Head of Shadowstats.com, a leading online alternative economic-resource offers listener's a dose of economic truth and a financial market overview for 2019. John Williams notes the economic mishaps leading up to the Great Recession of 2008 were mostly ignored, resulting in an inordinately large global financial-bubble in paper assets as well as an inflated housing echo-bubble part II. Despite the Labor Department's National Unemployment Rate holding near 50 year lows and solid GDP figures, The Federal Reserve may soon reverse monetary policy to shore up the housing market and domestic economy, still reeling from the impact of the trade war with China. According to Shadowstats.com's economic-data revisions, the culprit remains understated inflation-figures, that vastly overstate the GDP numbers. As the masses recognize the economic slight-of-hand, a panic for hard assets will inevitably ensue, sending overinflated paper asset prices, such as LT bonds into the abyss. To rectify the inevitable asset reset, the current restrictive QT could soon shift to more dovish QE operations, reversing the rate hike and toxic debt sales policy to one of lower rates and debt purchases. Investors are encouraged to be cautious with US equities given the likelihood of a recession and instead rely on physical gold and silver bullion as safe havens amid potential financial market turbulence. Imminent financial panic could unfold as economic conditions unravel while policymakers struggle to manage the Great Recession 2.0 without the fail-safes available to their predecessors. Investors in North America, the EU, Japan, China and other nations could go to sleep with a solid bank balance only to wake up the next day amid a currency reset and half the purchasing power, i.e., rehypothecation on a global scale paralleling the scenarios that played out in Cyprus and Poland. In addition, the battle between the White House and the Fed could escalate adding to market volatility. Even if the duo are wrong and the Dow Jones Industrials runs to 50k, the perfect panacea remains gold. Takeaway point: a 10% golden insurance policy for every investment portfolio carries zero premiums and cannot negatively impact the excepted return in a significant fashion. Arguably, gold is an enhanced insurance alternative, representing the most pragmatic non-premium policy available.