Tag: BOE

Ep. 497 – November Jobs Report
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 497 - November Jobs Report
Loading
/

According to the BLS, 245,000 jobs were created in the month of November. This was well below market expectations and where jobs gains had been over the last several months. Perhaps portending of a loss of momentum within the jobs market. Such a situation, would however, be consistent with other data that we have been witnessing with respect to initial jobless claims remaining stubbornly high at over 700,000 per week. Such a small monthly gain is also consistent with recent small business surveys that indicate that nearly half of these businesses remain at risk of closing for good. Those industries hardest hit are continuing to feel the brunt of the economic contraction and the narrative is showing consistency across various reports and surveys. Thus, indicating to The Kapital News, that there is still a long way to go with respect to the recovery of employment. It should also be noted that elements within the Nobody CARES Act are expiring at the end of the month. Therefore, those who may be losing their jobs for the first time, will likely qualify for state benefits. However, those that typically do not qualify for state benefits, such as small business owners, contractors, gig workers etc, have been relying on the PUA and/or PEUC programs created in the Nobody CARES Act, will run into a problem as these programs are set to expire. These two programs were also available as an extension if and once, state benefits expired. Lastly, the headline U-3 unemployment rate was 6.7 percent for the month of November. However, per the BLS, if calculated “more accurately,” the rate would have been 7.1 percent. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Unemployment #Bailouts #Debt #Recession #Depression #Inflation #Gold #Silver #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 496 – More Jobless Claims
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 496 - More Jobless Claims
Loading
/

Our typical Thursday discussion revolves around initial jobless claims, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, and M2 money stock. With respect to initial jobless claims, 712,000 Americans filed for the week ending 28 November. While this is below market expectations and a reversal from the prior two weeks’ upward trend, this number is still over 3x the weekly claims witnessed prior to the lockdowns and restrictions. It also remains higher that the numbers experienced during the depths of the GFC. And if The Kapital News is correct in forecasting a serious number of bankruptcies and insolvencies over the next two years, then these numbers will likely remain stubbornly high. The total of all persons claiming some form of unemployment insurance came in at 20.2 million for the week ending 14 November. While this is a decrease from the prior week of some 350,000, this still provides us with a 13.7 percent unemployment rate. This would be nearly twice the headline rate at 6.9 percent. Tomorrow, 4 December, is the first Friday of the month, and as such, the official jobs report will be released.

The Fed’s balance sheet increased from the prior week, but is slightly below its all-time high experienced a few short weeks ago. The current figure is $7.222 trillion. With respect to M2 money stock, another all-time high was also reached, now standing at $19.12 trillion. This is monetary destruction in our face. This is destroying savings, capital formation, and prudent investments. It is increasing the cost of living, decreasing living standards, fueling our debt binge, and creating malinvestments across the spectrum. It is breaking and distorting markets – this will not end well. These actions are not free. Quite the contrary, as they are proving to be very expensive and destructive. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Debt #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #Iniflation #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #USA #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 495 – Small Biz Pulse Check
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 495 - Small Biz Pulse Check
Loading
/

During today’s podcast we highlight a few new surveys and data releases with respect to small businesses, the PPP loans, unemployment, and delinquencies and foreclosures within the housing market. What is clear is that we are far from being “back to normal,” and quite startling, the economy is likely to get worse before it gets better. Of the small businesses that still remain, nearly 50 percent are at risk of closing for good. This spans all industries, yet those hardest hit early on in this crisis, remain those with the greatest concern for going out of business. The data does not get much better with respect to the PPP loan data that came out from the Small Business Administration. Suffice to say that The Kapital News calling it the Nobody CARES Act remains spot on. And lastly, the news does not get much better when analyzing the housing market with respect to delinquencies and foreclosures. What is also disconcerting is that at the same time of rising delinquencies and foreclosures, we are witnessing rising housing prices. In fact, housing prices have just hit all-time highs. What this suggests, is that when the bottom drops out of the housing market, new and first-time home buyers will be immediately underwater in their mortgages. And if the small business surveys come to fruition, then business closures will bring job losses, which will bring delinquencies and foreclosures. Such economic stress will also continue to weigh on local and state government coffers and services. A downward spiral will ensue and continue until the economy hits bottom. We are in the midst of the greatest depression. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #SmallBusiness #Jobs #USA #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Debt #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 494 – Biden’s Economic Dream Team Is Really A Nightmare
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 494 - Biden's Economic Dream Team Is Really A Nightmare
Loading
/

President-elect Joe Biden released more names today to fill positions within his economic team. These characters are all familiar names as many have held posts within the Obama Administration. As The Kapital News likes to say, “it’s a revolving door down there in Washington, DC.” It is quite remarkable, yet also not surprising, that such people will be filling these positions. Remarkable in the sense that no one seems to have any basic common sense for what is going on in this country. Evidently, the same people who are responsible for past and current economic calamity are now back in the fold – apparently so they can be responsible for the future economic calamity. This makes zero sense. However, what can be deduced is that the incoming Biden Administration must be fine with how things were managed in the past and thinks that’s how things should be managed going forward. This becomes the definition of insanity. And of course, it will continue to be the American people who are responsible for the bill. This will be paid through taxation, inflation, a stagnant economy, higher costs of living, lower living standards, few opportunities, and more debt. Just when you thought 2020 was nearing its close – we have all of 2021 to contend with in the aftermath of all of these flawed policies. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Debt #Bailouts #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Revolution #USA

Ep. 493 – What’s Silver + Gold Telling Us?
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 493 - What's Silver + Gold Telling Us?
Loading
/

The recent pullback in silver and gold have many wondering what this means, and what may lie ahead for the precious metals market. There are of course many theories out there, but today we discuss a couple. First, could silver and gold be sniffing out the likely oncoming tsunami of bankruptcies and insolvencies? Some argue that if this scenario unfolds, that this will be “deflationary” and thus bad news for silver and gold prices. The Kapital News notes, however, that silver and gold can also do well in a deflationary environment. It must also be stressed that when the mainstream uses the words inflationary and deflationary, they are usually used incorrectly. These are monetary phenomena whereby inflation is an increase in the money supply and conversely deflation is a contraction in the money supply. Well, hello – central banks the world over are printing their respective currencies like they are going out of style – because they are! However, what most people mean by deflation is that prices will drop and inflation – prices will rise. The Kapital News is focused on the goods and services that people actually need and use – not so much the things they do not need and are not spending money on. And with this – prices are going up. In addition, we are seeing financial asset prices make new highs, especially with respect to equities and housing. People around the world are not protesting and rioting because the cost of living is so affordable – on the contrary – the cost of living is unaffordable!

We then look at these recent price declines as perhaps simply a period of consolidation, followed by a sell off, but only to prove to be the start of the next leg higher – bull markets climb a wall of worry. The Kapital News looks at silver and gold as a long-term investment. There are simply too many boxes that are checked or will soon be checked that add fuel to this precious metals bull market. Such as low interest rates, negative rates, negative real rates, massive deficit spending, massive expansion of central bank balance sheets, political and geopolitical risks, a stagnant economy, and a whole host of uncertainties that remain with how countries and societies will handle the wealth and income inequalities, the pandemic, higher prices, elections, and so much more. The remaining decade is going to be one for the history books – what we have done to ourselves and each other, and what we do to ourselves and each other as all of this immoral and unethical behavior, along with trillions in malinvestment(s), comes home to roost. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Silver #Gold #Inflation #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #USA #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 491 – Yellen: No Checks, No Balances
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 491 - Yellen: No Checks, No Balances
Loading
/

Today’s title has a couple of meanings. First, since we’re a first world banana republic, we have no checks to write because there is no balance in the Treasury to cover them. Further, the only way we really show a balance in the general fund is because we print the money like it’s going out of style – because it is. Then of course, the United States government is supposed to be a system of checks and balances. But how can our system truly function as such a system, if there exists a central bank, the Federal Reserve, that is accountable to no one? Presidents, Representatives, and Senators can be voted in and voted out by the people. The President can override Congress with a veto. Congress can override the veto should enough votes exist. Congress can impeach and remove a President. The Supreme Court can rule actions and legislation to be unconstitutional. Yet, if and when central bankers set interest rates and embark upon other policies, there is no one who can overturn their decision. These “officials” are not elected, and thus cannot be voted out by the people. So where is the check and balance to their power? This is exactly the problem.

Now, with President-elect, Joe Biden, beginning his transition into the White House, he is starting to pick his cabinet. Continuing with yesterday’s discussion, we highlight his pick of Treasury Secretary of Janet Yellen. Yellen was the former Vice Chair and Chairman of the Federal Reserve. She was very a much a part of implementing and overseeing quantitative easing. She is also an advocate for granting the Fed the ability and authority to purchase equities outright. While she makes such a claim in a veiled way – make no mistake that she believes this is something Congress should consider doing – granting the Fed such powers. She, like many of her predecessors and successors, are destructive to the United States of America. Their policies are the root of our economic malaise in conjunction with actions taken by our government. It has been and remains to be a great concern that these policies are going to become even more extreme, and thus worsen and add to the damage. It’s a revolving door in Washington, DC and this is further evidence that our elected officials care not about the health of our country. The people need to wake up before it is too late. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Bailouts #Markets #Jobs #Debt #USA #Inflation #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 490 – Yellen + Screamin’
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 490 - Yellen + Screamin'
Loading
/

So here we have it! It’s vaccine Monday once again and right on cue, AstraZeneca comes out and announced the results of their vaccine’s efficacy. This is now three Mondays in a row – Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, respectively. However, today’s news was further bolstered by the announcement that former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, is getting the nod to become the next Treasury Secretary. Of course she will need to be confirmed by the Senate, but since she has been confirmed before, there’s really no reason to think why she won’t be confirmed again. Now, The Kapital News can come up with trillions of reasons as to why she should not be confirmed, but you get the point.

The stock market loved this news and why wouldn’t that be the case? Equities rose considerably under the Yellen-Obama tenure. This is thanks to record low interest rates, and quantitative easing being the norm for the past decade plus. This monstrosity of a policy continues and now with a one-two punch at Treasury and the Fed – what could possibly go wrong? Again, The Kapital News can provide a trillion scenarios, but you get the point in that the addicts on Wall Street will continue to get their hit and in larger doses. This is destroying, if it hasn’t already killed the patient, with the patient being that of the US economy. For that matter, it’s really the global economy since these actions are being undertaken in an orchestrated manner.

What’s so sad of course, is the fact that tens of millions of Americans are still going to food banks, collecting unemployment insurance, facing eviction(s), and massive uncertainties ahead, yet global equities continue reaching new heights. This is massive fraud and contributing greatly to wealth and income inequality. This is a recipe for political, social, and economic disaster because this is not the result of production, productivity gains, and prudent valuations. No, this is at the hand of easy credit and trillion dollar liquidity injections. In short, this is a first world banana republic and the funny money is inflating financial assets into the stratosphere. Just wait until this is reflected in commodity prices and general consumer prices. The inflation is already here – now await it’s truly destructive force and the coming stagflation and potential hyperinflation. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Inflation #Gold #Debt #Silver #Recession #Liberty #Revolution #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Depression #Bailouts #USA

Ep. 484 – Bailout Nation
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 484 - Bailout Nation
Loading
/

In today’s podcast we focus primarily on the history of the Great Financial Crisis, and how the decisions made during that time are still being felt to this day. When the government intervenes in the market, it will necessarily pick winners and losers – there’s only so much money to go around – some will get it (winners) and other will not (losers). This can lead to distrust within the public as many may view the winners as being politically connected, while the losers are lower on the political totem pole. This belief is then likely to fester into something larger and more divisive across the country.

During this time, we saw the rise of the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements. Both being born out of such distrust and disdain for the government and major corporations. These movements were then adopted by the political parties – Republicans the Tea Party – Democrats the Occupy Wall Street movement. However, these two groups should have joined together to unite the people of the country and to call out the destructive nature of the big-government – big-business merger. This did not happen. Instead, we started down the path of extreme partisanship, which gave rise to populism and to President Trump. And because we continue to be a bailout nation – the Nobody CARES Act, along with the alphabet soup of emergency facilities at the Fed – and the country remains as divided as we have ever been – maybe since the Civil War. Unfortunately, the bailouts and the division is going to continue. And it will do so until it exhausts itself and leads to near or perhaps total economic, political, and social ruin. To hit rock bottom if you will. Let us pray this does not happen, but there is nowhere in sight any proactive measures to lead us out of this mess in which we find ourselves. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Bailouts #Jobs #USA #Debt #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 478 – America Will Decide
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 478 - America Will Decide
Loading
/

One day to go until election day and the scene on the streets of some of the largest cities across the country is one where business owners are boarding up their storefront windows, as if preparing for a hurricane. Well they’re not preparing for a hurricane, they’re preparing for an election in the United States of America – a truly tragic and embarrassing moment in this nation’s history. A country as torn as it has ever been, perhaps only bested by the Civil War and the 1960s social and equal justice, and anti-war movements, and at the helm sits a President of the United States that seeks to divide the country even further. Placing the blame solely on the Democratic party and using fear to motivate his base as to how the Democrats will destroy your cities, suburbs, economy, and Constitutional rights. However, he offers no concrete policies – just campaign slogans with the mixture of airing his grievances to anyone who will listen. This is not leadership – this is more of the problem. President Trump did not start this division. He is rather a symptom of the structural underlying problems plaguing this nation. But as previously noted, he is making things worse, not better. There is plenty of blame to go around with both political parties. And there is plenty of blame that lies at the feet of the American people for allowing such political, economic, and social decay to surround this country – eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Put down the partisanship and raise the truth!

So we’ll have our election in this 1st world banana republic and it’ll be spectator sport for the world as they watch this former beacon of light continue to crumble and lose its standing in the world. It’ll also serve as a tremendous opportunity for adversaries to take advantage of the situation, should they so choose. We are far from out of the woods economically speaking with respect to the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions and also the natural flow of the business cycle that was turning down prior to the onset of the pandemic. This places us in the greatest depression, and the people don’t even fully realize it yet, as we’re blinded by the political circus, and easy money printing from one central bank after the next – with not a major or serious discussion about the ramifications. Tomorrow isn’t the time to vote. Tomorrow is the time to start the revolution! Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Election2020 #Vote #ElectionDay #USA #Economy #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 469 – Election Interference
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 469 - Election Interference
Loading
/

No one holds a candle to the type of election interference that the US engages in, but nevertheless, we heard from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and Director of the FBI this evening about interference campaigns being run by Iran and Russia. Apparently, Iran is sending out emails to Americans with threatening statements to vote for a certain candidate. The Kapital News is sure that there are many other attacks and attempts underway, but this is what we are being informed of as of this evening – with only two weeks to go until election day.

We have discussed in previous podcasts the dangers of social media platforms and their effectiveness with respect to spreading misinformation and disinformation. With some deep pockets and/or a very creative mind, individuals, teams, campaigns, political groups, and yes, foreign actors, can shape political opinions, and with it, potentially drive election outcomes. This social media Pandora’s box has been opened, and the contents are not going back in anytime soon – if ever. And don’t forget, this is all going on while President Trump claims that it’s a rigged election if he should lose, but evidently everything is fine if should he win – this is outrageous and only goes to further divide, confuse, and frustrate the American people.

In other news, President Obama was on the campaign trail this evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – a battleground state. Attempting to be the “closer” for the Biden-Harris campaign. The Democrats are looking to regain Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the “blue wall.” If this should happen, then odds have it that Joe Biden will become the next President. Current polling would indicate that Biden has a lead in all three states, but so did Clinton in 2016 – this race is far from over. We shall see if President Obama’s message was enough to turn PA blue once again for the Democrats. Early vote counts are currently north of 44 million, representing about 32 percent of 2016 total voter turnout. It’s nearly 3-to-1 in the breakdown between mail ballots and in-person votes at this juncture. With more votes taking place in these early rounds, it increases the likelihood that we’ll know the winner within a day or two of the election. However, should there be some tight races in key battleground states, then it could take weeks or months to determine the winner of the White House. And buckle up – tomorrow evening is the second and final debate between President Trump and VP Joe Biden – anything can happen. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Elections2020 #Debates2020 #Economy #USA #Russia #Iran #China #Vote #Gold #Silver #Inflation #Debt #Bailouts #Jobs #Liberty #Revolution