by Mike Gleason, Gold Seek:
As central bankers waver on rate cuts, precious metals markets continue to pull back.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve opted to leave interest rates unchanged. Given the spate of recent hotter-than-expected readings on inflation, policymakers had little choice but to postpone any plans for monetary easing.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell conveyed confusion over the outlook for inflation and the prospects for rate cuts going forward.
Jerome Powell:
by Peter Schiff, Schiff Gold:
With the eventual introduction of central bank digital currency (CBDCs) now seemingly inevitable, there are a lot of directions central banks could take with their digital currency projects that would have dramatic implications for the price of gold.
Touted for their “convenience” and “efficiency,” the endgame of digital currencies is not only achieving greater power over the currency but also a means of surveilling and micromanaging the personal finances of each individual. Owe taxes or a parking ticket? It could be automatically deducted. Does the Fed think it needs to cool inflation? Deduct money straight from people’s accounts, or impose a daily spending limit. The possibilities for control and profit are endless, and too tempting for control freak bureaucracies and amoral tech companies to ignore.
by Philip Giraldi, The Unz Review:
I think the striking events we have witnessed in American society over the last few months—and especially the last few days—are best understood if we consider a shrewd observation widely misattributed to Voltaire:
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who are not allowed to criticize.
From the years of my childhood I’d always been aware that political activism and protests were a regular feature of college life, with the 1960s movement against our Vietnam War representing one of its peaks, an effort widely lauded in our later textbooks and media accounts for its heroic idealism. During the 1980s I remember seeing a long line of crudely constructed shanties protesting South African Apartheid that spent weeks occupying the edges of the Harvard Yard or perhaps it was the Stanford Quad, and I think around the same time other shanties and protesters at UCLA maintained a long vigil in support of the Jewish Refusedniks of the USSR. Political protests seemed as much a normal aspect of college years as final exams and had largely replaced the hazing rituals and wild pranks of traditional fraternities, which were increasingly vilified as politically incorrect by hostile social censors among the students and faculty.
by Mark Mead Baillie, Gold Seek:
Not to overly dwell — let alone predict — by subject title, however if we search our recollect (thank you Ken Starr), was it not by this time a year ago that we’d witnessed a few banks go? Whilst not first, First Republic failed. And now a year hence, Republic First has failed. How palindromic its that? Or from the “What’s in a Numerological Name Dept.” ought we now be concerned about Old Second National, or dare we say, Fifth Third? (Not to panic as both those two institutions appear quite solvent, whereas New York’s Fourth National went defunct 110 years ago, but we digress…)
from GoldSilver (w/ Mike Maloney:
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
by Peter Schiff, Schiff Gold:
The yen was once known as a safe-haven currency for investors to protect themselves when broader markets are shaky or other currencies are dropping, but those days are numbered. A stable government and consistent (and low) interest rates have been some of the driving factors, but it’s the unwinding of that ultra-low interest rate policy that will be the yen’s “safe haven” undoing as gold retains its protective characteristics and rockets upward.
by Harley Schlanger, LaRouche Organization:
In 2023, the U.S. economy experienced the 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest bank failures in U.S. history. The FDIC shelled out $1 billion last week to allow the takeover of the failing Republic First Bank of Philadelphia, while other, larger banks are threatened with collapse by asset devaluations in the $23 trillion commercial real estate market. In response, the crooks in the Military-Industrial-Financial establishment are demanding hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to pay for their wars, to weaken nations — such as Russia and China — which refuse to submit to the demands of the Unipolar World Order. I will be discussing this today with Helga Zepp-LaRouche in our weekly dialogue. You can participate by sending questions/comments to questions@schillerinstitute.org
by Brandon Smith, Alt Market:
World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation.
from ZeroHedge:
In November 2023, with gold trading around $1900/oz, we highlighted the beginning of a precious metal buying-binge from China, noting that the prcie for physical gold had never been more expensive at the time (while western gold prices were still below their prior record highs).
by Joseph P. Farrell, Giza Death Star:
This story was spotted and shared by S.D.(to whom a grateful thank you!), and while it is now a familiar story to regular readers of this website, as more and more states have joined the revolt against central bank digital currencies and the threat to freedom they represent, there is something in this version of the story that grabbed my attention for reasons we’ll get to shortly. Here’s the story:
Nebraska Ends Income Taxes on Gold and Silver, Declares CBDCs Are Not Lawful Money
