Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at credit cards and their proper use. (See the Credit Card Use and Credit Card Debt section.)
Precious Metals:
China’s central bank purchases 10 tonnes of gold in December, analysts say it’s nowhere near done buying. JWR’s Comments: Those are just the official numbers on Chinese gold purchases. The word in the Comex pit is that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is making many additional unofficial gold and silver purchases. Many of these are via intermediaries and offshore subsidiary ventures. They are amassing quite a pile of gold. I assume that they have done so because they see war clouds on the horizon.
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Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Massive Silver Flows, Potential Short Squeeze from Trump Tariff Threat.
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Sound Money Advocates in Wyoming Introduce Bill to Establish Gold Reserve.
Economy & Finance:
This was reported back in August: Those Biden-Harris job growth numbers? Never mind.
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Fitch: US Faces Several Fiscal Policy Challenges in 2025.
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WSJ: A Bond Selloff Is Rocking the World. You Might Want to Take the Other Side.
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CBO Estimates $710 Billion Deficit for First Three Months of Fiscal Year 2025.
JWR’s Comments: The Federal debt ceiling will be reached again, in just a few days. The federal debt and budget deficit will continue to be chronic problems until Congress makes substantive cuts in the size of government, and government spending. I believe that Trump, his cabinet, and the DOGE boys have the cojones to cut the size of government, but presently the Congress does not. This may come down to a major standoff between the Executive and Legislative branches, most likely the next time that there is a threatened government shut-down period. My advice? Stay tuned, buckle up, and hold tight to your precious metals. Also, contact your congresscritters repeatedly and them that you want less government and that you will support budget cuts, even if they are painful.
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Report: Your Bank Might Be Spying On You For The Feds.
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Social Security’s full retirement age is increasing in 2025: What to know.
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Up in smoke: The cost of the Los Angeles wildfires’ damage could be at least $250 billion. Here’s who pays the bills.
Commodities:
Surging corn prices trigger spate of sales from US farmers.
Barron’s: Shale Is Plateauing. Oil Only Has One Place Left to Grow.
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At Zero Hedge: World Coal Demand And Exports Set For New Record High In 2024.
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World’s Largest Iron Ore Deposit Found in Australia, Estimated at 55 Billion Tons.
Credit Card Use and Credit Card Debt:
I always pay my full credit card balance each month. My advice: NEVER be tempted pay anything less, or you will be paying interest and you’ll get sucked into a debt trap. I do use my credit card, but mostly for the sake of protection from unscrupulous merchants. I prefer to use a credit card for any major purchases — such as household appliances or whhoesale purchases of inventory for my mailorder business — so that I can earn Frequent Flyer miles. I use a Capital One credit card for that. I DO NOT recommend using a debit card for any purchases over $200. There is no fraud protection and in fact there is a risk of having your checking account drained by a fraudster, if they somehow get hold of your debit card. So I don’t recommend carrying around a debit card. Before any credit card purchase, I always ask myself: Would I make this same purchase if I were handing someone cash? If you always treat credit card purchases that way, then you won’t be tempted to overspend. – JWR
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Credit Card Charge-Offs and Delinquencies Hit 13-Year High, Are They Peaking?
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If for any reason you haven’t been able to pay off all of your credit card balances in full every month, literally lock up your credit cards where you cannot see/use them and then follow Dave Ramsey’s advice: How to Pay Off Credit Card Debt.
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Average Credit Card Interest Rates. JWR’s Comment: Those are horrendous rates. Avoid all credit card debt!
Forex & Cryptos:
EURUSD Forecast: Is 2025 a Bullish Reversal Year?
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At Currency Thoughts: December 2024 and Full 2024 in Figures.
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Forex Markets in 2025: Top Predictions.
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2025 Crypto regulatory and policy outlook: 5 Trends to expect for the year ahead.
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Forbes: 10 Crypto Predictions For 2025 – Nations, Corporations, Regulations.
Tangibles Investing:
The delinquency rate for commercial real estate mortgage-backed securities (MBSes) spiked to an all-time high of 11% in December, 2024. (Yes, higher than during the 2008 crisis.) When Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20th, he will be inheriting an economic mess left behind by the Bidenistas. I would not be surprised to see a commercial real estate market crash in the first few months of his term in office. There are also risks of a recession (very likely), a residential real estate crash, and (albeit less likely) a stock market crash. Do not lose sight of the fact that the White House does not control interest rates. That is up to the Federal Reserve’s FOMC. And the Fed is a private banking cartel — not a government agency! If they feel threatened by Team Trump, they can do a lot of damage fairly quickly, via either action or inaction. – JWR
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Hagerty: Here’s What Our Experts Predict for the 2025 Collector Car Market.
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. Thanks!