Entitlement spending and interest payments equate to almost 100% of federal revenue. The big drivers under Biden that he can control (outside of Social Security and Medicare) are Obamacare and interest payments. Both of which have blown up under Biden due to his excessive spending. The American Rescue Plan drove up interest rates on the already massive national debt, so now, we are paying more and getting nothing in return.
Interesting. Wondering, do we spend more on poor people in America than we do killing poor people in other countries?
Gold up could mean nothing. It also could be canary in coal mine. It certainly does not mean something is good is about to happen. Again, it could be nothing.
Entitlement spending and interest payments equate to almost 100% of federal revenue. The big drivers under Biden that he can control (outside of Social Security and Medicare) are Obamacare and interest payments. Both of which have blown up under Biden due to his excessive spending. The American Rescue Plan drove up interest rates on the already massive national debt, so now, we are paying more and getting nothing in return.
Interesting. Wondering, do we spend more on poor people in America than we do killing poor people in other countries?
Way more. Military spending is number 4 on the list of federal expenditures behind SS, Obamacare, and Medicare. This year it will fall to number 5 behind interest payments on the debt.
Interesting. Wondering, do we spend more on poor people in America than we do killing poor people in other countries?
Way more. Military spending is number 4 on the list of federal expenditures behind SS, Obamacare, and Medicare. This year it will fall to number 5 behind interest payments on the debt.
U.S. spends much on military than official numbers. Black ops are off the books. Money given to intel contractors, off the books. Money giving to mercs, off the books. I could go on.
Lots of factors. Realization that fed will not be cutting rates anytime soon. No progress on Ukraine and now Gaza. BRIC countries buying gold to backup their potential new currency, "the brick". Fear of a second Trump term and chaos. All driving fear, uncertainty and gold price.
It's too late now, but a good way to have gold in the portfolio is to own a gold stock. It moves more with gold than with the market, so works as a hedge. I own Harmony Gold, it bounces around between $3 and $9 basically with price of gold, which is more movement than you get holding the metal. Obviously not a good buy now, but maybe a short when you think gold has topped.
It’s a hedge against inflation and the funny money policies of the Biden Administration. It’s like crypto only with intrinsic value.
The real interesting thing to watch in the coming months will be the Fed’s behavior leading into the election. The Federal Reserve Board is full of Democrats, and most were speculating that they would be enacting three rate cuts at the next few meetings to help get Biden elected. This has propped up the stock market recently. Time will tell if the Fed will stick to its apolitical facade or if they will enact rate cuts in spite of market signals to the contrary in an effort to get their guy across the finish line.
You question the FRB being full of Democrats when Justice Thomas wife had a direct line to WH ? Who's "crooked" ?
As you say, time will tell.....if "apolitical" Supreme Court will not listen to any of Donald Ducks upcoming cases he'll want over turned.
History is crystal clear that countries with our level of debt can only manage it by inflating away their currencies. If we had a sane government (and sane voters) we could dial back spending significantly as we did in the late 1940s and 50s. But it is hard to be optimistic about the narcissistic, welfare-addled, mentally ill masses in modern America.
Some points here. Yes you are correct that the only way to get rid of this level of debt for a nation is to inflate it away. As far as the 40s and 50s everyone seems to forget there was massive inflation, it peaked at around 18%.
There are a couple of major differences between today and then. The biggest is that the debt of that era was driven by WW2 which was a one time expense, at the end of the war spending was seriously dialed back, whereas today's debt is largely driven by entitlements. There is no politically viable way to end the entitlements. A current example is Argentina. It had to get to the point where after years of inflation, inflation peaked at 140% before voters had enough and elected a president who wanted to reign in spending. America is nowhere near that point and no widely popular politician is approaching the type of spending cuts necessary for a balanced budget much less a surplus. For the foreseeable future the federal spending deficit will get worse thus more inflation.
Another major difference is 1940's America was the only major country who's industrial base was not destroyed by the war, was a net exporter, and was the only country in the world with viable currency to be reserve currency. There was no competitor to us on the global stage, look at Soviet GDP vs US GDP. Today all those factors that led the dollar to be reserve currency have either reversed of are in the process of reversing. While there is no viable fiat alternative the dollar, and no whatever half baked idea the BRICS nations come up with will not be an alternative, the world is in the process of de-dollarizing. Where that leads who knows, but Central Banks have dramatically increased gold purchases. Is a new gold standard coming??? Probably not, but it shows faith is being lost in the current Bretton Woods 2.0 fiat system.
Look around… inflation, geopolitical risk, paper currency risk, country risk, debt risk, central banks around the world have been buying gold, BRICK’s risk,
Gold is insurance around currency debasement- better to have some then not to.
Its been a great investment and risk insurance asset for me. my dollar cost average is $1175/oz
Way more. Military spending is number 4 on the list of federal expenditures behind SS, Obamacare, and Medicare. This year it will fall to number 5 behind interest payments on the debt.
U.S. spends much on military than official numbers. Black ops are off the books. Money given to intel contractors, off the books. Money giving to mercs, off the books. I could go on.
A lot of the super classified stuff is self sustained and sometimes, a revenue source for the government. Many operators are under deep cover making tons of money as executives and senior officials. Top level bad guys are rolling in loot and stolen booty when they get smoked. That blood money gets cleaned up by the treasury department and then rolled right back into operational budgets or spread out to the different agencies involved with global police initiatives. Also, super cool, James Bond gear is obtained through research initiatives that create jobs and birth brand new industries.
And if you don't like it, then whatever. International travel has never been safer. Capitalistic consumption has never been cheaper relative to the scarcity of natural resources. You can easily prove your conscious objections by going vegan, Amish, libertarian.
And back to the original question, gold is going up because other assets like real estate, stocks, and bonds are astronomically over priced so demand is going up for the most reliable store of wealth: gold.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
U.S. spends much on military than official numbers. Black ops are off the books. Money given to intel contractors, off the books. Money giving to mercs, off the books. I could go on.
A lot of the super classified stuff is self sustained and sometimes, a revenue source for the government. Many operators are under deep cover making tons of money as executives and senior officials. Top level bad guys are rolling in loot and stolen booty when they get smoked. That blood money gets cleaned up by the treasury department and then rolled right back into operational budgets or spread out to the different agencies involved with global police initiatives. Also, super cool, James Bond gear is obtained through research initiatives that create jobs and birth brand new industries.
And if you don't like it, then whatever. International travel has never been safer. Capitalistic consumption has never been cheaper relative to the scarcity of natural resources. You can easily prove your conscious objections by going vegan, Amish, libertarian.
And back to the original question, gold is going up because other assets like real estate, stocks, and bonds are astronomically over priced so demand is going up for the most reliable store of wealth: gold.
Are you talking about billionaire former Se.A.L., turned merc, Erik D Prince? No need to glamorize the guy.
It's a waste of government resources investing in off the book characters. Not one war involving U.S. has been won due to special forces or mercs. All the destabilizing CIA have done since 1947 and spreading of faux propaganda by CIA since 1947 hasn't made U.S. citizens any safer.
Since Navy divers and frogmen came ashore, 1962, U.S. hasn't won one conflict due to Se.A.L.s or other special forces. The closest U.S. has come to a win, Desert Storm. Desert Storm a combo of air superiority and mechanized fighting. Largest mechanized battle in USMC history.
