Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR [1]. Today, we look at Bidenflation. (See the Inflation Watch section.)
Precious Metals:
Arkadiusz Sieroń: 2022 – The Year Of (Gold) Inflation? [2]
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Christopher Weber: Silver will show the way [3].
Economy & Finance:
Dr. Ron Paul, over at Redoubt News: Is the Crack-up Boom Here? [4]
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Be Ready for a 30-70% Stock Market Crash in 2022 [5].
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This is why Glenn Beck thinks the economy won’t get better in 2022 [6].
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Will the Fed raise interest rates in 2022? Here’s what experts are saying [7].
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Wolf Street had this report: Fed Drains $1.9 Trillion in Liquidity from Market via Overnight Reverse Repos [8].
Commodities:
Asian Metals Market Update: 2022 Copper Forecast [9].
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Over at OilPrice News: Daniel Yergin: U.S. Oil Production May Increase By 900,000 Bpd Next Year [10].
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Top Automakers Are Fueling A Battery Plant Boom In The U.S. [11]
Inflation Watch:
As a glimpse of the effects of Bidenflation, I just heard this from a mid-level employee at a publicly-traded mid-size electronics manufacturing company in Washington state: “We’ve reported less than 2% net profits in the last quarter, despite above-average order volume. Historically we run at a 10% net margin. Our company leadership plans to pursue aggressive price increases in the new year, to recoup this.”
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The Blame Game finger-pointing begins: Food suppliers blame inflation for price hikes. Lawmakers say they’re padding the bill [12].
JWR’s Comments: Senator Pocahontas must be reminded: Most chain supermarkets are presently operating at lower profit margins than they were a year ago [13]. The statists in congress are displaying the same mentality that is common in centrally-planned authoritarian countries, where retailers get blamed by governments for inflation that was created by those governments. Most recently, this has happened in Turkey [14], with price controls slapped on grocery stores. But price controls date back to the French Revolution [15]. Historically, the end result of price controls is almost always the same: shortages. Stock up early, long before there are shortages. That way you’ll be one less shopper, in the coming retail crisis.
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Oops, Americans’ Big Pay Increases Got Run Over by Even Bigger Price Increases [16].
Forex & Cryptos:
Are commodity currencies poised for a big 2022? [17]
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Bank Of Mexico Announces Its Own Central Bank Digital Currency By 2024 [18].
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The Next Cryptocurrency Evolution: Countries Issue their Own Digital Currency [19].
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Bitcoin ban: These are the countries where crypto is restricted or illegal [20]. JWR’s Comment: As more and more countries start to issue sovereign cryptos, restrictions on private cryptos and crypto exchanges will surely increase. As I’ve mentioned before: Governments are like the mafia… They hate competition.
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The Year Of Alt Season: Altcoins Dominated Market In 2021 [21].
Tangibles Investing:
Forbes: Experts Predict What The Housing Market Will Look Like In 2022 [22].
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Wolf Richter: Inventories of New Houses for Sale Highest since 2008, Worst Spike in Construction Costs in at Least 50 Years: What the Heck Is Going On? [23]
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Another from Wolf: Inventory & Supply of New & Used Vehicles in Dollars & Units: What a Mess [24].
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Analysts warn of possible used car price plunge in late 2022 [25]. JWR’s Comment: Sell high, and buy low, folks.
Provisos:
SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos [26] page for our detailed disclaimers.
News Tips:
Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR [1]. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form [27].) These are often especially relevant because they come from folks who closely watch specific markets. If you spot any news that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers, then please send it in. News items from local news outlets that are missed by the news wire services are especially appreciated. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!