Gold Is the New Obsession for East Europe’s Nationalist Leaders

Gold is all that nationalist leaders in Europe’s east can talk about these days.

Just this week, Poland’s government touted its economic might after completing the repatriation of 100 tons of the metal. Over in Hungary, anti-immigrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been ramping up holdings of the safe-haven asset to boost the security of his reserves.

The gold rush mirrors steps by Russia and China to diversify reserves exceeding $3 trillion away from the dollar amid flaring geopolitical tensions with the U.S. Motivations in Europe’s ex-communist wing, however, can vary.

Take the latest example. Former Slovak Premier Robert Fico, who has a real shot at returning to power, urges parliament to compel the central bank into bringing home gold stocks stored in the U.K.

The reason? Sometimes your international partners can betray you, Fico said, citing a 1938 pact by France, Britain, Italy and Germany allowing Adolf Hitler to annex a chunk what was then Czechoslovakia, and -- more recently -- the Bank of England’s refusal to return Venezuela’s gold stock over political differences.

“You can hardly trust even the closest allies after the Munich Agreement,” Fico told reporters. “I guarantee that if something happens, we won’t see a single gram of this gold. Let’s do it as quickly as possible.”

His comments came despite the U.K. being one of Slovakia’s closest allies after the Soviet empire crumbled, helping ease the path to European Union and NATO. Fico said Brexit and the risk of a global economic crisis put Slovak gold stored in Britain in a dangerous situation.


Polish Power

The gold Poland brought back also came from the U.K., though there was no questioning of Britain’s reliability by central bank Governor Adam Glapinski.

Instead, he said he wanted to demonstrate the strength of his nation’s $586 billion economy -- the largest in the EU’s east. Poland has doubled its gold holdings in the past two years and now has the region’s biggest stockpile.

Hungary, though, has been an active buyer too. Gold reserves surged 10-fold last year, setting the clamor for the metal in the countries around it in motion.

Serbia’s strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic took note, ordering the central bank to boost reserves and prompting the purchase of nine tons in October. Vucic said last week that more should be bought because “we see in which direction the crisis in the world is moving.”

Romania had also sought to relocate some of its gold reserves from the U.K., but those plans were put on hold when the government behind them was ousted in October.

For the no-nonsense leaders that have come to dominate eastern Europe, the main benefit may be the message to voters that hefty holdings of the precious metal conveys.

“Gold is a symbol,” said Vuk Vukovic, a political economist in Zagreb. “When states purchase it, people everywhere see it as a sign of economic sovereignty.”

By Dorota Bartyzel, Andra Timu, Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Gordana Filipovic, Zoltan Simon

Source: BNN Bloomberg

Gold prices to push to $1,600 an ounce in 2020, says World Bank

Investors can expect the rally in gold to continue as uncertainty dominates the marketplace, according to the latest forecast from the World Bank.

In a report published Tuesday, the global financial institution said that it expects gold prices to rally 5.6% in 2020, which would see prices trade around $1,600 an ounce.

“The risks to the precious metals price outlook are on the upside and reflect heightened uncertainty and weak growth prospects of the global economy,” the analysts said.

The comments come after gold prices rallied 12.6% in the third quarter as prices pushed to a six-year high, seeing best gains in three years. When the dust settles, the analysts expect prices to record a 9.5% gain for 2019.

“Prices have been supported by strong physical demand, interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and increased global policy uncertainty,” the analysts said. “Increased demand for gold has been led by central bank purchases, investor holdings in gold-backed exchange traded funds, and jewelry sales, especially in India.”

Gold is expected to outperform in the precious metals space as industrial demand weighs on other metals like silver and platinum, the report said.

Looking at silver, the World Bank said that they expect prices to rally 4.9% next year, which would push prices close to $19 an ounce. The rally comes as analyst expect the metal to rally 3.1% this year.

Precious metals will continue to outperform base metals as global growth concerns continue to weigh on copper prices, the World Bank added. The analysts expect copper prices to rally 2.3% next year after dropping 8% this year. The entire base metals complex is projected to fall 1.4% in 2020, after seeing a decline of 5.2% this year.

“Risks to this outlook are tilted to the downside, including the possibility of a sharper-than-expected global downturn and less effective policy stimulus in China,” the analysts said.

The analysts noted that gold’s stellar performance and copper’s lackluster moves have pushed the gold-copper ratio to its highest level in three years during the third quarter.

By Neils Christensen

Source: Kitco News

Buffett's Deception On Gold

Warren Buffett is not a fan of gold. In his annual letter to investors earlier this year he wrote:

Those who regularly preach doom because of government budget deficits (as I regularly did myself for many years) might note that our country’s national debt has increased roughly 400-fold during the last of my 77-year periods.

That’s 40,000%!  Suppose you had foreseen this increase and panicked at the prospect of runaway deficits and a worthless currency. To ‘protect’ yourself, you might have eschewed stocks and opted instead to buy [3.25] ounces of gold with your $114.75 [Buffet’s first investment 77 years ago].

And what would that supposed protection have delivered? You would now have an asset worth about $4,200, less than 1% of what would have been realized from a simple unmanaged investment in American business.

The magical metal was no match for the American mettle. [$114.75 would have grown to $606,811 if invested in a no-fee index fund tracking the S&P 500.]

My view:  Buffett’s example is deceptive. It examines the performance over the last 77 years, whereas the gold price was in fact fixed by U.S. law until 1975, almost half of that time period. Is that an honest comparison?

So let’s see what gold did since 2001 when I gave a renewed long-term “buy” signal. In 1981, after gold had made its top above $800, I had predicted a 20-year bear market just when many gold bulls predicted a run to $3,000. It happened!

Gold plunged to about $250 by year 2001. At that time, no one even wanted to hear the word “gold.” Bearish sentiment was at extreme highs.

But my work showed it was a great opportunity for the next long-term phase of the bull market. In 1981, I had written that that according to the cycles, the 20-year bear market would be followed by a 30-year bull market in gold starting in 2001.

The start was right on target. Even I was amazed at the accuracy of that cycle.  Often cycles deviate to the right or the left.

The big question now is if the bull market started in 2001, will it extend for 30 years? That’s would be another 11 years from now. We don’t know, but so far the cycles have been correct since 1981.

As you can see, gold far outperformed the S&P 500 since 2001. Buffett uses arbitrary dates, similar to many stock analysts who want to make a point against gold. They pick the dates that give them the results they want. It is disappointing.

I picked 2001 as a starting point according to my long-term signals, which indicated a bottom had been made at that time.

One analyst on financial TV recently said that “gold has been a horrible investment.” He didn’t give a time frame. Obviously, looking at gold’s recent performance, he is totally wrong. He manages stock portfolios.

Is gold competition for managed accounts in stocks? It shouldn’t be because it is an asset class, which have performed very well for my HedgeFolios membership program (not a managed account, which I don’t offer) this year.

However, there are times when an investor might want to sell when conditions are ripe for a sharp intermediate-term decline that may take months. During the 2008 global crisis, the
VanEck Vectors Gold Miners

ETF (GDX) plunged 72% during eight months, while gold declined 31%.

That showed that when hedge funds dump assets during the start of a bear market in order to raise cash, they also sell this sector.

But then both recovered nicely over the next three years.

In my work, we try to catch those downturns.

In our free research report on gold, published early April this year, we concluded that evidence of another big surge in gold was ahead. Since that time, GDX climbed more than 49% to its September high. (We don’t sell gold/silver investments, we have no conflict of interest and get only paid by our members for our research and forecasts.)

The above chart shows three investments in 2019: gold, GDX and the S&P 500. Note the great outperformance of GDX.

Also note that with bullish sentiment at extreme high levels, this is probably not the best time to buy gold for a while. If you missed the latest big upturn, it might be good to wait. There will be better opportunities.

Some speculators like more excitement in their trades, such as cryptocurrencies, which go up or down 20%-30% in 24 hours. In exchange for your money you get a computer entry, nothing tangible.

Eventually, these cryptos will be regulated out of existence. The central banks can’t tolerate private entities overtaking its role of creating money out of thin air. I prefer something the central banks of the world buy many tons of: gold.

On a quarterly basis, central banks increased their purchases of gold immensely in the first quarter of 2019. The World Gold Council reports that first-quarter 2019 purchases were the highest in six years, rising 68% above the year-ago quarter.

Early this year the World Gold Council reported that central banks around the globe bought the most gold in 2018 in over 51 years. According to the report, last year central banks bought 651 tonnes (metric) of gold. That is an increase of 74% from 2017.

The biggest buyers were China and Russia.

Gold will become the most desirable asset when the central banks restart their QE (quantitative easing) programs in order to avoid devastating recessions. The purchasing power of money will be eroded significantly.

The central banks are already pushing bond yields below zero with more than $17 trillion of bonds yielding below that level. That means the buyer of these bonds actually pays interest instead of receiving it.

That is the first time in 5,000 years of civilization that this experiment has been tried. It won’t end well!

The dangers of negative yields are recognized by the big smart money. Therefore, numerous countries are now buying large amounts of gold.

Conclusion: Chart readers will recognize that the above charts are long-term bullish. However, no market goes up in a straight line. Major upside resistance levels are ahead and will probably produce a sharp setback to chasten the perma-bulls.

The role of corrections in gold are to “shake the tree,” i.e. to separate weak holders from their holdings.

For many investors, it may be a good idea to have two portfolios:

One longer-term hold portfolio
One shorter-term timing portfolio to take big profits when everyone is bullish as now, and buy when bearishness is everywhere.

Most people cannot withstand sharp corrections and usually sell out at the bottom. That’s why often, depending on the individual, it is better to get out when technicals call for it, and get back in at lower prices. Only very experienced analysts can do that.

You will certainly not make 50% every 2.5 months in gold stocks, but you will be confident that gold-related investments will be a better asset for the very long term at this part in the cycle. If you buy it near the end of a correction, you can do even better.

I always look for investments that have something of value. It let’s me sleep at night.

By Bert Dohmen

Source: Forbes

Gold touches $1550 before being brought down sharply yet again

On Thursday morning trading in Europe, the gold price rose sharply to $1,550 before being brought back down to well below the $1,540 level – whether this was profit taking, or a suppression move by the usual suspects will be the subject of argument.  We think it may be a bit of both.  However it does suggest that gold could have the potential momentum to move higher and breach the $1,550 level permanently – but perhaps not until next week as we somehow doubt it will be allowed to end the current week above that level.  Much will depend on U.S. markets later today as to gold’s short term progress.

Silver, which has been catching fire recently, also moved up sharply to the $18.70 level, before also being brought back down to a little below $18.50 – still an enormous improvement for silver investors given the metal was languishing below $16 only around 6 weeks ago.

Interestingly the Gold:Silver ratio (GSR) as I write has come back to around 83.3 – again a substantial change from the 93 it had hit in June.  We had suggested in previous articles that the GSR would come back to 80, meaning silver would be rising in percentage terms rather faster than gold, but this seems as if it maybe be happening sooner than expected.  If 80 is breached on the downside the next target for silver investors would be 75 – and if gold continues its upwards run and reaches say $1,600, a GSR of 75 would pit silver at over $21 – a substantial gain for the silver bulls.  As we have noted in another recent article (See:  Enormous silver ETF inflows. Is it about to take off?) there have been enormous silver inflows into the silver ETFs – notably SLV – suggesting that the big money was seeing great potential for a substantial silver price gain, and this seems to be being borne out currently in the markets.

So what next?  We see the upwards momentum for both metals continuing, although there could be short term corrections.  And also the U.S. Labor Day holiday, which tends to be taken as the end of the Summer holiday season, is only a few days away.  This sometimes seems to mark an inflection point in the precious metals markets with a change in direction so we could see some fireworks thereafter, but whether these would be positive, or negative, for precious metals remains to be seen.  With the 90th Anniversary of the start of the Great Recession coming up in October, and markets showing signs of parallels with 1929 we’d be nervous about U.S. equities, and if this nervousness is replicated by the U.S. investment sector there could be a further flight into safe haven investments like gold.  But also, as we have stated, a severe stock market meltdown could bring gold and silver down with it as good assets need to be sold off to keep investors afloat.  These ‘good assets’ would likely recover way ahead of the rest of the market but could cause some short term grief even for the precious metals investor!

By Lawrence Williams

Source: Sharps Pixley

Central Banks’ Hunger for Gold Pushes Demand to Three-Year High

Central banks continued to load up on gold in the first half, helping push total bullion demand to a three-year high, according to the World Gold Council.

Nations added 374.1 tons in the first six months as Russia and China kept building reserves and Poland made a massive purchase. The trend is expected to continue, with a recent survey of central banks showing 54% of respondents expect global holdings to climb in the next 12 months.

Central banks around the world have added to reserves as economic growth slows, trade and geopolitical tensions rise, and authorities seek to diversify away from the dollar. Nations have expanded gold holdings by about 14% since 2009, and the hoard is now valued at roughly $1.6 trillion.

Poland bought 100 tons in the second quarter, the most by a central bank since India’s purchase in 2009, the WGC said in a report Thursday. Poland’s addition followed a smaller purchase last year. Countries like Russia and China are regular buyers, but that’s aided by a mining industry that Poland doesn’t have, said Alistair Hewitt, director of market intelligence at the council.

“Poland’s buying isn’t just opportunistic,” he said. “It is supported by the same underlying motivation that many central banks share, which is as a store of value, diversification and, in some instances, to protect themselves from political risk.”

Total gold demand rose about 8% from a year earlier to 2,181.7 tons, the most for a first half since 2016.

Gold exchange-traded fund holdings have surged as expectations for lower U.S. interest rates and concerns about the economy boosted bullion’s appeal, sending prices to a six-year high. U.K.-listed ETFs attracted three-quarters of the inflow in the second quarter, partly because of Brexit concerns. Many of the drivers supporting gold are unlikely to fade any time soon, Hewitt said, adding that central bank buying will also likely continue.

There are signs that bullion’s rally is starting to hurt demand. While jewelry purchases rose 2% in the second quarter, demand slowed in June in India and China, the top buyers, Hewitt said. Appetite from bar and coin investors also declined recently, he said.

By Rupert Rowling

Source: Yahoo Finance

Gold Sinks Most in a Year as Trade Truce Deals Blow to Bulls

Gold opened the third quarter with a slump back below $1,400 an ounce after the U.S. and China agreed to a truce in their trade war, dealing a blow for now to havens that were bolstered in recent months by the long-running tensions as well as prospects for looser monetary policy.

Prices fell after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s meeting over the weekend, at which the leaders of the two largest economies agreed to resume negotiations. Still, the setback may be temporary as investors now train their focus on U.S. jobs data due Friday for clues on the Federal Reserve’s next move on policy.

Gold drops from six-year high after U.S.-China trade truce
Bullion hit a six-year high last week as the trade war dragged on, top central banks including the Fed adopted a more dovish tone, and tensions spiked between the U.S. and Iran. Driven by speculation that U.S. interest rates may soon be headed lower, investors plowed into bullion-backed exchange-traded funds, which swelled 5% in June, the most since 2016.

“Certainly this morning, we’re seeing some weakness,” Daniel Hynes, commodity strategist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., told Bloomberg Television. “But I do think the outlook for rates in the U.S. in particular has been a real driving force. So we’re quite positive toward gold, we think this abatement in the U.S. dollar strength and potential rate cuts in the near term will certainly continue to boost investment demand.”

Spot gold dropped as much as 1.8%, the biggest intraday fall in a year, to $1,384.06 an ounce, and was at $1,391.32 at 10:36 a.m. in Singapore. Prices hit $1,439.21 on June 25, the highest since 2013, and rallied 8% last month. A gauge of the U.S. dollar rose 0.1% on Monday after sagging 1.6% in June.

After meeting Xi, Trump said he would hold off imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports and delay restrictions against Huawei Technologies Co., letting U.S. companies resume sales to China’s largest telecommunications equipment maker. Further details on the deal were light though, and markets are still pricing in an interest rate cut at the Fed’s policy meeting this month.

In other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.8%, platinum lost 0.1% and palladium was 0.2% higher.

By Ranjeetha Pakiam

Source: Bloomberg

Malaysia's Mahathir proposes common East Asia currency pegged to gold

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday mooted the idea of a common trading currency for East Asia that would be pegged to gold, describing the existing currency trading in the region as manipulative.

Mahathir said the proposed common currency could be used to settle imports and exports, but would not be used for domestic transactions.

"In the Far East, if you want to come together, we should start with a common trading currency, not to be used locally but for the purpose of settling of trade," he said at the Nikkei Future of Asia conference in Tokyo.

"The currency that we propose should be based on gold because gold is much more stable."

He said under the current foreign exchange system, local currencies were affected by external factors and were manipulated. He did not elaborate on how they were manipulated.

Mahathir has long been a critic of currency trading, and once famously accused billionaire George Soros of betting against Asian currencies.

During the Asian financial crisis, Mahathir pegged the ringgit currency at 3.8 to the dollar and imposed capital controls. That peg was scrapped in 2005.

Mahathir served a 22-year term as prime minister before stepping down in 2003. He was re-elected in May last year in a shock election, defeating the Barisan Nasional coalition that had ruled Malaysia for the six decades since independence.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration said no major trading partner met the criteria required to be placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of its currency manipulators but named Malaysia among nine countries that required close scrutiny.

In response, Malaysia’s central bank said on Wednesday its intervention in currency markets was limited to managing excessive volatility.

By Rozanna Latiff, A. Ananthalakshmi

Source: Reuters

Iran Busts Gold, Silver Smuggling Network

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry disbanded a ring that smuggled large quantities of gold and silver into and out of the country.

The Iranian intelligence forces in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan arrested nine members of the network, including the ringleader, who were involved in the “organized smuggling” of gold, the ministry said in a statement.

The smuggling gang, including Iranians and nationals of a neighboring state, have been colluding with a number of officials of supervisory organizations to smuggle large amounts of gold and silver at the border, the statement added.

It said the main element had formed a team, each of whose members were assigned a specific job in the illegal process of importing and exporting cargos of smuggled gold.

According to the Intelligence Ministry, the busted network is estimated to have smuggled gold worth more than 6,170 billion rials into and out of Iran.

In January, the intelligence forces had arrested members of a network that had been earning huge profits by smuggling foreign currency, tax evasion and money laundering.

By Tasnim News Agency

Source: Eurasia Review

"Never Trump" Jeff Flake: Yes, I Want a Democrat to Beat Trump in 2020

Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona told an audience in New York City on Thursday that he would prefer a Democrat win in 2020 than see Donald Trump re-elected to a second term.

Via CNN:

Flake, a longtime Trump critic who argued Thursday that the Republican Party should not support Trump in 2020, was asked if it is better for a Democrat to win the election if Trump is the Republican nominee.
"Yes … and this notion, this narrative that’s been built up, that Donald Trump is the only one that can cobble together the Electoral College and win is just a fallacy," Flake replied at an Intelligence Squared debate in New York City. The organization bills itself as a "non-partisan, non-profit" group that hosts debates aimed at promoting various points of view.
"I think that four years is difficult enough to unravel some of the damage that has been done internationally to our role, to our leadership position. We cannot, should not go another four years," the Arizona Republican said.
Flake also turned to attacking the President on policy during the debate, criticizing his positions on immigration and free trade, as well as Trump’s treatment of the media.

Flake was a somewhat popular conservative congressman when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2012. But he irritated conservative voters when he helped produce the "Gang of Eight" immigration bill in 2013. He also backed President Barack Obama’s normalization of relations with Cuba.

Flake began criticizing Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, and Trump responded in kind. The senator continued to oppose Trump as president, declaring proudly that he was a member of the Republican Party’s "Never Trump" faction. A year ago, Flake called for a primary challenge to the president, though he declined to run himself. Flake also declined to run for re-election, after his liberal policy stances and his clash with Trump caused his popularity to plummet in Arizona.

In his last significant act in Congress, Flake wavered on supporting the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court before finally voting in favor.

By Joel B. Pollak

Source: Breitbart

U.S. Economy Grew Much Faster Than Expected in the Fourth Quarter

The U.S. economy was unexpectedly strong in the fourth quarter of last year after a spurt of faster growth in the second and third quarters, with consumers keeping up spending and businesses expanding investment amid fears of higher interest rates and a rocky stock market.

Gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., adjusted for inflation—expanded at an annual rate of 2.6 percent for the months October through December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That marked a slowdown from the 3.4 percent growth rate registered in the July through September period and the booming 4.2 percent rate in the April through June.

This was the weakest growth rate since the first quarter of 2018. But it was faster than expected. Economists had expected the Commerce Department to report a 2.2 percent growth rate. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNOW model had pointed to even weaker growth of just 1.8 percent.

The “initial” fourth-quarter GDP estimate was released a month late, when the government would typically issue its second read of GDP, because of the government shutdown.

Economists think the economy will continue to grow throughout 2019, thanks to a very strong labor market that continues to enjoy ultralow unemployment rate, robust job growth, and steady wage growth. The Federal Reserve pivoted in January from a policy of gradually raising rates to one of “patience,” a move which many see as supporting further growth and that has buoyed financial markets at the start of the year. The Fed predicts GDP will grow 2.3 percent this year.

But growth is expected to be lower this year, not touching the heights of last year’s summer and fall. Some economists think the economy could fall into a recession in 2020, which might weigh on voters in that year’s presidential election.

Consumer spending slowed but not by as much as many economists expected. This rose at an inflation-adjusted, annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Spending on durable goods actually increased, defying expectations that trade fights and tariffs would drag on this area of the economy, while spending on services and nondurable goods slowed.

Also defying predictions of a trade fight slowdown was a rise in business investment. Nonresidential fixed investment–a category that includes research and development spending, software and equipment purchases–grew at a 6.2 percent rate, much higher than the 2.5 percent rate recorded in the prior quarter. This seems to indicate that the tax cuts are boosting business investment, something Trump administration economists predicted but many outside the administration thought was unlikely.

Inflation was muted in the fourth quarter. The price index for personal consumption expenditures, a measure of inflation that tracks – but is different from – the better known Consumer Price Index, rose at a 1.5 percent pace in the fourth quarter. Core inflation–which excludes food and energy–was up just 1.7 percent. Both are lower than the 2 percent rate targeted by the Federal Reserve.

Compared with a year earlier, output in the fourth quarter was 3.1 percent higher. Total output for the year was 2.9 percent above 2017’s output.

By John Carney

Source: Breitbart

Trump Reportedly Considering Naming Herman Cain to Fed

President Donald Trump reportedly is considering tapping Herman Cain to fill one of the two vacant seats on the Federal Reserve’s board.

Bloomberg News first reported the news, citing unnamed sources. CNBC says it has confirmed that Trump is considering Cain.

Cain, 73, served as a director on the board of the Kansas City Fed from 1992-1996.  He eventually rose to become chairman of the board. He had been a board member of the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Fed since 1989.

Fed directors are dedicated representatives of Main Street business, community development, organized labor, and financial services sectors. As a Class C director, Cain’s role was to represent the public–as opposed to the banking sector–on the board. Class C directors cannot be affiliated with the banking industry.

Cain campaigned for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential contest. He was best known for his 9-9-9 tax plan which would have replaced the current tax system with flat 9 percent taxes on personal income, a 9 percent corporate income tax, and a 9 percent sales tax.

In 2011, Thomas M. Hoenig, then president and chief executive officer of the Kansas City Fed, praised Cain for his service on the board.

Cain may be best known as the chief executive of the Omaha-based Godfather’s Pizza chain. He was tapped to run that company in 1986 after a successful career as an executive at Burger King. In 1990, he helped lead a leveraged buyout of the chain, which he led until 1996.

He would be a surprising choice to fill one of the vacant Fed seats. President Trump has frequently criticized the Fed for hiking rates and said he “maybe” regrets appointing Jerome Powell to be chairman.  National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow has said that the president wants to put people at the Fed “who understand you can have strong economic growth without higher inflation.”

But Cain has in the past advocated for “sound money,” a phrase usually used by inflation hawks. During the Republican debates, Cain was critical of the Fed’s “dual mandate,” the requirement that the central bank pursue a monetary policy aimed at maximum employment and price stability. That too is typically a view taken by those who would aggressively raise rates to fight inflation.

A 2011 Atlantic magazine article quoted a fellow Kansas City Fed board member who described Cain as an inflation hawk.

“Inflation was always the big bugaboo,” the board member said. “And when it comes to monetary policy, he was an inflation hawk. I’ll tell you, that’s the most conservative bunch of guys I’ve ever met.”

And far from bucking the establishment of the Fed, Cain was very supportive.

“His views were pretty consistent with those of the Fed at the time. Alan Greenspan was, of course, chairman and Herman was in lock stop with the policies of the Fed,” the former board member said.

By John Carney

Source: Breitbart

John Kelly: Catch-and-Release Laws Ensure Migration Crisis

Congress’s toleration of the nation's catch-and-release rules is responsible for the migration crisis, outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper said:

He blamed immigrants and lawmakers, not the White House, for the tense situation at the border, where thousands of Central Americans are stranded in Mexico -- and two Guatemalan children have died in Border Patrol custody in Texas and New Mexico this month.
"One of the reasons why it's so difficult to keep people from coming -- obviously it'd be preferable for them to stay in their own homeland but it's difficult to do sometimes, where they live -- is a crazy, oftentimes conflicting series of loopholes in the law in the United States that makes it extremely hard to turn people around and send them home," Kelly said.
"If we don't fix the laws, then they will keep coming," he continued. "They have known, and they do know, that if they can get here, they can, generally speaking, stay."

The L.A. Times report -- like many other outlets -- buried Kelly's condemnation of the House and Senate leaders' passive support for the many catch-and-release laws and rules which allow the cartels to profitably smuggle workers up to many eager employers in the United States.

The L.A. Times submerged Kelly's judgment under 46 paragraphs and numerous slams on President Donald Trump, including the claim that Trump's effort to enforce border law is a "harsh immigration" measure.

Kelly's charge is being hidden even as Democrats and establishment media outlets praise him for using his power to muffle Trump's pro-American policies, including his preference for a lower level of overseas military activity.

The newspaper also tried to smear Trump's border defense push as a campaign scare while also admitting that migration is rising amid congressional passivity:

Asked if there is a security crisis at the Southern border, or whether Trump has drummed up fears of a migrant "invasion" for political reasons, Kelly did not answer directly, but said, "We do have an immigration problem."
From the 1980s to the mid-2000s, apprehensions at the border -- the most common measure of illegal immigration -- routinely reached more than 1 million migrants a year.
Today, they are near historical lows. In the fiscal year that ended in September, border authorities apprehended 521,090 people.

Nationwide, the U.S. establishment's economic policy of using legal migration to boost economic growth shifts wealth from young people towards older people by flooding the market with cheap white collar and blue collar foreign labor. That flood of outside labor spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor of blue collar and white collar employees.

The cheap labor policy widens wealth gaps, reduces high tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids' schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high tech careers, and sidelines at least five million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with fentanyl addictions.

Immigration also steers investment and wealth away from towns in heartland states because coastal investors can more easily hire and supervise the large immigrant populations who prefer to live in coastal cities. In turn, that investment flow drives up coastal real-estate prices, pricing poor U.S. Latinos and blacks out of prosperous cities, such as Berkeley and Oakland.

By Neil Munro

Source: Breitbart