Debt & Deficits

The price of gold, on a quarterly basis, is 86% correlated - yes, 86%! - to total government debt going back to 1975... and a shocking 98% over the past 15 years!. Despite the current rumblings, everyone is aware that the debt ceiling will be raised and will likely surpass $20 trillion by the end of President Obama’s term. That would put the price of gold at about $2,000 per ounce.

Is the debt issue phony? It sure sounds like a lot, doesn't it? $17 trillion in federal government debt. Wow. It's a big, scary number, no doubt about it, ...and it's a lot bigger than in years past, but is it really that bad? Could it be that our debt profile has been grossly exaggerated? I think so. Let me explain why I think that is the case.

The Ponzi bubble is bigger than most can imagine. Western central planners... [continue to try to] suppress gold and silver in order to keep their sorry lives alive. In the process, the destruction of people’s financial well- being is unabated...

The trade deficit has improved a lot since 2010 and the U.S. dollar strengthened with it but I believe that is all about to change. Here's why.

It’s been exactly two years since Standard & Poor’s did the unthinkable and downgraded the U.S. government’s debt rating...and yet, it’s as if it never happened…

At this point, thanks to a long-standing policy of wanton money printing, the Fed has more liabilities than ever before in its history - by an enormous margin - and this precarious balance sheet is dangerous, because if the Fed goes bust, everyone loses [- including YOU. Let me explain why that is the case]. Words: 398

Data from Barclays Research clearly shows that the strain on US consumers from student loans isn’t going to improve any time soon and that the risk to the taxpayers is on the rise.

Never before has the world faced such a serious debt crisis. Yes, in the past there have certainly been nations that have gotten into trouble with debt, but we have never had a situation where virtually all of the major powers around the globe were all drowning in debt at the same time. Right now, confidence is being shaken as debt levels skyrocket to extremely dangerous levels. Many are openly wondering how much longer this can possibly go on. [Here's my take on the situation.]

Anyone that thinks that the U.S. economy can keep going along like this is absolutely crazy. We are in the terminal phase of an unprecedented debt spiral which has allowed us to live far, far beyond our means for the last several decades. Unfortunately, all debt spirals eventually end, and they usually do so in a very disorderly manner.

Little has been done in the past six years to restructure economies and cut debt i.e. learn the lessons of 2008. Because we’ve partially recovered from that traumatic period, that’s led to complacency. All the while, the debt that caused the bust in the first place has compounded and threatens to undo the world again. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.