to 264,000 from the previously reported 295,000, while January's number fell from 239,000 to 201,000.
Why is jobs growth slowing down? Because GDP growth is slowing down, which will be confirmed when Q1 GDP data is released (estimates range from zero growth to 1.6%). But why is GDP growth slowing down? Because the Federal Reserve's zero interest "financial repression" has slammed on the brakes of economic growth, while temporarily boosting the value of the U.S. dollar - which hurts U.S. exports as well as domestic industry.
Worse yet, the U.S. labor force participation rate also shrunk by 0.1% to 62.7%, the lowest level since the late 1970s. Meanwhile, the average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in March after rising just 0.1% in February. Between shifting demographics and millions of Americans out of work, at some point the tight labor supply will boost wages and prices, which spells inflation rising ahead. For more details see Swiss America's latest white paper, The Biggest Bank Heist In History!
STOCKS: It should strike one as odd that the worst jobs report since January 2014 sent U.S. stock prices up triple digits today. But that's just what it did. In today's upside-down financial world, Wall Street views these reports as good news in light of the Fed's promise to begin raising interest rates. After six years of nearly free money for big Wall Street banks, they are severely addicted to the Fed's spiked punchbowl.
DOLLAR: Did you catch Fed chair Janet Yellen admitting that "Cash is not a very convenient store of value," in her recent press conference? That's tantamount to saying the U.S. dollar no longer meets one of the four most basic qualifications for any honest currency; 1. liquidity, 2. portability, 3. divisibility and 4. store of value. The inconvenient truth about our modern money system lead by the U.S. dollar is now a reality of all fiat currencies.
GOLD: Gold prices leaped upward Monday amid a flat U.S. dollar and rising bullish sentiment. "Gold is a currency. It is still by all evidences the premier currency where no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it," said former Fed chair Alan Greenspan in a October 2014 interview. Are you looking for a currency that has maintained its store of value for thousands of years? If so, you are wise to quickly convert some of your paper assets into real assets like gold - before the sound of the coming investor stampede grows any louder.
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4.2.15 - Investors Pause to Reflect
Gold last traded at $1,202 an ounce. Silver at $16.79 an ounce.
* Jobless claims slightly lower
* Investors pause before earnings
* Community banks shrink 41%
* BofA sees $1307-$1,347/oz. gold
ECONOMY: Today's jobless claims data reveals 268,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week, down 20,000 from the prior week. Friday the jobs reports will be released, with some analysts calling for U.S. unemployment to fall from 5.5% to 5%. Meanwhile, Marketwatch reports "U.S. isn't ready for the aging workforce." According to Joseph Coleman, author of Unfinished Work: The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce, "There's a great storehouse of value in our older citizens, but society and companies haven't figured out how to tap into that. This is like an earthquake in slow motion, stretched out over decades."
STOCKS: U.S. stocks inched higher Thursday on a weaker dollar, lower oil prices and upbeat jobless claims following a two-day slide. Investors have been weighing mixed economic data this week ahead of corporate earnings reports which arrive next week. The consensus is to expect some major disappointments which might prompt investors to sell off stock positions as we head into summer. U.S. stock markets are closed for Good Friday.
BANKS: The decline in community banks is hurting small business, according to Entrepreneur.com. "A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reveals that the number of community banks dropped by a whopping 41 percent between 2007 and 2013. That’s bad news for small business owners, who rely heavily on financing from small, local banks. Even more troubling is the potential culprit. Analysis by the Fed suggests that the Dodd-Frank Act is at least partially responsible." Many expected the Dodd-Frank Act to break up the big banks, as Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte point out on page 160 of DON'T BANK ON IT!, but instead it has helped to enshrine them. Today the biggest U.S. banks are 30% bigger than they were in 2008, while the smaller community banks are shrinking due to thousands of pages of new rules and regulations in the Dodd-Frank Act.
GOLD: Precious metal prices held on to most of the gains from Wednesday's rally with modest profit taking ahead of the Easter holiday. But Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts are bullish on gold, despite U.S. dollar strength. They expect spot gold prices to rally to $1,307 - $1,347 an ounce in 2015. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed a bill that would have made Arizona the third state behind Utah and Oklahoma to recognize gold and silver as legal tender, saying the bill was not appropriate at this time. States which have passed 'legal tender' bills today recognize U.S. gold and silver bullion coins as spendable at their face value ($50 for 1-oz. gold and $1 for 1-oz. silver). Of course, only a fool would spend a solid gold or silver coin with a market value between 17 and 24 times higher than the face value. Such legal tender laws are seen as symbolic support for using precious metals in circulation, but without any practical purpose. Owning physical gold and silver does however makes perfect sense for long-term wealth preservation and retirement planning.
**Swiss America will be closed on Friday, April 3 in observance of Good Friday. We hope you have a wonderful Easter with your families and friends**
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4.1.15 - Dollar Weakens as Gold Strengthens
Gold last traded at $1,208 an ounce. Silver at $17.06 an ounce.
* U.S. economy backsliding
* Bill Gross says assets mispriced
* 2015 Tax Freedom Day extends
* Gold rushes above $1,200/oz.
ECONOMY: Dark clouds are approaching on the economic horizon. The private sector added 189,000 jobs in March, the lowest since January 2014, according to ADP. The monthly ISM survey of manufacturing executives also fell in March for the fifth straight month, hitting the lowest level since mid-2013. The Commerce Department reported that U.S. construction projects decreased 0.1% in February. None of these indicators point to recovery. Meanwhile, U.S. unemployment data will be out on Good Friday and Q1 GDP reports next week will likely confirm the U.S. has never really escaped the Great Recession, as we have often reported.
STOCKS: Downbeat economic data on manufacturing and jobs weighed on U.S. stock prices which fell into Q1 Wednesday. "Bond King" Bill Gross tells CNBC the financial markets are 'hostile' to investors. According to Gross, in today's world where almost every asset is mispriced, investors face an impossible job trying to decide where to allocate their money. In his latest missive to clients Gross goes on to say the central banks that have kept rates low have helped boost asset prices, but the landscape will be different now that stimulus from the Federal Reserve and elsewhere is losing its impact. Buyers beware.
TAXES: Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 24 this year according to a report from the Tax Foundation. CNS News reports, "Americans will pay $3.28 trillion in federal taxes and $1.57 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total tax bill of $4.85 trillion, or 31 percent of national income." Today, more than 70 cents of every tax dollar go for transfer payments, taking money from the pockets of some to redistribute it into the pockets of others whom politicians deem more worthy. As the great 19th century French philosopher Frederic Bastiat said, "Government is the great illusion by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. But government lives at the expense of all of us."
GOLD: Weak U.S. economic data, a weaker U.S. dollar and bargain hunting launched gold prices above $1,200 and ounce on Wednesday. In today's uncertain economic environment, the stability of gold ownership is outstanding. From ancient days right up to today, owning gold is deemed as a sign of wisdom, economic truth and just weight and measure. Owning gold as wealth insurance today is worthy of a cornerstone position in every portfolio. Swiss America promotes exchanging a portion of your paper promises for the real thing!
