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. Today, we take a final look at the opportunity to stock up on 80%-complete receivers, in the United States. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
First up, a piece by Frank Holmes: Geopolitical Tensions Between the U.S. and China are Boosting Haven Demand for Gold.
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Gold Price Forecast: Valid Support Leads to $2,471 Target.
Economy & Finance:
Over at left-leaning Bloomberg: China’s Trade Surplus Hits Record But Slowdown Risks Remain.
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Here Are The Winners And Losers In The “Inflation Reduction Act”.
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Senate passes Democrats spending and tax bill after politically charged vote-a-rama.
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WND: 50 most radical policies in Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act‘.
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IRS pinky-promises 87,000 more employees won’t lead to more audits.
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Some more details: Biden’s IRS getting $80B from taxpayers to go after small businesses, Grover Norquist warns.
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The latest from John Phelan: The ‘Wage-Price’ Spiral Is a Symptom of Inflation, Not the Cause.
Commodities:
Gas prices to rise back to $4.35 a gallon, Goldman Sachs forecasts.
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OilPrice News reports: U.S. Gasoline Prices Drop Below $4 For The First Time Since March.
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Norway draws up plans to slash energy supplies to Europe, driving power prices to record highs.
Inflation Watch:
U.S. Inflation Slowed to 8.5% in July, CPI Report Shows; Bitcoin Jumps. JWR’s Comments: Of course, that is the official figure, with monkeyed numbers. The real-world inflation rate is much higher. Also, we must consider that each year’s inflation occurs atop the previous year’s inflation. This means that the effect is much like that of compounding interest. To put it in a more pointed way, inflation is the compound degradation of the buying power of the paper or electronic dollars that you hold. Hedge out of FRNs, folks!
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Angry Protesters Chase Down Economic Minister in Argentina Because of 60 Percent Inflation.
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More people utilize food banks as grocery prices rise.
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$15 French Fries and $18 Sandwiches: Inflation Hits New York.
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As prices are at an all-time high, here are some ways to cut costs.
Forex & Cryptos:
UBS: UK Gas Crisis Set To Plunge British Pound To Historic Lows.
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Bank of Mexico Raises Key Interest Rate by 75 Basis Points.
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USD/JPY extends slide to 132.00 as the US dollar remains under pressure.
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US issues sanctions on a 2nd virtual currency mixing firm.
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Bitcoin price sees $24K, Ethereum hits 2-month high as US inflation shrinks.
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Optimism TVL surges nearly 300% M/M ahead of The Merge upgrade.
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Tangibles Investing:
The ATF’s unconstitutional ruling redefining “Frames” and “Receivers” for modern guns will go into effect on August 24th, 2022. This is your last chance to stock up on 80%-complete receivers, before the new ruling requires them to be serialized, and transferred through Federally-licensed dealers. Thankfully, there is a grandfather clause for 80%-complete receivers already privately owned (in hand) before August 25th. So I recommend that you place your orders to stock up, both for yourself and your progeny.
Which ones? This is off the top of my head, but someone do-it-yourself bent who is a typical gun collector with 2.3 children and a half-dozen future grandchildren, might consider buying:
- 6 or more of the 80% AR-15 alloy receivers
- 1 or 2 of the 80% AR-10 alloy receivers
- 4 or 5 of the 80% SIG P320 clone steel Fire Control Units (FCUs).
- 3 or 4 of the 80% Glock-19 clone polymer frames
- 1 or 2 of the 80% Glock-17 clone polymer frames
- 1 or 2 of the 80% Glock-30 clone polymer frames
Shop around online for the best prices, but don’t dawdle. I haven’t seen any big sales announced, so I suspect that most dealers are getting lots of orders and expect to sell out in the next few days.
Oh, and please pray for the folks who own and operate the Polymer80 company. They were recently fined $4 million by a Washington D.C. court, even though that court’s jurisdiction over them is tenuous, at best.
Provisos:
SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.
News Tips:
Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) 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!