Tag: RBA

Ep. 591 – The Ever-Changing Narrative

The Kapital News

Ep. 591 - The Ever-Changing Narrative

00:00 / 00:38:25

In the 24/7 news cycle, there is always a moving target. So it is not uncommon for there to be a new narrative from week to week or even day to day to hold the attention of their viewers. The Kapital News does not play this game and has called out most, if not all of these narratives as of late for being what they are – phony. The main narrative to focus on with respect to markets is the liquidity injections by central banks into the system. It is the funny money that is conjured up out of thin air that continues to prop up these markets. Simply ask yourself where would bond prices, bond yields, interest rates, and equity prices be if it were not for these actions undertaken by central banks? The answer is quite simple, yields and interest rates would be higher, and bond and equity prices lower. This is a house of mirrors and one which is built upon a foundation of sand. Nonetheless, the markets continue to buy into this narrative and policy and so they march onward and upward to new highs. Yes, there have been some minor pullbacks here and there, but they then go on to make new highs. As long as this is the case, then markets move higher. But once this relationship breaks down, and The Kapital News believes that it is only a matter of time, then these liquidity injections will no longer matter and will be impotent in propping up the markets. This will likely result in a great unraveling, whose force cannot be stopped by any kind of monetary or fiscal intervention. At this juncture, market forces are in complete control and they will rid the system of malinvestments and fraudulent businesses. Look out below.

Other news discussed pertained to updates on the Colonial pipeline situation, the Israeli and Palestinian conflict that has been intensifying, and an update on the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Much of these geopolitical events are not receiving the news coverage they deserve and furthermore, the equity markets do not seem to be pricing in the types of risks that can rapidly develop if any of these global issues escalate more seriously than where they currently stand. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Inflation #Fraud #FoodPrices #Debt #Spending #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #USA #Israel #Palestine #Russia #Ukraine #Protests #Riots #Peace #War #Gold #Silver #Commodities #Liberty #Leadership

Ep. 589 – April Fools Jobs Report

The Kapital News

Ep. 589 - April Fools Jobs Report

00:00 / 00:35:06

The market consensus was looking for a gain of one million jobs in the month of April. Instead, the figure came in at +266,000. This was quite the miss. However, it certainly gives at least another month of cover for fiscal and monetary authorities to continue with their narrative that more policy intervention is needed. From the White House, both the President and Treasury Secretary were stating how there is still a long road ahead. They also mentioned how the extension of unemployment benefits has no impact on this dismal jobs number. Instead, they cite the effects of the pandemic and the costs and lack of availability of child care. Interesting to note, however, is that members of the Federal Reserve did mention that the extension to unemployment benefits likely did impact the jobs number for April. As many people are getting paid just as much to stay home as compared to actually working. This belief by some Fed members was stated because, first of all, it is true, and then secondly, those extensions are a fiscal measure, not a monetary one. So the Fed is more than happy to throw a fiscal policy under the bus and shift the blame from themselves onto Congress and the White House, even though they are the ones financing such fiscal policy nonsense.

Clearly, both fiscal and monetary policy authorities want the “gravy-train” to continue as do the markets. And despite this dismal number, markets rallied and made new highs on the DJIA and the S&P500. This is a function of central bank liquidity, which continued to march higher this week and with it equity prices. This is the true narrative to monitor. If markets continue to buy into the rising liquidity injections, then they climb higher, if they cease to buy these actions, then it is game over, as this is the only thing that is propping these markets up. And it is not just the equity markets, but the bond market, and others as well.

The fiscal and monetary policies introduced last year and this year will continue to drag future economic growth downward, while also leading to increased costs across the board in commodities, and items needed to live. Housing and rents continue climbing higher, as do construction and building materials, as do commodities, from base metals, to agricultural products. These price increases will translate into great economic, political, and social strife in the coming months and years and this will be a global phenomena. Some of this fallout is already being witnessed in smaller countries, where they are near collapse or are already there. This trend will continue to make its way up the chain impacting larger economies and countries. This funny money coming from Uncle Sam is anything but a gift from the government, and it is anything but free. The costs of which will be some of the most expensive in human history in terms of price increases, social and political impact, lower living standards, and lost opportunities. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #USA #Liberty #Protests #FoodPrices #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Bailouts #Debt #Spending #Revolution #Leadership

Ep. 588 – Jobless Claims Below GFC

The Kapital News

Ep. 588 - Jobless Claims Below GFC

00:00 / 00:28:16

It has been over a year, but finally the initial jobless claims figure is below that witnessed during the depths of the GFC. In aggregate, regular state unemployment and PUA claims came in at a combined 599,000 for the week ending 1 May. The peak during the GFC was around 660,000. The prior combined figures for around an entire year stood north of 900,000 on a weekly basis! Regular state claims came in at 498,000 and the prior week was revised upward by 37,000 to stand at 590,000. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims came in at 101,000. In aggregate, amongst all forms of unemployment insurance, some 16.2 million Americans continued to file claims. This gives a de facto unemployment rate of 11.6 percent. The official unemployment rate is currently at 6 percent. The jobs report for the month of April will be released tomorrow by the BLS.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet stands at $7.81 trillion, which is a week-over-week increase of $30 billion, and is just shy of a new-all time high. The Fed remains committed to purchasing at least $120 billion of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities per month. This will take the balance sheet to around $8.5 trillion by the end of the year, and The Kapital News expects that number to be closer to $10 trillion. This policy of QE continues onward despite record high equity prices, record high housing prices, sky-rocketing commodity prices, rising food prices, et cetera. If the jobs report provides a strong number, then the Fed is going to find themselves to be trapped even more than what they currently are. How can they continue to justify their policies and interventions if everything is looking healthy? Of course things are not healthy. It is a smoke and mirror show provided to us via trillions in fiscal and monetary policies. But the Fed will never admit to this, so they will continue with some made up narrative to justify their reckless actions. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #Protests #FoodPrices #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Gold #Silver #Commodities #Debt

Ep. 585 – Priced Out of Housing

The Kapital News

Ep. 585 - Priced Out of Housing

00:00 / 00:34:01

Only a few months ago the average new home build cost an extra $24,000 due to the price increase of lumber alone. Fast-forward to today and now that increase is $36,000! That is an increase of 50 percent in only a few short months. And of course we are told constantly by our policymakers that there is no inflation. Do not believe your lying eyes is supposedly their message. Further, this is placing upward pressure on rents as well, and according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), monthly rent payments are likely to increase by $120 per month. So understand that Uncle Sam and company have been sending out stimulus checks over the last year. If your rent should increase by $120 per month, then that check simply went to covering this rent increase. However, it will not be able to cover all of the other price hikes that exist from A-Z.

As we continue to see upward pressure on prices, many major corporations have been issuing press releases to their customers indicating that they will be increasing their prices, if they have not done so already. It would also be prudent to not only pay attention to the price hikes, but also the volume of product. Is it the same weight or lesser? Is it the same count or fewer? With these prices increasing there are only a few things that can happen. For example, corporations can assume the price hikes, thus squeezing their margins; they can pass along the entire cost to their customers, thus increasing consumer prices yet also risk losing market share; or a combination of the two. However, whichever option is chosen by what company, one thing is certain and that is margins and savings will be squeezed. The markets are priced to perfection, as the saying goes and thus anything that strays from this narrative can have some serious negative consequences.

Some such negativity right now with the current state of housing is the likelihood of pricing out a generation of homebuyers. The demographic most negatively impacted right now is the Millennial generation. This cohort has to contend with purchasing record-high housing prices, equity prices, car prices, rents, student debt payments, and the lack of current and future opportunities. All while likely to be left with the responsibility of cleaning up this mess from a budgetary and governmental standpoint. This is the intersection of economics, politics, and social issues. The dam is about to burst globally because of these issues, and when it does, it will be epic! Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Housing #Lumber #Jobs #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Commodities

Ep. 584 – Job Or Just A Paycheck?

The Kapital News

Ep. 584 - Job Or Just A Paycheck?

00:00 / 00:33:34

Evidently one does not need a job in order to receive a paycheck in the new America. As stated by President Biden yesterday evening, Americans should not have to choose between a job or a paycheck. So presumably, one can go to work and earn a paycheck, or one can simply decide that they would prefer to just receive a paycheck by doing nothing. It would have to be assumed that the government will be sending out the checks. This is beyond ridiculous, but this is what was said. As The Kapital News has been stating for the last couple of years and especially last year, with all of the stimulus checks that were sent out, was how the American people were being conditioned to accept money from the government. This is a trial run at universal basic income or UBI, which is part of modern monetary theory, or MMT. The overall belief is that money grows on trees, deficits and debts do not matter, and if inflation should ever be of concern, just raise taxes. A terribly flawed idea and it should not even be considered an idea – that is how bad it is. Nonetheless, many Americans have grown accustomed to and fond of these checks from the government, not realizing the true cost that awaits them on the other side. This will take the form of much higher prices, higher taxes, lower living standards, and the loss of opportunities.

Initial jobless claims came in at 553,000 for the week ending 24 April. The prior week was revised upward by 19,000 to now stand at 566,000. While the regular state unemployment number is now below the figures we saw during the depths of the GFC, when taken together with the federal program of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, which came in at 122k, in aggregate still keeps us above those GFC figures for over a year. While trending lower, there is still along way to go as prior to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, claims were between 200-300k. In aggregate, some 16.6 million Americans continue to claim some form of unemployment insurance. This gives us a de facto unemployment rate of 11.9 percent, which is still about 2x as high as the official rate at 6.0 percent. Next Friday will be the release of the official jobs report for the month of April.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet retreated by $40 billion from last week’s all-time high and now stands at $7.78 trillion. The Fed remains committed to their QE policy of purchasing at least $120 billion per month of US Treasuries and mortgaged-backed securities. This will take their balance sheet to around $8.5 trillion by the end of the year and The Kapital News is projecting it may be closer to $10 trillion. For perspective, the balance sheet was just shy of $900 billion prior to the GFC. Monetary measures of M1 and M2 were also released. These figures used to be updated weekly, but are now refreshed on a monthly basis. M1 and M2 both hit new all-time highs, at $18.68 trillion and $19.89 trillion, respectively. These were month-over-month increases of $280 billion and $250 billion, respectively. The ultimate narrative that matters is this one that pertains to central bank actions and the injections of liquidity into the system. Should markets continue to buy into it, then markets likely continue grinding higher. But should they cease to buy into it, or the system hits exhaustion, or an endogenous or exogenous event occurs, they it is likely game, set, and match for this decade plus long bull market.

Lastly, several active military officials in France are warning of a civil war breaking out in the country. The rush of immigrants into the country over recent years is one such reason cited by the officials, along with other government policies that they believe are leading to the downfall of the country. The French government will be dealing with these individuals via military council, but their message has already been heard. With all of the actions and policies that have been implemented by governments and central banks around the world, the global system has been materially weakened. This type of rhetoric, along with the global protests, riots, revolutions, civil wars, conflicts, and coups will only pick up steam from here. The true costs of all of these policies have yet to be fully felt and once they are, global flare ups will be the norm in countries large and small, weak and powerful. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #FoodPrices #Debt #Spending #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Bailouts #Protests

Ep. 583 – Powell + Biden Speak, Trillion Dollar Giveaways

The Kapital News

Ep. 583 - Powell + Biden Speak, Trillion Dollar Giveaways

00:00 / 00:34:16

Just when you thought multi-trillion dollar deficits for the past couple of years was bad enough, wait…there is more! The one-two punch from monetary and fiscal authorities keeps coming with no end in sight. The government, especially the Democrat party wants to continue with the massive spending spree and the Federal Reserve is more than happy to continue to finance such profligacy. Of course nothing is free and the results will be higher direct taxes at every level, federal, state, and local, higher inflation, lower living standards, and fewer opportunities. One cannot fix a global debt crisis with even more debt. Yet no policy maker regardless of political party or monetary institution wants to take responsibility or accountability for their years of reckless and criminal behavior. We do not have the right to steal from future generations, yet that is exactly what it means when we run these types of annual deficits and accumulate a national debt of over $28 trillion and growing!

Today was the conclusion of the FOMC meeting and as expected the Fed left the Federal Funds Rate unchanged at 0.00-0.25 percent. They also maintained their stance with respect to their QE program whereby they will continue to purchase at least $120 billion per month of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Last week their balance sheet hit a record high of over $7.8 trillion. Fed Chair, Jay Powell, continues to reiterate that inflation expectations will be transitory and will be a result of base effects, due to the low levels seen last year due to the lockdowns. In effect, he is stating that the Fed is just going to wait and see what happens next year, because the base effects will be in play through the remainder of this year. So a large print on inflation may very well occur and the Fed will just presumably shrug it off and say it is only due to base effects. We wonder if the people who have to pay higher prices will be so nonchalant about their currency being devalued?

Finally some tougher questions were asked of Jay Powell, but most likely simply due to the obvious absurdity of their policies and rhetoric. For instance, questions were asked with respect to the real estate market, which is currently hitting all-time highs with prices and other metrics. It was then asked with this as a backdrop, why then does the Fed continue to purchase $40 billion per month of MBS? It may be understood and even accepted that during the GFC, housing prices were collapsing and MBS were toxic assets and the Fed was attempting to inject liquidity into the system via these purchases. That was then and this is now. The GFC was an emergency and thus they justified their actions because of the falling house prices. Now, we have prices at all-time highs and the Fed also states that the economy is recovering – so where is the emergency to justify these purchases? A fair and basic question that received a terrible answer or better yet a non-answer, but at least the question was asked. On the other side, however, giving credit where credit is due, Jay Powell did admit that rising housing prices are pricing people out of the market, especially younger people, and that this is problematic. This is true. Yet does he not understand that much of this is a direct result of monetary policies that he is responsible for and fiscal policies of which his institution finances? This summarizes who and what we are dealing with.

This evening President Joe Biden gave an address to a joint-session of Congress. In his hour long speech he promised trillions of dollars in new spending on top of the trillions of dollars already passed to be spent during his short-time in office. There is completely no understanding of basic mathematics that exists within Congress, especially within the Democrat party. For instance, the Biden administration wants to increase taxes on the wealthiest of individuals and corporations. And presumably, with this extra tax revenue all of these new and old programs will be funded. Well not so fast. We are on track to spend nearly $8 trillion this year alone! This will give us an annual budget deficit of over $4 trillion. Our deficit will be larger than the entire amount of tax revenue that is brought in, which is around $3.5 trillion. Further, if you take $8 trillion and divide by 52 weeks in the year, you get around $154 billion of spending per week! And this is just the federal government. So, you can confiscate 100 percent of Jeff Bezos’ net worth, not just income, but everything the man owns, and it will only finance the US federal government for one full week! Yeah it does not add up and look who is in control of the education system – yep the government. These programs are outrageous, un-American, and unconstitutional. Yet none of that is going to stop them from trying to pass more legislation and spend trillions of dollars that we do not have – thus stealing it from future generations and robbing them of their prosperity and opportunities. This is all only going to get worse. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Fraud #Inflation #Spending #Debt #Gold #Silver #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Revolution #Protests #Peace

Ep. 581 – Youth Revolts Coming

The Kapital News

Ep. 581 - Youth Revolts Coming

00:00 / 00:33:17

Global protests and riots were occurring throughout 2019, which must not be forgotten. These movements were emblematic of a weakening world economy prior to the pandemic. The subsequent lockdowns and restrictions only made things worse. Yet due to the restrictions, these protests were muted. However, given the responses by federal governments and central banks, The Kapital News believes that the setting is ripe once again for such protests to take shape.

The country of Chile was on the list of countries protesting in 2019 and given the current environment, copper miners in the country are on strike. The people want the ability to tap into their pensions to act as a bridge to help support themselves and their families financially until conditions improve. They have done this twice before already and were looking for the opportunity to do so for a third time. However, the President of the country declined – thus the strikes. Chile is a major copper producing country and world markets have already been contending with higher commodity prices and supply chain disruptions. This action will only serve to aggravate current conditions, which was witnessed earlier today with the price of copper reaching near $4.50 per pound. And despite one large price increase after the next in one commodity after the next, we are routinely told that there is no inflation. What a joke! And this is one of the many reasons as to why protests will gain momentum.

Another source for youth frustration is in the real estate market. Take South Korea for example where young people in their 20s and 30s are all but priced out of the market and rents keep climbing higher as well. In the capital city of Seoul, apartment prices have risen nearly 58 percent since President Moon has been in office. The young people have recently shown their frustration in political elections, which led to the government implementing a program to cap rent increases at 5 percent. The Kapital News is against rent controls as they tend to backfire, as the caps are usually below where market forces would naturally clear, thus generating shortages, which in turn leads to higher prices. Nonetheless, several politicians are suspected to have front-run the legislation with respect to their investment properties. Meaning that before the 5 percent cap increase went into effect, these politicians increased their rents by as much as 14 percent! So much for looking out for their constituents. It appears that politicians are politicians whichever country you may find yourself.

Such actions undertaken prior to the pandemic, currently, and what will likely transpire in the future, will all serve as fuel to the growing fire that is youth revolts. Young people know all too well that it is they who will be paying the bulk of the bill for all of these asinine and criminal policies. The price will be paid in a number of ways of such as, increased direct taxation, higher rates of inflation, lower living standards than previous generations, fewer opportunities, and less prosperity. All of the actions undertaken today are simply to give the false façade of economic strength and vitality. Printing and spending trillions of dollars will buy you time, and make things look good for a short period of time, but when the bill comes due as it always does, it will be extremely expensive. Younger generations will nearly be forced to demand major structural changes if they are to have a future for themselves and their families. This is just getting underway and will likely be a decades long phenomena before the dust settles. Let us pray that these movements are as peaceful as possible and that equal justice under law and free-market capitalism are adopted. If so, the best days may be ahead of us, if not, then more of the same under a different name. Youth revolts are coming. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Protests #Peace #Inflation #FoodPrices #Commodities #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Leadership #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Revolution #USA

Ep. 580 – Weekly Wrap Up

The Kapital News

Ep. 580 - Weekly Wrap Up

00:00 / 00:31:20

A discussion about the events that unfolded this week and a very busy week it was. The conclusion of the Derek Chauvin trial, the economic data that came across the wires, and the geopolitical tensions that are rising in all corners of the globe fill our time for today. The intersection of economics, politics, and social issues are coming to a boil globally and the end result is not likely going to be a pretty picture. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Justice #Truth #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Jobs #War #Peace #Liberty #Leadership #USA #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #FireCongress

Ep. 579 – Job Market Distortions + Higher Taxes

The Kapital News

Ep. 579 - Job Market Distortions + Higher Taxes

00:00 / 00:28:31

For the second consecutive week, initial jobless claims came in under 600k to stand at 547,000 for the week ending 17 April. While this figure is below that which was witnessed during the depths of GFC, we cannot forget the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that was created by the Federal government. This figure came in at 133,319, which means in aggregate, weekly claims were 680,000 – still higher than the GFC, yet trending lower, and that is good news. The prior week was revised higher by 10k to now stand at 586,000. In aggregate, across all forms of unemployment insurance, some 17.4 million Americans continue to claim benefits. This gives us a de facto unemployment rate of 12.5 percent, which is more than double the official unemployment rate of 6.0 percent.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet hit another all-time high and now stands at $7.82 trillion, which was a week-over-week increase of $27 billion. The Fed remains committed to their QE program of purchasing at least $120 billion of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities per month. This will take their balance sheet to at least $8.5 trillion by the end of the year, and The Kapital News is projecting that it will be closer to $10 trillion! For context, their balance sheet was just shy of $900 billion during the GFC. This is nearly a 10x increase in just a little over a decade! And do recall that when QE was announced that it was going to be temporary. This program is a couple of years away from applying for a driver’s license – so much for short-lived. It is important to note this because current Fed members are stating that inflation will only be transitory. The same people who said QE would be temporary are saying the same about inflation – see where we are going with this?

As The Kapital News has been mentioning since we have been online starting in 2019, is to get ready for tax hikes. We were running trillion dollar deficits prior to the pandemic, the subsequent lockdowns, and massive spending programs. It is basic math at the end of the day. We are all for cutting taxes, in fact, we want to see the income tax abolished, along with the Federal Reserve. However, if policymakers are going to cut taxes, then they need to cut spending as well. Only solving for half of the equation is asking for trouble – i.e. large deficits. These deficits bring about the hidden tax of inflation, and now because of the size of our deficits, tax increases are coming. It was only a matter of time, but now the Biden Administration is discussing raising taxes. Their first target is capital gains taxes in a show to target the rich, but make no mistake that they will also be broad-based when the dust settles. We are dealing with a $28.2 trillion national debt. We are on the path to spend nearly $8 trillion this year alone, which gives us a deficit of over $4 trillion! Our deficit alone is higher than all of the tax revenue that is brought in annually, which is currently around $3.5 trillion! How sustainable do you think this is? And unfortunately, there is not much to show for it. So it is another double whammy as usual as we have to contend with the inflation tax and an increase to direct taxation. It should also be stressed that confiscating the entire net worth of the country’s wealthiest individuals would only cover expenses for several months. Point being, we are in a lot of trouble and attempting to tax and spend our way out of it, is not the solution. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #Taxes #Debt #Spending #Gold #Silver #USA #Bailouts #Liberty #Leadership #Justice #Truth #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress

Ep. 575 – Initial Claims Below GFC, Gov’t Fuels Retail

The Kapital News

Ep. 575 - Initial Claims Below GFC, Gov't Fuels Retail

00:00 / 00:32:28

Initial jobless claims for regular state unemployment benefits finally came in below the levels seen during the depths of the GFC, with a number of 576,000 for the week ending 10 April. The prior week was revised upward by 25,000 to now stand at 769,000. However, it must also be understood that since the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, the Congress passed the Nobody CARES Act, which created the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that allows people who would normally not qualify for regular state aid to file a claim. This number came in at 132,000, which in aggregate takes us north of 700,000 initial jobless claims. So still not entirely below the GFC levels, but trending that way and hopefully that continues. However, The Kapital News remains highly skeptical as printing, borrowing, and spending this money is not real economic growth or productivity. This means we have be living off of a temporary “high” from such fiscal and monetary measures that could lead to further economic deterioration.

Other economic news released today pertained to US retail sales, which came in well above market expectations with a print of 9.8 percent month-over-month. The prior month was revised downward to -2.7 percent. This data has been tracking very closely with the money handed out by the government. January saw a nice increase due to stimulus checks, February saw the drawdown referenced above, and March saw the big jump, most likely due to a combination of stimulus checks and tax refunds. Should this trend continue, then absent some further government money, retail sales will likely cool off. However, it should be noted that government money will be sent out to people with children. And it should be stressed that by government money, we mean US taxpayer money.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has hit a new all-time high to now stand at $7.79 trillion! A week-over-week increase of some $80 billion. The Fed remains committed to their QE policy of purchasing a minimum of $120 billion per month of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The Fed continues with such a policy with respect to MBS, despite housing prices at all-time highs. At a minimum, the balance sheet will likely hit $8.5 trillion by the end of the year, and could be closer to $10 trillion, should fiscal and monetary authorities take further action in the markets. For context, prior to the GFC, their balance sheet was around $900 billion.

Lastly, Chinese economic data coming across the wires shows GDP for Q1 year-over-year grew by 18.3 percent. Despite such a large increase, this was below market expectations that were closer to 19 percent. Further, Chinese residential real estate prices grew by 4.6 percent year-over-year. Earlier this year, Chinese regulators noted that their real estate market was likely in a bubble. This recent data appears to indicate that this continues to be the case. The regulators were also pointing fingers at the US and European economies, and stating that these economies were also in bubbles. Essentially setting the stage to blame the US and European nations should there be any weakness in the economy and/or financial system. With all of the fiscal and monetary actions that have been conducted throughout 2020 and continuing to today and beyond has placed the global economy on even shakier ground, thus making the global system that much more fragile and susceptible to shocks. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #USA #China #Liberty #Gold #Silver #Debt #Spending #Bailouts #Leadership #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Fraud

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