-- Published: Sunday, 26 November 2017 | Print | Disqus
By Nathan McDonald
Americans prepare to sit down, feast and give thanks this weekend for what they have, who they have and the good blessing that they have enjoyed over the past year.
This comes amidst a time period when their email boxes are being flooded with Black Friday specials for trinkets, bobbles and cosmetic goods that will provide a temporary reprieve from the more realistic situation that the vast majority are experiencing: growing debt levels and increased uncertainty.
The fact is, the stock market continues to tick higher, though not to the benefit of the mass majority of individuals who have simply not been able to partake in the "recovery" after the decimation they experienced via the 2008 crisis - a crisis that I contend has simply been papered over and one that will eventually once again rear its ugly head.
At the same time as new record highs in the stock market, we see that debt levels are also at all time highs, breaking new records and reaffirming my previously mentioned belief that the rot within our system continues to persist, silently behind the scenes. It appears that as a mass, we have learned nothing.
I am not trying to be pessimistic, but the fact is, people are rushing out to buy goods this weekend that they don't need, can't afford and ultimately that won't make them any happier.
The only saving grace is the fact that a growing trend continues to manifest. This trend is one that cannot be ignored at this point and one that has central Banksters privately meeting and discussing what they are going to do about it.
This is the flood of fiat money that continues to flow out of the economy and into what people perceive is a more viable, safe place to park their funds. This can be witnessed via the monumental amount of money that continues to move into bitcoin and other alternative cryptocurrencies. This is a trend that has amazed many as the charts continue to go parabolic.
Perhaps these people are misguided, perhaps they are wrong and bitcoin will crash overnight; perhaps they are correct and we are going through a once in a lifetime change. Who knows - I certainty don't.
What I do know however is that bitcoin is not alone in this trend. Art, collectibles, and other items that people perceive to have value continue to tick higher, setting new records as they reach new heights. The fact is, people can feel it in their bones - they know something is wrong with the system and they are attempting to park their money in items that cannot be simply printed out of thin air.
Yet, gold and silver continue to stagnate, floundering as money continues to be diverted away from this sector and into cryptocurrencies or whatever the latest, hottest trend is.
Still, I strongly believe that this is not going to last. I have followed the cryptocurrency community long before it was considered mainstream or trendy. The unknown truth is that there is a strong affinity for precious metals within that class of investors. They constantly compare bitcoin to gold and Litecoin to silver. They respect precious metals, dispute whether they believe it is better or worse than their cherished asset.
Any hiccup, any crash, any disturbance within the crypto space that causes this trend to reverse is going to cause a massive amount of funds to move back into the precious metals space, as people take a portion of their phenomenal gains and park it in an asset class that they believe to be a safe space, i.e. gold and silver.
Yet, cryptos do not need to crash for this to happen (although I believe it would cause greater results) - not at all. People are finicky creatures and even though bitcoin is incredibly divisible, therefore making the current price irrelevant, this is simply not how people think.
Many will begin to believe that they have "missed the boat" or that the price is "simply too high now". This is exactly why stocks split when the nominal price becomes too high.
This leads to a golden scenario. I believe that the potential for gold and silver to sharply increase throughout 2018 is incredibly high. I believe that this will be remembered as a turning point within the precious metals markets and thus one of the greatest opportunities of our modern times.
Nathan McDonald is a libertarian, entrepreneur and precious metals enthusiast. He has always taken a keen interest in free markets and economics since an early age, which naturally led him to become a true believer in precious metals and all that they stand for. Nathan served eight years in the Royal Canadian Navy as an electronics technician, seeing the true state of the world, before starting his first successful business. He has since gone on to create a number of businesses, all of which are still in operation and growing. In addition to this, Nathan runs a network of successful precious metals blogs, and a growing newsletter that has attracted readers from all around the world. He is a regular and highlighted writer for the highly respected Sprott Money Blog, which covers world events, geopolitics and of course precious metals. https://www.sprottmoney.com/ |
