by Andy Hoffman, Miles Franklin:

Despite being extremely adverse to near-term “predictions,” I have lately been as vehement, and persistent, as ever in stating that this is, in my very strong view, the best Precious Metal buying opportunity of our lifetimes – particularly, now that the COMEX “commercials” have reduced their (naked) gold and silver short positions to their lowest levels since Precious Metals’ ultimate bottom in December 2015.

Frankly, the only comparable situation I can recall is the bottom of the Cartel-orchestrated paper plunge at the commencement of the 2008 crisis – which has an “asterisk” next to it, given that physical premiums surged to roughly 30% in gold, and 100% in silver. Only this time, supply on the retail level is readily available, and premiums historically low; as opposed to the worldwide wholesale market, where supplies have never been tighter. In other words, the historic Precious Metal valuation anomalies currently seen in the West; which I personally have been taking advantage of – particularly in the gold numismatic market, where prices of century-old certified coins have fallen to barely above the levels of newly minted ones; are decidedly not available in the East. And likely, won’t be in the West for very much longer.

Since Election Day, the level of global market manipulation has stair-stepped several rungs higher, to the point that nothing I have witnessed in my 15 years in the Precious Metal markets – and 28 in financial markets in general – holds a candle to it. Clearly, I was right in predicting a Trump victory would be the equivalent of a “BrExit times ten” – as if it weren’t for such unprecedented, 24/7 manipulation, financial markets would have dramatically crashed already – just like the economies underlying them, as we speak. In other words, just as “Trump-flation” was dead on arrival, Euro-flation, Sino-flation, Nippon-flation, and all other attempts to revive history’s most oversupplied, over indebted, distorted, decayed, and dying economy are falling flat on their face; with each passing day, making it more patently obvious that today’s government-supported stock and bond markets are sporting dotcom valuations in a Great Depression Era; as opposed to government-suppressed gold and silver, which feature Great Depression valuations in what should – and inevitably, will – be a “dotcom” Precious Metal Era.

Aside from the economics yielding a hard floor on Precious Metal prices – such as surging demand and plunging production – news flow has not been this PM-bullish since the bottom of the 2008 crisis. Only this time, gold and silver markets are a lot tighter; and Central banks have used most, if not all of their ammo to delay the inevitable. Better put, I cannot recall so many PiMBEEB, or Precious Metal bullish, everything-else-bearish items – both actual and potential – in my entire 15-year Precious Metal stint. Which sadly – or happily, for the small handful of Precious Metal owners – will only get worse, as history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme races through its malignant terminal phase. To that end, the Miles Franklin Blog works tirelessly to bring it to you, each and every day; which hopefully, you can capitalize on to both protect your portfolio from what’s coming (hyper-inflation), and profit in the interim.

Today, I’m simply going to run a few statistics, charts, and news stories by you – from the past 24 hours alone; to, in true PiMBEEB fashion, emphasize just how powerful the current Precious Metal buying opportunity is. So, in no particular order, here we go.

63% of Americans disapprove of both the Democratic and Republican parties. In other words, social unrest – and political discord – have nowhere to go but up; which conversely, will dramatically damage what’s left of confidence in the dollar’s rapidly dying “reserve currency” status.

To that end, the dollar index is in freefall this morning – at 94.5, hitting a fresh 10-month low, dating back to well before Election Day, and the creation of the fraudulent, and completely discredited, “Trump-flation” propaganda meme.

Speaking of Election Day, and the “Trump-flation” hopes “miraculously” spawned mere hours after its “shocking” result; as of today, it’s official…that there’s not a chance in hell Obamacare will ever be repealed – let alone, replaced with anything better. In other words, as I have been saying for years, we will shortly be the Socialist States of America – featuring Europe-like 50% tax rates, unprecedented economic stagnation, and parabolic debt accumulation. Which is why, as I reiterated again on Friday, rates will never be “allowed” to rise, no matter how high the cost of living soars.

NO ONE has spent more time describing the fraud that is the now eight-month old OPEC “production cut”; which clearly, was coddled together by an ad hoc “oil PPT” to preserve the dying Petrodollar status, given just how close Saudi Arabia – America’s only Middle Eastern ally – is to the financial collapse. Friday’s news that Saudi itself has been cheating; coupled with yesterday’s news that U.S. shale production hit a new record high; and today’s, that OPEC participant Ecuador is backing out of the agreement due to financial difficulties; shows just how close the world’s most indebted industry is to collapse.

On the very day I cancelled my $62/month DirecTV subscription, in lieu of the much better $7/month Amazon Prime, Netflix reported massively better than expected subscriber growth. In other words, the Retail Armageddon that will shortly destroy millions of jobs, tens of billions of commercial real estate values, and hundreds of billions of unpayable debts is about to go parabolic. Gee, I wonder how the Fed will respond…

…particularly when the stock bubble it created has gotten so egregious, technology investment inflows have reached a level last seen when Ben Bernanke suggested, back in 2010, the imminent launch of QE2. Is that QE4 I hear in the not-so-distant distance – especially now that there’s no way the Fed’s, ECB’s, or any other Central banks’ arbitrary 2% inflation target can be “achieved.”

At nearly 4%, automobile loan default rates are rapidly approaching the 2008-09 crisis highs. Only this time, said “subprime” loans are nearly twice what they were then, and we haven’t even had a crisis yet. Irrespective, “crisis” is the understatement of the century, when considering the massively ugly fundamentals one of the worlds’ largest, most oversupplied and over indebted industries is facing.

Combining the twin catastrophes of the collapsing energy and automobile bubbles, Houston’s year-over-year auto sales plunged in June by…drum roll please… 26%! But don’t worry, record auto inventories, plunging demand, and tens of thousands of high paying jobs tied to this collapsing industry couldn’t possibly be a bad thing.

In Japan, Shinzo Abe’s approval rating plunged to a record low 29% this week, despite four years of not only hyperinflationary money printing, but government monetizing of roughly half of all stocks and Given that four years of Abenomics has decidedly failed – with Japan in a lot worse shape than when it started – what is left for the Bank of Japan to do to prevent imminent collapse; other than, that is, the time-tested Central bank response of hyperinflation?

Speaking of bursting bubbles – particularly those fueled by laundered Chinese capital, which the Chinese government is now cracking down en masse; we learned yesterday that Canadian home sales plunged year-over-year in June by…wait for it…25%, including a whopping 38% in Toronto.

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