Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network

A number of leading political figures have consistently downplayed both the economic and military threat from China. Democrat presidential front-runner Joe Biden stated earlier this year, referring to China, "What are we worried about?" It was a follow up to a comment he made in 2018, when he stated "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man!"

The Reuters news service notes that "...neither Warren, Sanders nor other candidates have made dealing with China, one of the biggest issues facing the current administration, a significant part of their platform."
Among the mistaken reasons cited for the lack of concern over China's military threat is the obsolete notion that Beijing's military, while large, is not sophisticated. China's government itself has now provided the information that refutes that error, in a white paper from its State Council Information Office entitled "China's National Defense in the New Era."

The numbers: The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits in late August rose slightly to 215,000, but layoffs remain remarkably low more than 10 years after the last recession and show little sign of rising even as the economy faces stiffer headwinds. 

Initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, increased by 4,000 to 215,000 in the seven days ended Aug. 24, the government said Thursday.

Economists polled by MarketWatch estimated new claims would total a seasonally adjusted 214,000.

What happened: Raw or unadjusted jobless claims jumped by more than 4,500 in New York, likely accounting for most of the increase in claims. New jobless claims were little changed in every other state. 

The more stable monthly average of new jobless claims, meanwhile, edged down by 500 to 214,500. 

The four-week average usually gives a more accurate read into labor-market conditions than the more volatile weekly number. Both remain close to a 50-year low, however.

The number of people in the U.S. already collecting unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, climbed by 22,000 to 1.7 million. These claims are near a more than 40-year low.

Big picture: Jobless claims are still extremely low and show no sign of rising. The strong labor market is propping up a U.S. economy being buffeted by a trade war with China and a slowing global economy. Consumers are still confident enough to spend and drive the economy forward. 

There’s probably little reason to worry about until jobless claims shoot above 230,000 and move toward 250,000, economists say.

What they are saying? “The labor market remains tight and solid, layoff activity is light and there is no evidence in the economic data that suggests that these conditions will change any time soon,” said Thomas Simons, senior money market economist at Jefferies LLC. 

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.81% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.84% rose in Thursday trades after China said it would not retaliate immediately to the latest U.S. increase in tariffs.

The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +1.99% edged up to 1.51%. Amazing!

While more than half of Americans rejected socialism in a recent Gallup poll, 43% surveyed said some version of it would be good for the country. That sentiment was held by 58% of respondents ages 18 to 34, compared with just 36% of those 55 and older.
 
Americans who came of age during the last recession often embrace a larger government role in social policy. They cite stagnant wages, student loan debt and a decrease in employer-sponsored health insurance and pensions. Younger Americans are less threatened by socialism than older generations, who might associate it with Soviet or Chinese rule.

 President Donald Trump said on Monday that China is ready to come back to the negotiating table and the two countries will start talking very seriously.

Speaking at the G-7 summit in Biarritz in France, Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping and welcomed his desire for a deal.

“China called last night our top trade people and said ‘let’s get back to the table’ so we will be getting back to the table and I think they want to do something. They have been hurt very badly but they understand this is the right thing to do and I have great respect for it. This is a very positive development for the world,” Trump said.

“I think we are going to have a deal,” he added. “They have supply chains that are unbelievably intricate and people are all leaving and they are going to other countries, including the United States by the way, we are going to get a lot of them too.”

Meanwhile in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was not aware that a phone call between the two sides had taken place.

When pressed on the details of the call, Trump said he didn’t want to elaborate and reiterated that the U.S. had multiple calls at the highest levels with the Chinese.

“I don’t want to talk about calls. We have had calls at the highest level but I don’t want to talk about that. The vice chairman put out a statement last night that was a statement and saying that he wants to make a deal and he wants calm,” Trump said.

“Our economy is phenomenal, best it has ever been and that’s despite the trade deals. When we get these deals done our country will be transformed, it will be monetarily transformed. It is such a difference from the horrible, horrible one-sided deals that we had in the past. And frankly, past administrations should be ashamed of themselves for allowing that,” Trump said.

On Sunday, Trump said the U.S. and China were getting along very well and were talking.

“Actually we are getting along very well with China right now, we are talking. I think they want to make a deal much more than I do. I’m getting a lot of money in tariffs its coming in by the billions. We’ve never gotten 10 cents from China, so we will see what happens,” Trump said on Sunday.

Before leaving for the G-7, Trump said he would raise existing duties on $250 billion in Chinese products to 30% from 25% on Oct. 1. Additionally, he said, tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods, which start to take effect on Sept. 1, will now be 15% instead of 10%.

At the G-7, Trump said Sunday he could declare the escalating U.S.-China trade war as a national emergency if he wanted to. “In many ways this is an emergency,” Trump said of the ongoing trade battle.

“I could declare a national emergency, I think when they steal and take out and intellectual property theft anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion a year and when we have a total lost of almost a trillion dollars a year for many years,” Trump said, adding that he had no plan right now to call for a national emergency.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin doubled down on the White House’s latest punch in the trade war by calling out Beijing for unfair trade practices. “We do not have free trade with them,” Mnuchin said Sunday on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in France.

“It’s a one way street: They have free entrance into our markets, our investments, our companies and we do not have the same thing there. That’s the only reason why we are in this situation with China. If China would agree to a fair and balanced relationship, we would sign that deal in a second,” he added.

Dunagan Keiser believes that everyone should be a prepper. Not a lifestyle prepper who digs bunkers and has a full stock of gas masks and iodine pills, but rather a reluctant prepper who knows disasters happen and both natural and man made are a normal part of life. But, no matter how much you prep, you could have never prepared for Dorian's strike of the Bahamas. Sometimes, you just have to be ready to flee, because that's the best plan. 

The US is fighting a battle to prevent African Swine Flu from hitting North America. As a result security at the nation's hog farms resembles many military bases and government installations. China lost half its hog herd and it could take several years to bring it back. They're going to need every soybean they can purchase from around the world. In other news, gold and silver are booming and will probably continue on for several years. 

David Moadel has been urging readers for years to have a precious metals insurance policy as part of their portfolio to insure wealth against governmental blunders. Red ink is flowing around the world and no one is offering real solutions. Add to that the trade war and China's efforts to become the global power and you've got a recipe for chaos. So time to start stacking.

Gold breaches $1,550 mark for first time in over 6 years on trade jitters
 
Gold jumped more than 1% to surpass the $1,550 per ounce mark for the first time in more than six years on Monday as investors flocked to safe haven assets driven by the heightened U.S.-China trade dispute.
Spot gold was up 0.45% at $1,533.1 per ounce, after hitting its highest since April 2013, at $1,554.56 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures were up 0.34% at $1,542.9.

“This is all about the trade tensions and the related risk of global slowdown or even a global recession that is driving investors to safe-havens,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.

“There is doubt in markets about these trade talks, so benefit of doubt or the leap of faith is not provided by financial markets anymore when it comes to the trade topic, which will be supportive for gold.”

Washington announced last week an 5% additional duty on $550 billion in targeted Chinese goods, hours after China had unveiled retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. products.

However, offering limited respite and limiting gold’s advance, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said China had contacted Washington overnight to say it wanted to return to the negotiating table.

While European stock markets recovered slightly following Trump’s comments, sentiment remained fragile as the heightened tensions sent investors scrambling into government bonds and whacked emerging market currencies.

“The thinking might be that there is a little bit more positive sentiment now on the trade front, so people may be taking some profits, there are too many longs in the gold market,” said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday said the U.S. central bank will “act as appropriate” to keep the economy healthy, although he stopped short of committing to rapid-fire rate cuts.

The markets are fully priced for a quarter-point cut in rates next month, and over 100 basis points of easing by the end of next year.

Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and weigh on the dollar, making gold cheaper for investors holding other currencies.

Reflecting increased investor interest in gold, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.6% to 859.83 tonnes on Friday.

Elsewhere, silver jumped 1.2% to $17.61 per ounce after hitting its highest since September 2017 at $17.77 earlier in the session.

Platinum gained 0.9% to $860.90 an ounce and palladium climbed 1% to $1,475.10.

Everything in life involves risk. Recognizing it and learning to manage it is the key to investment survival in the current market. It's when you're engaging in high risk investing, without recognizing it, that you can really get hurt. Unfortunately, in today's financial system, there are no accurate indicators or risk disclosures. That's why you need to find sources outside the system to learn how to assess and manage your risk. Remember what Bernard Baruch (one of the most successful investors of all time) said, "I got rich letting the other guy make the last 10 percent."

For August stock markets were down across the globe. Energy was down. Metals turned up in a big way. Interest rates hit the skids with the 10 Year yielding just 1.5%. Dollar continued rising and Euro is sinking. Bitcoin fell below 9558. Gold to silver ratio is heading south. Platinum starting to take off. Till next month!

Mark Campbell is the very definition of persistence. He's been working for years to persuade the Egyptian Government to pass legislation to open up the country's mining industry. Finally, that law has been passed. Mining companies can finally earn a good return and pay reasonable royalties. There's a lot of gold still buried in ancient mines throughout the country. This could be the beginning of a resurgent Egyptian Gold Mining Industry. 

The 2020 Democratic line up would be a joke if they weren’t so dangerous. David believes that none of the current candidates can win. He believes a dark horse will emerge. Will it be Moochelle Obama, Killary or someone else. David says it doesn’t matter. There is no candidate. 

Are AOC and the Squad being neutralized? We called it here. Watch what happens when you cross Nancy Pelosi. It’s getting very fun and entertaining.