November 19, 2020
* Dollar bugs fight back, but not by much…
* Chuck goes on and on like the Energizer Bunny today…
Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! Well, the conversations around the house sure have picked up, with all the things that need to get done before the closing and Alex’s move-in to his newly purchase home. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving… I have come 180 degrees through the years, on how I view Thanksgiving. I used to dislike the run-up to T-Day, because, I would say that it’s the only time of the year that Kathy and I argue. We would argue about which family we would eat T-Day dinner with… We tried alternating years, etc. But it would always lead to arguments. Then my parents died, and I said that from then on T-Day would be at our house, if people wanted to see us, then they will come to our house, and that’s how it’s been now for 23 years… I simply love a houseful of people or a backyard full of people… So, I’m all into T-Day now… And then along came COVID, and people telling me that I should cancel T-Day… To that I say bullocks! So, we’ll see how that goes next Thursday… I’m getting pumped up, right from the get-go today as AC/DC greets me this morning with their song: Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution…
OK, I’m shaking in my seat, and raring to go, so let’s go! Oh, that’s right, it was another of those days where we saw drifting in the currencies nearly all day with a slight downward movement at the end of the day… And Gold which was down $6.90 in the early trading, was never able to overcome that downward move in the trading during the day, and ended the day down $8.50, at $1,872.50, and Silver followed suit, closing down 16-cents, to $24.41… There was no real economic data to speak of yesterday, and therefore no impetus to move one way or the other for traders…
In the overnight markets… It’s starting as if this is going to be another of those days when Gold holders will need to put their blinders on, and ignore the price engineered takedown, as Gold is down $17.70, as I write… And it’s not dollar strength causing this move, it’s all about sellers… Why? Because the price manipulators felt like it would be one of those days, that’s why… At least that’s how I see it… When the predominate mover is sellers, I have to think that moves like this can be attributed to the price manipulators…
In our daily check of the Dollar Index, the dollar bugs have fought back a bit as the Dollar Index this morning is 92.58, up from the 92.34 of the last two days.. but the euro remains above 1.18, so the dollar is still on the chopping block, just not getting chopped right now, but in my opinion, that’s just the butcher taking a break…
I had a reader go all bonkers on me yesterday, and accuse me backing the calls for fraud in the election… I said, “How one earth did you get that from, my statements that, “the election is sill undecided and will be until the courts decide”? I will tell you that from what I’ve seen there sure seems to be some shenanigans played with the voting, but I did never mention that until now… UGH! The Book I just read: The Madness of Crowds, explains the mindset of the reader to a “T”… I should have been prepared to not even reply… But that’s not my nature… And so we go on despite my short comings…
I was very disheartened yesterday to hear the the nomination of Judy Shelton to the Fed Governors was defeated 50-47… Our old friend, (NOT), Mitt Romney, voted no… Thanks for holding the line there Mitt… Ok, the way I understand this, is that McConnel voted no so that he can bring the vote up again when the Senate has a full accounting of voters, as a couple of Sens. Were at home isolating… and couldn’t make the vote… So, with some gamesmanship and working the system, there will be another go at this nomination again in the near future…
I really thought that this shoot from the hip mindset that the Cartel, I mean the Fed has would be given a kick in the shins by Shelton… But maybe the Senators don’t want that. That they see things just peachy dandy with the cartel, I mean Fed. And that’s the problem as I see it folks… Congress is in cahoots with the Cartel, I mean the Fed, (one of these days I’ll stop that, I promise) And that makes me sick to my stomach thinking about this mess we’re in… The Cartel, I mean the Fed is NOT the independent Central Bank that they would have you believe themselves to be… They are more the “money man” facilitator for Congress… I’m just saying…
Well, I’m off to a good start here today, eh? So, let’s get into some more good stuff that’s going on, OK, with you? I thought so… Well, according to Reuters, “Global debt is expected to soar to a record $277 trillion by the end of the year as governments and companies continue to spend in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute of International Finance said in a report on Wednesday.”
Developed markets’ overall debt jumped to 432% of GDP in the third quarter, from a ratio of about 380% at the end of 2019… That’s crazy stuff folks… 432% of GDP? The U.S’s portion of that $277 Trillion is $80 Trillion, and that’s not counting Unfunded Liabilities which are $155 Trillion… How in the world will all this debt get repaid you may be asking… Well, at least I’m asking… And I know the answer, I’ve told you all a couple of months ago, right here in the Pfennig… I told you that there’s going to be big defaults on debt all over the world, sans Russia where debt is miniscule. And that’s going to bring each country’s currency to its knees, while Gold soars…
In my last trip to Vancouver about 5 years ago, I gave a presentation on my usual stuff Debt, Debt and more Debt, and at that time the U.S.’s Total debt was $50 Trillion (not counting unfunded liabilities) So, we as a country have grown $30 Trillion in less than 5 years… And back then I used to tell people that economist Lawrence Kotlikoff was quoted as saying the U.S.’s real debt was more than $200 Trillion… I haven’t heard from Mr. Kotlikoff in some time, I wonder what he thinks of all this debt these days? I just had a smile come across my face, thinking about my last trip to Vancouver, when I had the crowd singing Trini Lopez’s song: Lemon Tree… My colleague at the show, Suzanne Lee, recorded the event on her phone, and played it back for the big Boss, Frank Trotter, when we returned and he got the biggest laugh out it…
I miss going to Conferences/ Shows with my colleague, Suzanne Lee… She moved on to another place of business a couple of years ago, and I wrote a glowing review for her new employer… Chris Gaffney used to accompany me on quite a few of those trips, but most of the Agora, International Living, Sovereign Society things I was on my own… I would leave out someone if I began to list all the help I had at the Conferences, so I’ll leave that there… But a great big hug and thank you to everyone!
My publishers, the Aden Sisters, Mary Anne and Pamela were doing a virtual presentation for the virtual Money Show on Tuesday, and I put it in my calendar to watch it, and then fell asleep and missed it! (don’t tell them I missed it! HA!) I’m sure there will be a chance to view it again later… There title was GOLD HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE, AND SILVER EVEN MORE… When I see the link I’ll be sure to include it in the letter, for sure!
Today, we’ll see the latest Weekly Initial Jobless Claims for last week, when they held above the 700,000 level at 709,000… The data just printed and it showed what I was expecting… a rise to 742,000 last week, as the lockdowns began again… Next week’s print will be on Wednesday, and should show more rot on the vine, in my opinion… and then the following week will be a mess with the T-Day holiday in the middle of the week, the numbers will be skewed, but just keep in that in mind when the time comes. I’m sure I’ll remind everyone but then one never knows, where I’ll be, right?
The Continuing Claims fell last week to 20.63 Million from 21.16, which still figures to be an Unemployment Rate of 13.5%, which is still a mountain top away from where we were before the plandemic… And the thing to keep in mind with the Continuing Claims is that the drop is probably not people going back to work, rather , it’s more due to people’s unemployment benefits running out, and they are dropped from the list, which makes about as much sense as shoveling deep snow when you’re 80… But that’s the games that people play, every night and every day, never saying what they mean, never meaning what they say… (Joe South)
Yesterday, Fed NY President Williams spoke, and got the markets all lathered up, by saying, “full recovery could come earlier than the 3 years he projected just a couple months earlier due to progress on the vaccine.” OK, can we all just calm down just a tad about the vaccine? The distribution of the vaccine is not really going to take place until spring 2021, Yes, some will get it before then, but the masses won’t until spring of 2021… And that’s at the earliest! So, can we just push back on all the excitement about the vaccine, until it gets distributed and we see if it actually works?
Did you know that the Pfizer version of the vaccine needs to be refrigerated at minus 70 degrees Celsius, which is colder than winter in Antarctica. Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius, more like a regular freezer. To me that requirement makes distribution of the vaccine a logistical nightmare… I’m just saying…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for how these companies went to bat and in 9 months they came up with a solution, one that obviously will be tweaked going forward, but I have a question for these drug companies… 9 months to come up with a solution for a virus, and over 100 years of no solution for combating cancer… other than treatments that allow a cancer patient to live longer, but no cure… Yes, I understand that cancer is a whole different pile of beans, but… 100 years? Come on…
As I understand cancer research, in Nazi Germany, Hitler had a doctor that figured out the cause of Cancer, and was on his way to coming up with a cure, when the collapse of Nazi Germany took place… I’ve read the notes and he was onto something for sure!
Wow! That was some tangent I just went through… sorry, but the next thing I consciously knew I was typing was this… James Taylor is singing: Shower The People You Love, as I type this morning, and I couldn’t agree with him more! I try to do that daily… But sometimes “life” gets in the way…
To recap, Wednesday was another day of drifting for the currencies and they didn’t actually move (downward) until the end of the day… Must have been some dollar buying that caught the markets by surprise… The PPT? probably… We certainly couldn’t have quiet markets for more than 2 day could we? Oh well, the slippage was small in the currencies and in Gold which lost $760 on the day, and Silver which lost 16-cents on the day. Chuck talks about all the hoopla regarding the virus vaccine, and asks the question where has all this rush to get a solution been for cancer the last 100 years?
For What It’s Worth… I really don’t have anything new for you today… So, I thought, what the heck… let’s go back in time… dodododododod, (that’s time machine sounds!) And what do we have here? it’s a snippet of what I talked about on May 18th… of this year, and it can be found here:
Or, here’s your snippet, no reason to reread the whole May 18th Pfennig! I said on that day: “Global debt is at levels that it should never have reached in a million years, but it’s there, and there’s no paying back, in the traditional sense of paying off a debt…. So, how are the countries around the world (except Russia, who’s debt IS manageable) going to deal with this ever-growing debt? I’ve thought long and hard about this folks, and in my heart of hearts, I know what the answer is, and I’ve fought saying it, for so long, because, well, I just didn’t want to believe it could happen…. And it’s not just because of the virus that this is the way it is… At the end of 2019, Global Debt stood at $255 Trillion… Once the dust settles on all the debt accumulated during the economic shutdowns, the Global debt will be greater than $300 Trillion… With no ability to pay it down….
A month or so, I talked about the IMF’s SDR’s (special Drawing Rights), and how they used by Central Banks, and not suitable for individual use…. I almost went down the rabbit hole then that I’m ready to go down now….
I truly feel that with all this debt, and Central Banks going nuts with one alphabet plan after another, that they’ve all backed themselves into a corner…
To me, it seems, the only way out of this debt mess is for countries, including the U.S. to take haircuts, in other words, default on some of their debt…. What this will do, is have every trader in the book, out to sell the currency of a country taking the haircut, and buy the currency of a country that hasn’t announced they would be taking a haircut. But soon, they will all have announced it, and at that point is when I believe currencies, as we know them today, will no longer be…
I thought I would be long gone by the time this all unfolded, for it’s been in the cards for years. I never would have thought that during my time on earth, that would see these kinds of debt levels… I always thought that somewhere, someone with their head screwed on right, would figure out that we kept accumulating debt, that a default had to come eventually… I always figured, Japan was first, then Greece, then the U.S. But instead, what I view happening is there would be a meeting of finance ministers where the coordinated announcement was made….”
Chuck again… what a day that was… I scared people half to death, judging from the responses in the Pfennig Replies box… And there’s nothing in the last 6 months that would change my thoughts!
Market Prices 11/19/20: American Style: A$.7261, kiwi .6888, C$ .7625, euro 1.1830, sterling 1.3220, Swiss $1.0960, European Style: rand 15.5425, krone 9.0555, SEK 8.6373, forint 304.97, zloty 3.7830, koruna 22.2975, RUB 75.96, yen 104.05, sing 1.3467, HKD 7.7529, INR 74.13, China 6.5541, peso 20.33, BRL 5.3258, Dollar Index 92.58, Oil $41.60, 10-year .85%, Silver $23.88, Platinum $943.00, Palladium $2,319.00, and Gold… $1,853.10
That’s it for today… And I’ve got some appt news for you to digest… Next Tuesday there will be no Pfennig as I will be at the hospital for my quarterly scans… (I wonder if they cancel those scans?) So, a Pfennig On Monday and Wednesday next week, that’s it! So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving? Will you be rogue and have a normal T-Day? I will, you can be sure of that! I have a tele doctor visit later this morning… I had just seen him last week in his office, but I received word that he wanted to talk to me about something… Uh-Oh! He wouldn’t tell me over Zoom that he found something would he? Nah… I don’t even want to think about that, so maybe he just wants to follow up with my sugar counts… which by the way are dropping like a rock, which is a od thing, because as I told you I don’t want to be a diabetic! Ok, good luck to my beloved Missouri Tigers this Saturday… They only have 64 players for the game, and the min. they can have is 53, so they are cutting it close… Well, I’m being rocked out this morning, as Humble Pie takes us to the finish line today with their song: I Don’t Need No Doctor… A young Peter Frampton played guitar for Humble Pie… I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday, a Fantastico Friday tomorrow, and get ready for T-Day! And please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler