from Birch Gold Group:
This week, Your News to Know rounds up the latest top stories involving gold and the overall economy. Stories include: John Williams on why inflation is worse than presented, Poland wants more gold, and Korea introduces gold ATMs.
John Williams: When inflation is really this bad, you need physical gold
John Williams is perhaps best known for his ShadowStats website, which provides inflation updates based on the measurements formerly used by the Federal Reserve. In the 1980s, the government decided that inflation was more of a marketing problem than a financial problem – and subsequently changed the way Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers are captured and reported.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
The result? Inflation is officially understated by a factor of 2-3…
“Official” inflation is under 5%, although the more accurate 1980s-based measure puts the actual rise in our cost of living closer to 12%. Courtesy of ShadowStats
(Ask Dr. Ron Paul, who’s seen the sausage made on the inside, and he’ll tell you official inflation reports are nonsense. )
This recent interview with John Williams discusses inflation, the U.S. economy and economic indicators, assets and more. It’s a great listen! Here are the highlights:
Williams explained the recent program of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, and outlined the many layered problems with them. The hikes were intended to cool the economy a bit, under the presumption that a red-hot economy is inflationary in nature. This, Williams points out, is simply absurd. Corporate earnings have been in the red this year, the housing market has collapsed and most sectors aren’t growing.
In case anyone needed reminding, Williams notes that inflation came about only and solely due to the printing and pumping of trillions of dollars into the economy. Rate hikes aren’t just a temporary solution: they’re more psychological than anything. Both Williams and the host believe that the situation is far worse than that of the 1970s, a claim many analysts are increasingly comfortable making these days.
Williams advocates physical gold ownership for reasons past just wealth preservation: he likes the metal as a bartering tool, one that could very well become necessary down the line depending on how the situation unfolds.
He mentioned the Weimar Republic, citing accounts from people who lived there, that are downright bizarre. Yet Germany was a strong economy before and after Weimar. It bounced back, which means the U.S. can too, even if the U.S. dollar collapses. And that’s perhaps the most concerning prospect for U.S. citizens in all of this.
A Weimar period in the U.S. has been made conditional by observers with a total collapse of the U.S., more or less. That’s why nobody can believe it. But if we instead view hyperinflation as a come-and-go thing in the U.S., where we might suffer years or decades of neo-Weimar before bouncing back, it’s a far more plausible scenario. Let us also not forget that more quantitative easing is being mentioned already as a way to offset this hiking schedule in case there are still dollar optimists around.
Central bank gold buying update: Poland buys tons of gold (again); analysts ponder Hungary’s case
When Hungary and Poland bought tons of gold some years back, we weren’t where we are now. Poland’s government said it reaffirms the nation’s clout on the global stage, a message that was almost strange back then. Some five years ago, large gold buyers were countries like Russia with obvious motivations and reasons. That made Poland’s comments stand out.
Just a few years later, we find ourselves in an environment where central bankers are no longer trying to keep up appearances, so to speak. Buying the most gold since 1950 during a global inflationary period sent quite a few signals to the markets, but also to the average person. It was a flip from “gold is a thing of the past” to “whoever owns the most gold makes the rules” by the official sector. And it told currency holders that the paper bills might not have as much value as previously advertised.
