12.28.17 – Are Americans Angry Over Tax Cut?
Gold last traded at $1,297 an ounce. Silver at $16.92 an ounce.
NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose to 4-week highs Thursday on bargain-hunting and a weaker dollar. U.S. stocks struggled for gains as the trading year wound down and biotech stocks fell.
Why Gold Still Glitters –Melvill/BizNews
“Will we ever join a gold standard again, you may ask? I don’t know, but in the meantime it makes sense to return to your own gold standard. Former US Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, was one who held positive views on the gold standard. In a 1966 essay entitled ‘Gold and Economic Freedom,’ Greenspan argued the case for returning to a ‘pure’ gold standard. He described supporters of fiat currencies as ‘welfare statists’ using monetary policy to finance deficit spending. President Ronald Reagan was eager to return to a Gold standard, he urged Congress to appoint a Gold Commission to see how they could implement it. However he was persuaded to not pursue it if he wanted a second term of office. It would appear that China is making a concerted effort to increase their gold reserves. They are not only the world’s biggest producers of gold, they also do not sell any of their gold. Together with Russia they are the biggest buyers of gold, while they are able to keep the price subdued….We would do well to heed James Rickard’s sage advice in his book: ‘Gold is money, monetary standards based on gold are possible, even desirable, and in the absence of an official standard, individuals should go on a personal gold standard, by buying gold, to preserve wealth.'”
Like Odysseus new Fed chairman must navigate troubled waters –American Enterprise Institute
“Homer’s Odysseus navigated successfully the dangerous straits between Scylla and Charybdis. It remains to be seen how successful present day Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell will be in navigating the dangerous straits in which the U.S. economy now finds itself….It would be a gross understatement to say that Powell has inherited from former Chairwoman Janet Yellen a very difficult economic situation to manage. Years of low interest rates and massive Fed bond buying, which saw an increase in the Fed’s balance sheet from $800 billion in 2008 to around $4.5 trillion at present, did succeed in returning the U.S. economy to close to full employment. However, along with similar massive bond buying programs by the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, it has also created a global asset bubble of major proportions….Past experience suggests that asset price bubbles tend to burst when the central banks start raising interest rates…If he has the Fed raising interest rates too quickly, he risks bursting the bubble…if he does not raise interest rate sufficiently quickly, he risks both further inflating the bubble and inviting a return of inflation to the U.S. economy. Hopefully, like Odysseus before him, Powell will have the skill to steer the U.S. economy through the difficult straits in which it now finds itself.”
Bitcoin In 2018: “There Will Be At Least 4 Crashes Of 40% Or More” –Zero Hedge
“#1: We expect bitcoin will trade for between $6,470 and $21,600…If bitcoin were worth 10% of the $100s in circulation, its value would be $6,470. The math: $110 billion divided by 17 million bitcoins equals $6,470….Bitcoin can rally to $22,000 and still be reasonably priced, or plummet to $6,500 and also be correctly valued. We expect to see bitcoin trade for both prices in 2018….#2 Bitcoin will lose market share to other crypto currencies in 2018…The reason: bitcoin is still about 44% of total crypto currency market cap. Backers of other crypto currencies have an outsized incentive to encourage bitcoin holders to switch….#3 Many major US brokerage firms and asset manager will announce plans to open a crypto desk…Early adopters of bitcoin and other crypto currencies are an untapped source of profitable new clients for high net worth brokers and asset managers….#4 There will be at least 4 crashes of 40% or more…Of course the volatility we’ve seen will continue….#5 Coinbase will improve operational quality ahead of an IPO, helping crypto currency adoption rates…Coinbase needs to improve its customer experience a lot, and quickly…when it does improve, more investors will feel comfortable buying crypto currencies.”
To learn more about the dramatic rise of bitcoin and other cyrptocurrencies in 2017 – and the outlook for 2018 – request a free copy of our Special Report: BITCOIN: The Future of Money?
Why are so many Americans angry about a tax cut? –Crudele/New York Post
“Santa Trump gave American taxpayers a gift that they should have been thrilled and thankful to receive. Yet polls – starting from before the plan was actually passed – show that Americans hated the idea of a tax cut….President Ronald Reagan’s first tax cut, in 1981, got a 51 percent approval rating. The 2001 tax cut by President George W. Bush got a 49 percent thumbs-up. An extension of the Bush cuts in 2010 got a 54 percent approval rating. Yet the average approval rating from all the polls for Trump’s tax cut was only 32 percent. I know why I opposed what the Republicans were doing. With the US already $20 trillion in debt, I think it was unconscionable for Washington to change the tax laws in a way that will increase that debt by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years….Another reason might be that Americans bought into the idea that this tax cut was disproportionately going to benefit the rich. And it probably will. That anti-rich argument was mostly a story planted by Democrats and other Trump haters….But I can think of another reason Americans might have been against the tax cut…It’s called cynicism. Maybe we’ve gotten to the point where nothing that Washington does is right.”
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Like Odysseus new Fed chairman must navigate troubled waters –American Enterprise Institute
