Who will be our next Paul Volcker?
Currencies & metals end up getting sold on Tuesday. The price of oil rises to $70! Good day and a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Im going to start the letter today acknowledging the birthday of one of my fave people in the world Happy Birthday Laura Baur! Whenever I mention a song that she likes, she lets me know I get a chuckle out of that! And the fact that she calls me Mr. Butler Anyway, I hope your day is Grand, Laura! Ok Before I go on, next Monday there will be no Pfennig, as I will be reporting to the hospital to see my oncologist. My monthly visit, which includes a blood draw, and lots of poking But I love her, she is the best oncologist Ive had, and Ive gone through 3 before her! That $1,900 figure for Gold sure does seem to be a line drawn in the sand for the price manipulators And thats all I have to say about that, today  For those of you keeping score at home, Gold ended the day down $7.20, to close at $1,893.50, and Silver lost 29-cents yesterday to close at $27.70... The BBDXY ended the day at 1,118.04, and the Dollar Index was 90.07... The currencies drifted all day and didnt move the meter very much, as there was little data to spur traders to sell dollars.. And I guess the news of the wage increases in the first QTR was old news. If I hear one more Fed Head call the inflation were seeing Transitory, Im going to yell at the walls, and I wont be holding back, on the language! The Fed is going to be too late to pull the punch bowl from the party, and the next thing we know, our economy will be engulfed with inflation But the Fed Heads will not be taking any blame, theyll point to Congress and their spendthrifts, and say they caused it  But at that point consumers arent going to want to know who caused it, theyre going to want to know whos going to be our next Paul Volcker And looking around the room I see no one that fits that description at the Eccles Building, or the joint session of Congress  I just have one thing to add. In the overnight markets last night We saw some dollar selling for the first time this week in the overnight markets. The euro is within spittin' distance of 1.22 at 1.2193 this morning, and the BBDXY has fallen to 1,116.10, from the close last night of 1,118.04... Gold is struggling to find a bid this morning and is down $2 in the early trading, and Silver is flat to down a cent or two... Everyone is waiting for tomorrow's stupid CPI (consumer inflation) for May... I would tell them to not waste their time, as the CPI is not THE "go-to" when it comes to real inflation calculation... It left some big players without the internet Thats the trouble with depending solely on digital Im just saying, but it should be a warning to those that depend so greatly on the internet for their business. OK, I don't know why this bothers me, but it does... I was reading an article yesterday that claimed that the Big boys the Bezos, Musks, and Buffett don't end up paying any taxes... I get it... they have lots of CPAs that know all the loopholes in the tax books, and they have lots of losses they can throw at their gains... But then longtime reader, Bob, sent me an email that included how this information about the Big Boys got out, and here are two paragraphs that explain it all... (Thanks Bob!) "Federal officials are investigating the release yesterday of a sweeping set of tax filings from some of the wealthiest Americans. Published by ProPublica, the leak included returns from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, and others. Investigators are probing whether the confidential documents were leaked from inside the IRS, which would be a crime. ProPublica did not disclose who provided the returns and said it would use the data to publish a series of articles covering specific tax mechanisms used by the ultrawealthy in the near future. " Chuck again... OK, let's go on to something else! The price of oil has reached $70 this morning... I told you last week that the next stop for Oil was $70, and here we are! That's got to tickle the toes of the Petrol Currencies, I would think! The Steady Eddie, Canadian dollar/ loonie, leads the pack... The Norwegian krone, Brazilian real, Russian ruble, and even the pound sterling, and Mexican peso can be thrown in... They've all shown some perkiness lately, and that should continue in my opinion. Speaking of the Russian ruble... I noticed that the interest rate on my ruble CD has increased 50 Basis Points to 3%... You get an Oil Play and earn 3%, not too shabby... And the ruble is just being held back by those that think it is unpatriotic to own the ruble... Russia announced yesterday that their GDP for this year should reach 4%... And that's without all the Gov't spending that the U.S. GDP depends on...  Before I head to the Big Finish I have an error to correct And the great Mogambo Guru is here to straighten out something he wrote to me last week, so take it away, Mogambo Guru! But I am sorry to say that it was another sad, sad moment when I realized it demonstrated how old I am, in that early solar panels, apparently a long, long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, put out 3 watts of power per square meter, but having just looked it up, they are now generating up to 150 watts per square meter. Oops!" I told the Mogambo Guru that he should not worry about it.. I told him, no harm, no foul I love the Mogambo Guru and have the utmost respect for him, especially after stepping up to the plate and correcting himself I also like that he calls me JMR Chuck (Junior Mogambo Ranger)  The U.S. Data Cupboard continues to be empty... which has thrown a spanner in the works for currency Traders this week... They have no direction, the poor little guys and gals... HA! Tomorrow's Data Cupboard will be restocked and ready to rock-n-roll... But that's tomorrow, and only today is promised to us...  To recap... For while yesterday, it appeared that a Turn Around Tuesday was going to be in the books, Gold was up to $1,904, and the dollar was getting sold, but around midday, the trap door was sprung, and all the non-dollar asset classes were in the red by the end of the day... Chuck talks about inflation and taxing the Big Boys, and Oil this morning...  For What Its Worth Well, I had a couple of FWIW articles line up for today, but this one came to me VIA Ed Steers letter and I thank him for supplying many of the articles I use every day This article is about our loss of freedom in this country. Heres your snippet: For some time, its been apparent that the former free world countries (the U.S., E.U., Canada, Australia, Japan, etc.) have been on a downward progression - socially, politically and economically. But, in the last ten years, the awareness of this has become increasingly pronounced. With each successive year, more and more people recognize that all facets of life in these formerly great countries are heading in a decidedly negative direction. At this point, even those who dont understand the decline intellectually, feel in their gut that this is not going to end well. Further, they feel it all around them and sense that when the condition becomes critical, it wont just affect others. When it reaches the crisis stage, theyll find it right on their own doorstep. The average person in each of these jurisdictions already no longer trusts either the media, big business, or the government and feels that, somehow, theyre all in this together and that they, the electorate, will be the ones who will be the ultimate victims. Not at all, Im afraid. Their instincts are quite correct. Governments and big businesses alike have sold out the populace, regarding them as mere fodder in their pursuit of increased power and wealth. Governments in the former Free World have for decades become increasingly collectivist, promising ever-greater largesse to the hoi polloi, and the majority of voters, sad to say, have eaten it up. Yet, as the electorate becomes more worried, they dont ask the government to go into reverse and stop the economically illogical largesse. Quite the opposite. As their fears grow, they demand more largesse. And so, it shouldnt be surprising that, as we get closer to the collapse of this house of cards, new candidates arrive on the scene, offering to take entitlements to Never-never land, promising universal free health care, free education through university, and a guaranteed income without the need to earn it in any way. Of course, when this happens, those who understand that 2 + 2 = 4, not 8 or 12, recognize that any government that attempts to deliver on such promises will cause the collapse of the system  not just the economic system, but also the social and political systems.  Chuck again Man, I couldnt agree with this guy any more than I do! I shake my head in total disgust folks  Market prices 6/9/2021: American Style: A$ .7747, kiwi .7200, C$ .8280, euro 1.2193, sterling 1.4171, Swiss $1,1167, European Style: rand 13.5490, krone 8.2473, SEK 8.2520, forint 284.55, zloty 3.6544, koruna 20.8097, RUB 72.53, yen 109.44, sing 1.3231, HKD 7.7588, INR 72.89, China 6.3953, peso 19.64 (a great year!) BRL 5.0415, BBDXY 1,116.10, Dollar Index 89.99, Oil $70.23, 10-year 1.49%, Silver $27.68, Platinum $1,160.00, Palladium $2,884.00, Copper $4.45, and Gold... $1,891.30. Thats it for today Again happy birthday, Laura Baur! Well, my beloved Cardinals found a pitcher to start the game last night They only have 3 of their original 6 starting pitchers still healthy I could point to that to explain how they are 10 games under 500 in their last 17 games, but this the major leagues and the front office should have had a Plan B But nooooooo. And that pitcher didn't last 5 innings! And they lost, again! UGH! This season is getting ugly... Now is the time to trade for Max Sherzer! Ok, enough baseball talk! HA! Well... Bob Marley has some good advice for me and us this morning, as he takes us to the finish line with his song: 3 Little Birds... "People don't worry, about a thing, 'Cause every little thing is going to be all right"... I would sing: People don't worry, about a thing, because there's nothing you can do about it anyway "... Ok, time to get out of here: I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday, and Please Be Good To Yourself!