Finance U: Our Economic Future Hangs In The Balance

[cmartenson (Chris Martenson)]

Originally published at: https://peakprosperity.com/finance-u-our-economic-future-hangs-in-the-balance/

Bluntly speaking, Trump whiffed during the debate by failing to clearly distinguish between what he plans to do economically as president and what Biden/Harris have been doing the last four years.

For example, auto insurance is up 53% over the past four years.

Source: https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1833851469503615231

We deserve to hear why each candidate thinks this happened, whether it’s appropriate, and what they plan to do about it.

And health insurance is a complete disaster for American families with the average health insurance premium rising from $6k per year in 1999 to $24k in 2023:

Source: https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1833345166586814774

Meanwhile, full-time jobs have fallen by a whopping 1.5 million since June 2023 and, to make the situation even grimmer, non-native born workers have gained more than 100% of all the jobs ‘created’ over the past four years.

Source: https://x.com/i/bookmarks/1832083031886004439

These sorts of data seem like proper fuel for a debate. Voters should get to choose between which sort of a country they want to live in. One which preferentially favors migrants or one which favors the people who built it and made it an attractive place to live.

Another point of distinction might be between being in a perpetual state of war vs. being at peace and using the savings to re-build America for the benefit of Americans.

Ever since Nobel Peace Prize Obama took office the very best performing stock areas to be in were health care insurance companies and military stocks:

Source: https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1831743617096151268

If you’ll note, that chart has a definite wiggle down for defense stocks during the Trump administration…he simply wasn’t starting any new wars and that was hurting the stocks of the merchants of death.

Having a strong actual defense is one thing, but purposely starting conflicts to sell military hardware is another.

Finally, nobody asked and nobody discussed what the plan is, from either party, for dealing with an out-of-control spending and US government debt spree that is destined to end badly. If the next administration is not planning on constructively dealing with it, and plans on handing it to a future administration, then we should know that.

There’s a huge difference between the candidate’s proposed economic and military policies and I wish those were the subject of discussion during the debate. Instead, we got fluff and meaningless ‘gotchas!”

I truly believe our economic future hangs in the balance.

Let’s discuss this.

 

[caringfriend]

I really wonder if someone got to Trump with some poison or other to put him off his game. He looked miserable.

[davefairtex]

With my tinfoil hat on:

Trump was vaxxed. Perhaps some sort of focused “EMF” signal might cause difficulty? If I were making a bioweapon, its definitely a feature I would consider adding.

[sketchypoodle]

At this point we have have to consider things that would have seemed ridiculous in the recent past.

[aquanaut]

I just posted on the “Stern Warning thread” this is where I think we are, a whole lot of similarities to the past

https://tribe.peakprosperity.com/t/the-treasury-department-sends-out-a-stern-warning/42117/45

[peakcovid]

@caringfriend

I really wonder if someone got to Trump with some poison or other to put him off his game. He looked miserable.

I suspect whoever is running his campaign has told him to tone things down so as to appeal to as many non-committed voters as possible (or even attract some of the more sensible Dem voters in the Tulsi/RFK way of thinking).

Also of course, the economy/geopolitical situation is looking pretty dire (massive understatement) so the prospect of taking it on might be putting a dampner on his enthusiasm to regain the Presidency.

[pb-round]

@peakcovid

Also of course, the economy/geopolitical situation is looking pretty dire (massive understatement) so the prospect of taking it on might be putting a dampner on his enthusiasm to regain the Presidency.

Yup. Sometimes I wonder if it might seem fitting to let the incumbent party go down with it?

[caringfriend]

I really think they did something to him to affect his performance.

[drsharp]

@caringfriend

I really wonder if someone got to Trump with some poison or other to put him off his game. He looked miserable.

I think the simplest explanation is the best: he just wasn’t prepared (@cmartenson suggested this too). For whatever reason he didn’t practice or really think/plan about what kinds of questions would be asked, and so he ended up on the defensive on some ways, on attack in other ways, but never smooth and never pure positive.

It’s fine to say “look how bad they are” since his opponent is part of the current administration, but he needed to really nail the “here’s the good things I’ll do” bit and be smooth and compelling about it.

He wasn’t smooth or clear, which is a shame.

Maybe, maybe there’s some 4D chess there, but I think Occam’s Razor plays in here: he just wasn’t on his game, for whatever reason.

I also believe very strongly that Kamala had help, either during or before. She had some answers that really, really sounded like something pre-written… with strong repetition, strong alliteration, and multiple points. That just doesn’t come naturally to most people (and definitely not her).

But… it’s a sunny day today, I got out for a drive in the convertible, and we are going camping this weekend. So I’ll keep myself focused on these happy truths, as best I can.

Cheers!

-Dan

[thecountmc]

looks like Musk is starting to get it

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1834354277118345358

[blaggers]

I find this web site fascinating. It graphs the price of gold in every country in the world for periods of days up to decades. All the trends are up and to the right.
It’s shocking evidence of the abject and total destruction of global Fiat confetti.
https://goldprice.org/gold-price-chart.html

With new record prices in the US today I’ve compiled a list of other countries that have gold breaking to new highs today (just included notable economies).

Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
Europe
UK
Holland
Hong Kong
Israel
India
Iceland
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Norway
NZ
Pakistan
Qatar
Sweden
Singapore
Turkey
Vietnam

Other countries just off their highs;
Switzerland
Japan
Mexico
Russia
South Africa

Shocking that the majority of people don’t realise the implications of what is happening to their currencies.

[abysmalspectator]

Gold became a Tier 1 asset on April 2019. Note that gold took off almost immediately.

This is the bit I always get wrong about the markets. That gold was becoming a Tier 1 asset on that date was known well beforehand, so I would have thought it would have adjusted before that date, but very often I’ve noticed that money doesn’t move until after an event has occurred. I suppose there is a game theoretic aspect to it - no point putting money months before others put money in as it can be used more effectively elsewhere.

[blaggers]

How do you load that screen shot AbysmalS?

[abysmalspectator]

Use the upload button in the editor:

[blaggers]

Thank you.

[blaggers]

Add to that the Repo crisis in September 2019 where the Fed injected $95 billion and then the Plandemic after that where the printing press went into overdrive.

[dryam2000]

Best investment strategy is that of Luke Gromen. Go for overweight gold to bet against the debt of the US treasury market. It will go up via either deflation & debt monetization. Farmland may also be good as there is a low cost to carry. Stocks will likely go up but not a whole lot with increased downside risk. IMO gold has best risk:benefit ratio than any other asset class. Could go up 5-15x via multiple revaluation mechanisms & scenarios. The rest of world seems to be moving to a pricing of gold in oil terms which would require a revaluation of 5-10x.

[argentum47]

Kamala has a Obama style accent and tone all of a sudden. Close your eyes and her words remind you of Obama. Almost like he was in her ear…

[argentum47]

The gentleman’s agreements between the East and West are long over. Once the US seized assets of Russia, it marked the end of our global pyramid scheme. I expect a lot of infighting once reality sets in, especially once reality hits locally in every town and city. Right now, there’s enough cheese to go around Washington but that will eventually draw to an end. When the cheese stops locally, we’ll really see the brown hit the fan. If Trump looses, it will be 100% on Democrat hands. Can they actually handle what they have started?

[publiusflavius]

eLawn the MIC contractor turned folk hero…kek.

What is the average lithium miners life span eLawn will you twit that bit out?

I don’t read much zero hedge anymore cuz its eLawn all the time…

Excellent conversation as always gentlemen.

Chris your asking rational questions that YOU WILL NEVER get an honest answer to from any pressitute or current resident of the satanic shithole on the Potomac.

I ask how tall is the ‘Washington Monument’ what symbols surround it?