September 13, 2022
* Currencies & metals drift on Monday…
* Chuck asks the question… Got Gold?
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, times sure have changed. I recall, for many years, I couldn’t wait for Monday Night Football to come on TV. And last night, meh… And then when I did turn it on to see what was happening, it couldn’t hold my attention… So, I got out my book and read! I know that fall is right around the corner, but the temps of fall arrived early the past two days, and it made it quite nippy outside once the sun went down. I’ve said this before, but… Around here, the best weather we get is in the fall… So, I look forward to the season, but with a weary eye toward the next season that I absolutely abhor! And this year, it looks like a lot of Americans and Europeans will be having to wear their winter coats inside to keep warm… In Sweden, if you turn your thermostat up past 66 f degrees, you can end up in Jail for 3 years! I’m very concerned about the folks “in the margin” this winter… George Harrison greets me this morning with his song: What Is Life?
Well, the dollar wrapped a tourniquet around its gaping wound yesterday, and stopped the bleeding for the day, that is… The BBDXY gained back 1 index point to close the day at 1,293. The euro, however, gained a tiny bit on the day, as it still is getting some love from the ECB’s rate hike, and hawkish stance. The Aussie dollar, and kiwi, have not been so lucky to receive some love after the respective Central Banks hiked rates a couple of times now. The A$ has lost 3% since May, when the commodities were hot, and soaring, but since that time, the mood in the Global economy has soured, and that will be a touch row to hoe for the rate hikes to overcome.
Speaking of commodities… The price of Copper is starting to rise again… Copper saw a huge run up in the spring, only to be knocked back down by the slowing economy, but now there seems to be a shortage brewing in Copper. The reason I single out Copper is that it’s a harbinger to higher inflation… And speaking of shortages… There simply seems to be a shortage brewing in Silver… Silver has outperformed Gold in recent trading, and is getting its ques from stories of shortage.
I had a reader send me a note and highlighted that his broker offered to buy his Silver… Hmmm… That sounds like the broker is short and can’t find an Silver to borrow…
Gold gained $7.40 yesterday, coming down from its early morning gain of $10, to close the day at $1,725.30, while Silver added to its early morning gain of 44-cents to end the day up 93-cents and close at $19.86… Hi Ho Silver! Now, where did Tonto go again? HA!
In the overnight markets last night… The dollar got sold again, and again it was some harsh selling, with the BBDXY down 6 index points to 1,287 this morning. In looking at yesterday’s dollar activity, it appears to be a case of PPT spending some ESF money to defend the dollar, because once the U.S. session ended, the selling of the dollar returned in the overnight markets.
The Petrol Currencies seem to have the upper hand on the dollar as we go through the currency roundup today. The ruble, real, krone, sterling, peso, and others are all outperforming the Big Dog euro, which in itself is not doing too badly VS the dollar right now. The price of Oil has bumped higher again and trades this morning with a $89 handle… Traders are like me, right now, and questioning the thought of a lack of demand.
Gold & Silver are on different tracks this morning in the early trading. Gold is up $4 and Silver is flat as a pancake (Head East), ahead of the stupid CPI print this morning… Here’s the skinny on the thoughts in the markets right now concerning inflation… If the stupid CPI shows a weakening of inflation, that will be bad for the dollar, because the mental giants will conclude that the Fed won’t have to be so aggressive hiking rates, and the aggressive rate hike thoughts are what had pushed the dollar to the heights it held last week.
I’ve really been thinking about this, what I’m going to talk about now, for some time, and that should scare the living daylights out of you! HA! Seriously… I’m being stone cold serious here folks, so here we go!
I’m so upset with the IRA (inflation Reduction Act), for a couple of reasons… 1 it in no way is going to reduce inflation… 2. For the money, we don’t have, to spend on the green program… You know, it’s all fine and dandy if everyone who believes that Co2 emissions cause the globe to heat up, to do their part to reduce those emissions… But why on earth does the Gov’t need to get involved, with our tax payer funds? The Gov’t didn’t ask me if I wanted my tax dollars to go toward this boondoggle! Why on earth, does anyone, and I mean anyone, give the government one ounce of credit when they get involved in things? They will make an mountain out of an anthill, and spend so much money that they don’t have to do it! President Reagan said, “the most terrifying words are: “‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” And why would anyone think that the Gov’t can change the climate? They can’t even change a flat tire if they had one on their limo!
We the people are allowing the Gov’t to kill the golden goose… We’ve shut down oil pipelines, we’ve made it impossible to dig a well, and refineries are a thing of the past… Our country, our economy, our lives have thrived on the fact that we knew how to obtain Oil, refine Oil, and use it in nearly everything that we use in our lives… And we’re going to replace it with wind propellers, and solar panels? Don’t you think it would be wise for us as a country, to test the ability of these alternatives to Oil, to take over before you anoint them the crown? Yes, they work, but do they supply enough to run our economy, our lives, our energy grid, etc.? I don’t think so… not now… maybe in 50 years, but not now… And that’s all I’m going to say about this before I start yelling at the walls… I know, some of you out there that will disagree with me on this, and that’s fine, but keep your thoughts to yourself…
OK, now that was a long diatribe on energy wasn’t it? And you’re asking, how does that tie into the dollar? Ahhhhh grasshopper, sit back and find out! Deficit Spending means more currency printing, and more currency printing begets more currency printing, thus guaranteeing that not only will inflation continue to be here for months to come, but that the current dollars outstanding will be diluted even more, thus putting pressure on the value of the dollar…
And to blame Putin for this inflation, or to blame the supply line distortions, or to blame the sun for getting in your eyes, or to blame to stone you tripped on, is nothing more than an attempt to get you to look the other way, and not blame the Fed Heads… The conflict between Ukraine and Russia doesn’t help things, and neither do boats sitting in the harbor of Long Beach, but they aren’t the root of the inflation. Money Supply is the root, and will be until either the Fed Heads hike rates over the inflation rate, or the Gov’t stops deficit spending… What? You don’t see either of those happening? Neither do I that’s why I continue to say….. Got Gold?
OK, so I’ve taken issue with the Gov’t, Congress, Fed Heads, and everyone in the country that believes the Gov’t can fix all this, this morning… Man, he’s on a roll! Ahhh, the scene from Animal House just popped into my brain… I can see Bluto ranting: “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” And when a frat brother tries to correct him, they say, “Don’t stop him, he’s on a roll”
I found this yesterday on the www.dollarcollapse.com site, and Charles Hugh Smith, of whom I’ve quote many times in the past for the Pfennig, talking about Social Security… Let’s listen in: “ Workforces in most nations are shrinking while the population of retirees’ soars.
This undermines the entire social contract established in the postwar era (1950s and 1960s) which are all “pay as you go” programs that were designed for 4 or 5 workers supporting one retiree.
Now that the ratio has fallen to two workers (or less) to each retiree, the programs are unsustainable.”
Chuck again… Can you say, bye, bye Gov’t programs like Social Security? Or will the Gov’t just choose to spend more money they don’t have and fund the program?
The U.S. Data Cupboard has the stupid CPI today for August… I’m sure the bean counters in the Gov’t will make sure that inflation begins to show it coming down… But as always I will check to see what John Williams at www.shadowstats.com has to show for real inflation! Tomorrow we’ll see the color of PPI for August, and the same holds true for this data to be ratcheted downward… Am I too jaded toward Gov’t economic reports? You bet I am, for good reason!
To recap… The dollar wrapped a tourniquet around the wound to stop the bleeding yesterday… So, it didn’t get sold further during the day. But overnight it got sold again, and this morning it looks to be in trouble again. Gold & Silver gained yesterday, and Chuck talks about a shortage in Silver brewing… Chuck also goes off on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) so you’re not going to want to have missed that!
For What It’s Worth… Much of what we live through these days is propaganda… The Gov’t, through the media, only tells you what they want you to know, not what you want to know, the news programs are nothing more than Gov’t lies, with the talking heads giving you their opinions, and not just telling us the news… Well, this article talks about the propaganda that’s going on in the U.S. and it can be found here: www.informationclearinghouse.info/57237.htm
Or, here’s your snippet: “In the 1970s, I met one of Hitler’s leading propagandists, Leni Riefenstahl, whose epic films glorified the Nazis. We happened to be staying at the same lodge in Kenya, where she was on a photography assignment, having escaped the fate of other friends of the Fuhrer.
She told me that the “patriotic messages” of her films were dependent not on “orders from above” but on what she called the “submissive void” of the German public.
Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie? I asked. “Yes, especially them,” she said.
I think of this as I look around at the propaganda now consuming Western societies.
Of course, we are very different from Germany in the 1930s. We live in information societies. We are globalists. We have never been more aware, more in touch, better connected.
Or do we in the West live in a Media Society where brainwashing is insidious and relentless, and perception is filtered according to the needs and lies of state and corporate power?
The United States dominates the Western world’s media. All but one of the top 10 media companies are based in North America. The internet and social media – Google, Twitter, Facebook – are mostly American owned and controlled.
The news from the war in Ukraine is mostly not news, but a one-sided litany of jingoism, distortion, omission. I have reported a number of wars and have never known such blanket propaganda.
In February, Russia invaded Ukraine as a response to almost eight years of killing and criminal destruction in the Russian-speaking region of Donbass on their border.
Airbrushing, once associated with Stalin’s purges, has become a tool of mainstream journalism.
In less than a decade, a “good” China has been airbrushed and a “bad” China has replaced it: from the world’s workshop to a budding new Satan.”
Chuck Again… And the article goes on and on and on… it’s a long one folks, so my suggestion would be to stick with the snippet and call it a day!
Market Prices 9/13/2022: American Style: A$ .6910, kiwi .6156, C$ .7717, euro 1.0184, sterling 1.1732, Swiss $10539, European Style: rand 17.0135, krone 9.8332, SEK 10.4256, forint 389.86, zloty 4.6198, koruna 24.1197, RUB 60.19, yen 141.94, sing 1.3942, HKD 7.8487, INR 79.14, China 6.9265, peso 19.80, BRL 5.0942, BBDXY 1,287.61, Dollar Index 107.70, Oil $89.02, 10-year 3.30%, Silver $19.87, Platinum 915.00, Palladium $2,211.00. Copper $3.67, and Gold… $1,729.46
That’s it for today… I’ve been holding back on talking about the IRA for sometime now, and finally thought, what the heck! Cardinals and Brewers for the first of two at Busch starting tonight.. The Brewers are in second place 8 games behind the Cardinals, so take both of these games and you have 10 game lead! Go Cards! Ok, here’s where you need to pay attention… I will be out of town next week, and am not taking my laptop, so that means no Pfennig next week! Got it? OK… So, how’d you like that video from Frank Trotter yesterday? Isn’t he something? Couldn’t stay retired, and instead is starting another brand new spanking bank! I see that he’s recruited some of his old cohorts at EverBank, and some going back to Mark Twain Bank! And no, I’m not coming out of retirement to join him this time… (Besides, he didn’t ask me to! HA!) Chris Isaac takes us to the finish line today with his great song: Wicked Game I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler