Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network

Summary:
John Rubino and I discuss what’s new with precious metals, Afghanistan, and lockdowns on today’s episode. Gold and Silver recently fell hard—going in the opposite direction as stocks—but miners are still making decent profits and it is an ideal time for the operation sector. We delve into the US’ exit from Afghanistan, which went so poorly because soldiers were removed prior to American citizens and millions of dollars worth of military gear. This has a number of negative implications going forward, and could pose threats to the US government. Furthermore, Rubino and I investigate the newest COVID lockdowns in France and Australia, and the protests that shed light on thoughts around the new variants and what to expect in the near future.

Highlights:
-Looking at what happened with gold and silver: they had a flash crash
-The precious metals fell hard, but stocks did not - asset classes going in opposite directions, and one of them had to be wrong.
-The new COVID variant gives the fed the excuse to continue with QE and artificial and low interest rates, even in the face of higher inflation
-Miners are still making good money, so it’s a good point in time for the precious metals operation sector
-With Afghanistan, this is perhaps the worst we’ve ever seen. Rubino says that our exit from Afghanistan was poor because we removed soldiers prior to American citizens and millions of dollars worth of military gear
-This sends a message to other predators around the world that they have somewhat of a free hand now
-There is an opportunity for other governments to get what they want with not as much risk. Militarily, this is terrifying.
-This circumstance may remind one of the 1970s
-We really could use leadership, which seems to be absent at the moment
-With the current leadership in the US, there are many other distractions - we place much focus on domestic terrorism, racism, etc. that don’t fit within other larger military issues
-The Darwin Effect: people sense weakness, and take advantage of it, and this is how geopolitics works - you get what you can.
-We have to lump the US in with the group of predators in the world - there has to be a balance of power such that no one indulges their predatory instincts
-There’s going to be a big fight on divvying up Afghanistan, and the US will not be running the show
-We’ve created the conditions for turmoil and for fairly extreme things to happen
-Geopolitical circumstances, inflation, and labor shortages contribute to these conditions
-There are a lot of low probability events that contribute to a high probability event
-Ongoing demonstrations in Australia and France over lockdowns
-Primarily middle class protestors - these are the people most frustrated by these lockdowns
-The government put no emphasis on therapeutics in regard to COVID treatment/vaccination
-80% of people who perished from COVID had Vitamin C deficiencies
-There is a desire to eliminate the control group so that we will only know what will happen if people are vaccinated

Useful Links:
Financial Survival Network
Dollar Collapse

Summary:
Today on the podcast, Octavio Marenzi and I discuss the struggle to learn from history in addressing the ongoing issues in Afghanistan—to which no empire has been able to prevail. We discuss the financial consequences of this defeat; Marenzi expresses that we will perhaps see a period where it is increasingly difficult to get large military budgets passed. For defense contractors, it is a massive gain to not win, and we see that corporations and governments have their own overarching interests and agendas. We recap fluctuations in Gold and Bitcoin, and Marenzi provide useful insight into the future of these currencies and responses to expect from the Fed.

Highlights:
-Setback for the US and western civilization - humiliating withdraw of the United States
-It was inevitable once we decided to stay there
-The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.
-Comparing the fall of Carpel to the fall of Saigon
-Other empires have been involved here - the Soviet met their final defeat from Afghanistan
-Even Alexander the Great met his undoing in this area
-No empire has been able to conquer it, and it is somewhat similar to the China/Vietnam situation
-throughout history, the Chinese have always been concerned about maintaining power internally rather than externally
-We would think that defense stocks would skyrocket
-In one day of war, they can make more money during a year of peace
-Marenzi thinks we are going to see a period where it is very difficult to get large military budgets passed
-Military spending is perhaps going to be significantly curtailed
-The US will probably be more careful from here on out with getting involved in foreign matters
-The US could have withdrawn at a different time
-Afghanistan has never been an advanced economy, and the nation building seemed to be flawed from the very beginning
-Perhaps the goal was not to win, but to earn as much money as possible
-For defense contractors, it is a massive gain
-Corporations and governments have their own interests and agendas, and the more military hardware they can sell—the better
-We have never seen so much money spent with so little results - what is the return on investment? It seems to be much less than zero
-What’s next? Joe Biden has been weakened by this, and has undermined many alliances around the world. He seemed to be the steady hand in foreign policy, but has now found himself in the worst debacle in American foreign policy
-As long as the Fed keeps buying bonds, the market will go up because of the wall of cash coming in monthly. At some point, the fed will have to rethink this but it doesn’t seem as if we’re close to this yet.
-Marenzi predicts we will probably go back and replay the last year in terms of vaccine mandates and lockdowns
-Is gold going to go higher? It seems to be stepping sideways, and has not necessarily followed the inflation pattern
-Maybe we should put our money in crypto? It seems to give gold some competition
-Central banks around the world will perhaps become more skeptical of cryptocurrencies, and will not give up the ability to print money very easily
-Governments will either shut cryptos down, or regulate them very heavily—we will ultimately come back to gold

Useful Links:
Financial Survival Network
Opimas