Economic Collapse Watch: Will the “End Game” Commence September 30th?
Videos included...
Aug 11, 2016
Last week, “Admiral Sprott” was asked what the Precious Metal bull market was like in 2000-11. He replied that it was as painstaking as today, with the Cartel seemingly “winning” more days than it lost. Having been fully invested in the sector since mid-2002, I concur 100% – as even during the “best of times,” it was sheer torture. Of course, until 2008, my portfolio was entirely comprised of highly volatile mining shares – largely, exploration and/or development companies – so the stresses of Cartel-created volatility were that much more powerful.
Today, not a thing has changed – except my Precious Metal portfolio, comprising roughly 90% of my liquid assets, is 100% physical metal, with my only “financial asset” being a 1% position in Bitcoin. Thus, the stress I feel during today’s Cartel attacks – which per the “manipulation mantra” I coined circa 2005, “each day worse than the last,” has not let up one bit – is more muted. But just a little, as after 14½ years of watching the government – er, Cartel – attack my net worth, livelihood, and sanity, I’ve built up a lifetime’s worth of anger.
Consider, for example, that not only have we been forced to endure “Sunday Night Sentiment” attacks in 152 of the past 158 weeks, but 28 of 30 this year, when Precious Metals have been the world’s best performing asset class. Not to mention, “2:15 AM” raids on 87% of all trading days over the past three years – which I assure you, is no lower a percentage this year. As well as relentless “caps and attacks” each and every day – such as yesterday’s prototypical “Cartel Herald”-catalyzed raid, at the “key attack time #1” of 10:00 AM EST (when global physical markets close). When – what do you know – silver approached its 50-month moving average of $20.45/oz. Which, as I have been noting for weeks, is the Cartel’s “ultimate line in the sand.”
However, in large part due to my decision to switch my investment to physical metal – partly in 2008, and wholly by 2011; plus perseverance, belief, and survival instinct – I’ve slept the “sleep of the just,” in not just my investment decisions, but how I’ve communicated my beliefs to the PM community. Many of you, too, have survived the worst – each of you, in your own personal way – and for that, I salute you. And for those new to the game, congratulations on not only joining history’s greatest bull market in its still early stages, but having missed the vast majority of the aforementioned “manipulation stress.” As, in my view, the “end game” of an all-out loss of Cartel – and generally speaking, “powers that be” – control is approaching rapidly, no matter how hard they try to subvert reality.
Which, per today’s provocative title, I’ll get to momentarily. As first, I’d like to present a brief list of topics from yesterday alone; each one of which, has the potential to “break the Cartel’s back” under the right circumstances. Let alone, the “September 30th event I’ll end today’s article with. Like, for instance…
- Oil prices plunging anew, after lowly, non-OPEC Oman refused to attend the informal September 27th oil producers meeting in Algiers; essentially, killing the latest “production cut” propaganda before it had a chance to spread
- A report by Germany’s leading “think tank” that the “world’s most systematically dangerous institution,” Deutsche Bank, would run out of capital entirely during a realistic “stress test”; and thus, it should be nationalized immediately.
- Monday’s shocking Bank of England open market operations, in which it failed to receive enough offers for bonds it sought to monetize with no price sensitivity. Miraculously, Tuesday’s offer was 5x oversubscribed. However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise it was rigged with fake bids – with the world’s “big money” well aware that Monday’s failure suggests an increasing, worldwide belief that “QE to Infinity” has arrived.
- Which is probably why global yields plunged anew – with Italy’s 10-year bonds leading the ranks of the insane, as their yields turned negative despite its banking system – and political stability – on the verge of collapse; amidst the highest debt load, outside of Greece, in all of Europe.
- The Bank of Japan, in an act of outright fear, actually leaked the outline of its September policy statement, to assure investors it has no intention of taking its foot off the hyperinflationary pedal, despite having ordered a “comprehensive analysis” of its prior monetary easing efforts (which of course, will depict massive, systemic failure).
- The aftermath of Tuesday’s horrifying U.S. productivity numbers – which were compounded tenfold yesterday, when the BLS, or Bureau of Labor Statistics, admitted that, like its GDP and Personal Income “adjustments,” which it last week admitted overstated reported results, its real wage calculations for the first 2016 were overstated by a whopping 5%! Combined, such data – let alone, the credibility of the clueless, biased government agencies producing them – delivered a massive blow to a Fed desperate to find data to support its fraudulent “recovery” meme.
- A report by Standard & Poor’s that, due to the massive buildup of (Fed-engendered) debt, U.S. corporations are as vulnerable to default as at the height of the 2008 crisis. Heck, take a look at this horrifying chart of what the major oil companies have done alone, in taking their cumulative net debt from “just” $40 billion at the end of 2012, to $140 billion today!
- Turkey, which itself is on the verge of a crushing debt downgrade, moved further away from NATO, and toward the West’s “top geopolitical foe,” Russia, in the wake of the horrifying fake coup that solidified the “Hitler-esque” Recep Erdogan’s power, in one of the world’s most dangerous, volatile regions.
- New Zealand’s rate cut, the 667th Central bank cut since 2008, depicted the reality that all Western nations will soon have zero, or below, official interest rates.
- Increasing instability around the Democratic Party, featuring new emails damning the Clinton foundation, and the mysterious death of the DNC’s supposed Wikileaks informant.
- No other than Bank of America predicting that tomorrow’s July retail sales report will not only be far worse than expected, but significantly negative
Yes, I know it is a marketing promotion. However, as I wrote on June 14th, of his “zero hour” prediction that the Fed’s June 15th meeting would mark a key buying opportunity for gold (which was $1,290/oz at the time), any time someone takes such a bold, time-focused stance, I pay attention. Particularly when it’s someone as visible as Jim Rickards – who frankly, spends more time marketing his views than anyone in our sector. Including, even…me!
He hasn’t yet clarified his view, and I’m sure he’ll do so in a public conference call sometime next month. However, it’s quite obvious what he’s referring to, given that he has spent more time speaking of SDR’s, or “Special Drawing Rights,” than anyone in the financial community. Which, as of October 1st, will for the first time include in its currency “basket” the Chinese Yuan – joining the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the UK Pound, and the Japanese Yen as a de facto “reserve currency.”
Long-time readers know I have little regard for the SDR; as essentially, it’s a basket of fiat trash combined, and administered by, the toothless IMF. I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to use it; and frankly, the IMF’s credibility has never been lower. However, my guess is that he believes China’s government will use the occasion of the Yuan’s official SDR acceptance to alter its fiscal, monetary, and/or political policies.
How, I don’t know. And how it will cause financial markets to crash, and gold to soar, I’m not sure either. Does it mean they’ll announce their true gold holdings? Or stop shorting paper gold to hold the price down, as many – including myself – believe they may have been doing in recent years? Or is it something else I’m missing entirely?
Frankly, I have no idea, and I look forward to his explanation. As frankly, outside of those purporting biblical, astrological, or “web bot” methodologies – whose failures can be explained away by the “vagaries of the universe” – such a bold financial prediction, from such a well-respected financial figure, has the potential to make the forecaster look pretty stupid if it doesn’t pan out.
So far, Rickards is “1 for 1” in such predictions – although frankly, it wasn’t much of a stretch to believe the June 15th FOMC meeting would be an upside catalyst for gold. Heck, I predicted so much myself.
However, this is a far bolder prediction, with far direr ramifications – so clearly, Rickards is putting his reputation on the line. If he’s right, it will be too late to protect yourself shortly afterwards. If not, said “end game” will arrive sooner rather than later anyhow. But either way, I’m looking forward to September 30th, to see if indeed, the “end game” he forecasts unfolds.