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Trump Vs. Musk: "Big, Beautiful Bill" Feud Sparks Overnight Political Firestorm

Trump Vs. Musk: "Big, Beautiful Bill" Feud Sparks Overnight Political Firestorm

Update (0800 ET):

Elon Musk on President Trump this morning:

Musk continued: 

*   *   * 

Update (0800 ET):

President Trump on Elon Musk this morning:

  • TRUMP: MUSK IS UPSET HE LOST THE EV MANDATE BUT 'HE COULD LOSE A LOT MORE THAN THAT'

  • TRUMP, ASKED ABOUT DEPORTING MUSK, SAYS HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK

*   *   * 

Tesla shares slid in premarket trading in New York following a late-night clash between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The feud played out across their respective social media platforms.

"Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for president, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

The president continued, "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!" 

The Truth Social post came after Musk slammed Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" on X ahead of the final vote, vowing to launch a new political party, claiming that Republicans and Democrats are merely a 'uniparty' operating with a limitless taxpayer-funded credit card.

Tesla has long benefited from the $7,500 EV tax credit, which the BBB plan aims to eliminate. While this move has been widely anticipated, it could ultimately work in Tesla's favor, hitting rivals like Rivian, Lucid, and legacy automakers far harder, as many still rely heavily on such subsidies to stay afloat.

Tesla shares are down 4% in premarket trading, currently hovering around $303 per share. On the year, shares are down 21%, as of Monday's close. 

As for Trump's threat about "no more rocket launches, satellites" — referring to Musk's company SpaceX — good luck following through on that. SpaceX is the reason the U.S. is leading the global space race.

Who's going to replace SpaceX? Blue Origin... Laughable. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 11:33

Oklahoma Ends Recommendation To Add Fluoride To Water

Oklahoma Ends Recommendation To Add Fluoride To Water

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Oklahoma State Department of Health has removed its recommendation that fluoride be added to public water systems, joining a growing number of states that have rolled back similar guidance.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (L) with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (R) at the Oklahoma State Capitol on June 26, 2025. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's Office via The Epoch Times

An archived version of the webpage states the department “supports community water fluoridation and recognizes the practice as safe, cost-effective and beneficial to all who drink and use the water.” The page now returns an error message.

I’m instructing the Oklahoma Department of Health to stop recommending fluoride in our water,” Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said during a press conference on June 26. “Cities and water districts, they can still choose to do what they want, based on their constituents and the science, but it’s no longer going to be a recommendation from the state health department.”

An executive order issued by Stitt on the same day said that there is “growing public concern, evolving scientific research, and fundamental principle of informed consent that call into question the continued appropriateness of mandatory fluoridation of the public drinking water system, a practice historically supported by the State of Oklahoma as a means of promoting dental health.”

The order directs state health and environmental officials to “immediately cease any state-level promotion or endorsement of fluoridation of the public water supply.”

It also directs the officials to carry out a comprehensive review of all state policies and procedures related to adding fluoride to public water supplies.

Stitt ordered the officials to submit a written report of their findings to him and lawmakers within 90 days.

The report shall document fluoridation practices and include “concrete recommendations and a timeline for transitioning away from a position or practice that mandates or promotes the fluoridation of the public water supply,” according to the order.

Some states have acted against water fluoridation, including Utah and Florida, in recent months.

Fluoride is a mineral. Proponents of adding fluoride to water say it helps prevent cavities. Opponents say the practice can result in negative effects, such as lower IQ.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opposes water fluoridation and said in April he would tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending it.

The CDC has not stopped recommending adding fluoride to water. The agency, which is part of Kennedy’s department, said in a May statement that “water fluoridation is beneficial for reducing and controlling tooth decay and promoting oral health across the lifespan.”

Kennedy joined Stitt for the June 26 news conference, during which Stitt also announced the launch of a Make Oklahoma Healthy Again (MOHA) campaign, modeled after Kennedy’s and President Donald Trump’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.

Stitt’s order established a MOHA advisory council and directed state officials to examine the use of artificial dyes in food for schools and programs.

“For far too long, we have settled for food that has made us sicker as a nation,” Stitt said in a statement. “In Oklahoma, we’re choosing common sense, medical freedom, and personal responsibility. President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have led the charge nationally, I’m grateful for their support as we Make Oklahoma Healthy Again.”

Kennedy told reporters on Thursday that the country is dealing with a mental health crisis and that “there’s more and more emerging science that shows how it’s directly connected to our food.”

He said that improving food through initiatives such as the ones introduced by Stitt will end the mental health crisis.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 11:25

FBI Charges 4 Californians In Largest-Ever COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme

FBI Charges 4 Californians In Largest-Ever COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Four Californians were charged by a federal grand jury on June 11 for their alleged involvement in a $93 million COVID-19 tax credit fraud scheme, deemed to be the “largest ever identified,” the FBI said in a June 26 statement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Washington on Nov. 6, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The individuals are Kristerpher Turner, 52, of Harbor City; Toriano Knox, 55, of Los Angeles; Kenya Jones, 46, of Compton; and Joyce Johnson, 55, of Victorville.

The fraud is related to a COVID-19 tax credit program authorized by Congress called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The program required certain employers to provide workers with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to the pandemic. Employers would then be reimbursed in the form of tax credits.

In the fraud scheme, Turner and his co-conspirators allegedly submitted fraudulent forms under certain companies, including bogus ones, claiming FFCRA tax credits. These companies did not pay for sick or family leave to any employees at any time, the FBI said.

The defendants submitted fraudulent filings not only on behalf of their own purported businesses but also for companies under the name of other people—including romantic partners, family members, and friends—who were recruited into the scam, it added.

For each fraudulent client that received checks from the Treasury under the scheme, Turner reportedly charged somewhere between 20 to 40 percent of the receipts.

“In total, from approximately June 2020 and December 2024, the defendants and their co-conspirators submitted and caused the submission of fraudulent forms for at least 148 companies, seeking a total of approximately $247,956,938 in tax refunds to which they were not entitled,” the FBI said.

“In reliance on the fraudulent forms and the false statements, the IRS issued Treasury checks in the total amount of at least approximately $93 million.”

When defendants learned that the IRS was inquiring about the scheme, Knox, Jones, and other individuals attempted to murder Turner on or about Aug. 29, 2023, to prevent him from speaking to law enforcement, the FBI said. Turner was shot multiple times but survived and is now paralyzed.

All four defendants were charged with mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and conspiracy to submit false claims. Knox and Jones are charged with attempting to kill a witness and using a firearm in furtherance of that crime.

Each mail fraud charge carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. The attempted murder charge is punishable with a 30-year jail term, while the firearm charge can result in life imprisonment.

The Epoch Times was unable to reach the legal representatives of the four defendants.

Another case of a major COVID-19 tax credit fraud came to light earlier this year when seven people were charged with allegedly stealing millions of dollars.

On Jan. 22, the Department of Justice said the individuals were charged with “operating a multi-state conspiracy in which they attempted to defraud the United States of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits.”

While the fraudsters filed for $600 million in tax credits, the IRS reportedly ended up disbursing $45 million.

Tackling Pandemic Fraud

On June 26, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) announced the release of its semiannual report. PRAC was set up under the CARES Act for independent oversight of funds provided under the Act, as well as other related spending bills.

Between Oct. 1, 2024, and March 31, PRAC provided investigative support to over 49 law enforcement partners in more than 1,100 investigations related to the pandemic with a potential fraud loss of $2.4 billion.

“The PRAC’s data analytics tool has helped recover for the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars—far more than our total appropriation from Congress,” said Michael E. Horowitz, chair of the committee.

“Now, with three months remaining until our sunset, we urge Congress to maintain our data analytics center to assist agencies and the oversight community in fraud prevention.”

In an April 9 report, the Government Accountability Office said that the true scale of the fraud involved in the pandemic relief funds “will never be known with certainty.”

“The scope of the pandemic-relief response; the inherently deceptive nature of fraudulent activities; and the resources needed for detection, investigation, and prosecution of fraud make it difficult to measure. However, estimates indicate hundreds of billions of dollars in potentially fraudulent payments were disbursed,” the report said.

Between March 2020 and December 2024, the Justice Department secured more than 650 settlements and judgments worth more than $500 million to resolve fraud and overpayment allegations in connection with the pandemic relief programs, it said.

By the end of last year, the Justice Department had announced fraud-related charges against more than 3,000 defendants, of whom 2,148 were sentenced, according to the report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 10:45

Labor Market Rebounds As Job Openings Unexpectedly Soar

Labor Market Rebounds As Job Openings Unexpectedly Soar

One month after the BLS reported that in April the labor market rebounded, as the number of job openings rose sharply by 191K to 7.4 million, and far above estimates of a 7.1 million print, moments ago we got another indication that the labor market is staging a remarkable rebound when the BLS reported that in May the number of job openings soared by 374K to 7.769 million, the highest since Nov 2024 and smashing estimates of a drop to 7.3 million (from an upward revised 7.395 million print).

According to the BLS, the number of job openings increased in accommodation and food services (+314,000) and in finance and insurance (+91,000). The number of job openings decreased in federal government (39,000)..

... but the highlight is that after a mysterious spike last month which prompted us to muse if DOGE had achieved anything at all, we got a resounding answer today when the BLS confirmed that last month's jump was an outlier and the number of Federal government job openings tumbled by almost a third, from 128K to just 89K, the lowest since covid.

In  the context of the broader jobs report, it appears the US labor market may have dodged a bullet because whereas in March the labor market was almost demand constrained, when there were just 117K more openings than jobs in the US, since then the differential has risen and in May the number of job openings was 532K more than number of employed workers, suggesting the onset of a labor recession has once again been punted.

As noted previously, until this number turns negative - which it almost did but may have now averted for the foreseeable future - the US labor market is not demand constrained, and a recession has never started in a period when there were more job openings than unemployed workers.

Said otherwise, in May the number of job openings to unemployed rose for the first time in months, from 1.0x to 1.1x.

While the job openings data was a surprising big beat and continued rebound, there was some mixed news on the hiring side where the number of new hires dipped modestly to 5.503 million from 5.615 million, which was the highest in over a year, so hardly screaming collapse in the labor market. Meanwhile, the number of workers quitting their jobs - a sign of confidence in finding a better paying job elsewhere - rose modestly after dropping the previous month, and in May it grew to 3.293 million from 3.215 million.

How to make sense of this sudden improvement in the labor market? 

Well it may have to do with the DOL starting to factor in the collapse in the shadow labor market - the one dominated by illegal aliens - and the replacement of illegals with legal, domestic workers. And since this will surely lead to higher wages, we doubt many Trump supporters will hate the development, even if it means an increase in inflation down the line. 

 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 10:35

B-2 Or Not B-2? That Is The Dollar Question

B-2 Or Not B-2? That Is The Dollar Question

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Equity markets at new record highs continue to think 2025 is more of the same-old, same-old. Bond markets whispering about a series of Fed rate cuts do too. Yet the US dollar just had its worst H1 -- down around 10% -- in over five decades. 

Those in markets who know economic history recall this was when the gold-backed-dollar Bretton Woods system was about to collapse under the Triffin Paradox demand for offshore dollars earned via a swelling trade deficit, with a fiscal deficit led by hot war in Vietnam, Cold War in general, and demands for more social spending. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Iranian Revolution in 1979 then helped western inflation became entrenched and its politics often went haywire. 

In June 1970, TIME magazine wrote ‘Money: Anger at Dollar Imperialists’, noting:

The men who manage Europe’s money are increasingly annoyed with the US. They are upset by America’s old habit of spending, lending and investing more abroad than it takes in from foreign sources… The BIS annual report added that it is “hard to discern how the US authorities expect, by their own actions, to correct the balance of payments.” … Robert Triffin… [says] the US is unconcerned about its deficits because it has discovered that it can get away with a kind of “monetary imperialism.” The position of the dollar as the standard of value against which all other currencies are measured enables the US to escape the consequences that other countries suffer if they consistently overspend abroad. In any other country, a parade of deficits comparable to those the US has run would force devaluation of the currency. Devaluation of the dollar, the currency that more than any other has been considered as good as gold, would bring such chaos that it has been considered unthinkable.” 

No, history doesn’t repeat itself. Yes, it can rhyme.

On the fiscal front, are there are any serious global fiscal rules anymore even before we hit the next crisis? Italy will include a €13.5bn bridge to Sicily as NATO spending, suggesting the resolution to get broad defense from under 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035 will at least blow up deficits. UK PM Starmer is failing to win over party rebels opposed to welfare cuts. Trump just told Republicans to stop cutting spending and ‘go for growth’ to raise revenue “10 times”. Even Xinhua has reported the creation of a new “decision-making and deliberative coordination body” at the CCP’s Central Committee – does that lean towards more China stimulus? 

On the monetary front, Trump took his attacks on Fed Chair Powell to a new level in visually showing he’d like Fed Funds between 0.25% - 1.75% as Treasury Secretary Bessent said he can’t fund down the curve because of where yields sit, against whispers of zero-coupon bonds.

The ECB used its policy strategy review to underline that geopolitics, digitalisation, AI, demography, the environment, and changes in the international financial system all suggest inflation will be more volatile, with larger target deviations from its 2% CPI target in both directions. Yet while it’s prepared to take “appropriately forceful or persistent monetary policy action in response to large, sustained deviations of inflation from the target in either direction,” it flagged longer-term refi operations, QE, negative rates and forward guidance, all on the easing side – what’s the tightening equivalent? Lastly, there was market chatter that the RBA should drop its 2.5% CPI mid-point target: but only to cut, allowing housing to get even more expensive. 

In FX, all is in flux. Many countries that are not set up to see higher exchange rates are getting them anyway. There is deepening discussion of the strategic role that Bitcoin and dollar stablecoins will play within the new US and international financial architecture – and if a weaker dollar is now a US gameplan after markets rudely rejected what higher tariffs were supposed to achieve, which was a stronger greenback. There is equivalent talk of gold’s future in many circles, and in some of both Europe and China’s fresh attempt to internationalise their currencies… with almost zero realpolitik power in the former case, and a closed capital account and vast trade surplus in the latter. Anybody thinking this is markets business as usual frankly looks like they are wearing 1970’s flares.

In politics, not only are centrists failing and populists rising, but the latter are being outflanked. A farther right alternative to the UK Reform Party now leading opinion polls, the Advance UK Party, has just been launched by key ex-members. Openly socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani could easily be the next Mayor of New York City. Elon Musk just posted: “If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day. Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.” A libertarian one that votes for austerity - really?

In geopolitics, we luckily just avoided another Middle East oil shock involving Israel and Iran. On that, one hopes for the best, and Israel is reported to be in advanced talks with Syria over officially ending hostilities running since 1948 and hopes remain for a ceasefire in Gaza, which President Trump reportedly wants to be permanent. He and PM Netanyahu will meet in the White House on Monday. However, we still have a hot war in Ukraine, with huge forces arrayed around Sumy, with clear risks of other global flash points.

One key difference from the 1970s is that protectionism is already back with a bang. The EU has reportedly accepted it’s going to get stuck with a 10% US universal tariff and now wants to find UK-style quota workarounds for 25% and 50% sectoral tariffs: following Canada’s humiliating climbdown on its digital services tax the day before, that’s another victory for the US brute force, which hasn’t changed since the 1970s. Japan was also called “spoiled” by Trump and criticised for not buying its rice - but it may buy US oil; and a trade deal with India is reported as close (again) - expect a flurry of activity over the next week, it seems. The US is already reshaping the global economy, despite markets saying TACO, and it will continue to do so.

For its part, the EU has promised greater market access for Ukrainian farm goods in return for aligning farm standards; as France and Germany combined to destroy an EU ethical supply chain law, says Politico.

Moreover, China warned it: “is pleased to see parties resolving their economic and trade differences with the US through equal consultation. At the same time, we urge all parties to stand on the side of fairness and justice, to be on the right side of history, and to firmly uphold international economic and trade rules and the multilateral trading system. China firmly opposes any party making a deal that sacrifices China’s interests in exchange for so-called tariff reductions. Should that occur, China will not accept it and will respond resolutely to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.” In short, expect supply-chain friction ahead – and for years.

We also see more economic statecraft: Australia just moved to set up a domestic fuel reserve rather than exporting it all and then suffering local shortages.

So, yes, the dollar just had its worst H1 since 1973. But what happened to it after that? Not in H2, but structurally. It transmogrified into an even more powerful fiat currency than it was on gold. Given the Achilles heels everyone is now displaying, can a reverse change in the dollar occur – especially when it alone has mighty military muscles (for now)?

Look beyond all of the above to note that the dollar question is perhaps not “To be or not to be?”, but “B-2 or not B-2?” 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 10:15

Watch: Rare Footage Of Kim Jong Un Mourning Over Coffins Of DPRK Troops Killed In Ukraine War

Watch: Rare Footage Of Kim Jong Un Mourning Over Coffins Of DPRK Troops Killed In Ukraine War

In a surprising first, North Korea's state-run media aired footage on Monday showing leader Kim Jong-un mourning the deaths of North Korean soldiers, said to be killed while fighting in Russia's war in Ukraine as part of allied forces.

Primarily the estimated ten to fourteen thousand DPRK troops dispatched to assist Moscow fought in Russia's Kursk province, where they helped repel the over six-month Ukrainian occupation of the southern border oblast.

The broadcast, released by Korean Central Television, featured Kim solemnly placing a North Korean flag over a coffin during an emotion-laden and patriotic ceremony.

The occasion for the memorial footage was the return of the soldiers' remains from Russia, though no details were given as to the number of the deceased being remembered.

This was played before an audience attending joint cultural event hosted by North Korea and Russia in Pyongyang on Sunday. The footage was aired presumably for the first time publicly at this event.

This weekend marked the first anniversary of the signing of the two countries' "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty. This served as the 'legal basis' on which the North Korean troop deployment to Russia happened.

According to more details of the released footage via Yonhap News agency:

These images were broadcast after photos of North Korean soldiers were shown alongside Russian troops, and of a blood-stained notebook believed to belong to a North Korean soldier retrieved from the battleground in Russia's Kursk region.

In the notebook, a message read that "The decisive moment has finally come," and "Let us bravely fight this sacred battle with the boundless love and trust bestowed upon us by our beloved Supreme Commander," which refers to Kim, according to the broadcast.

It's been reported that North Korean state media has been repeatedly airing clips of Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova and other attendees wiping away tears during the event.

Watch the footage below:

One interesting observation from the state footage of the return of the soldiers' remains is the winter clothing on Kim and other officials, which suggests that Pyongyang may have begun receiving its dead soldiers back a few months ago.

Back in April, President Putin released a statement saying, "The Russian people will never forget the heroism of the Korean special forces. We will always honor the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia and for our shared freedom, alongside their brothers-in-arms from the Russian Federation."

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 07:45

Too Late To Buy Gold? Not Even Close...

Too Late To Buy Gold? Not Even Close...

Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,

Many are wondering if it’s too late to buy gold, that gold has peaked and they have missed their opportunity.

We hope the below series of facts, figures and common-sense reality-checks will put such fears squarely to rest, as gold’s role, price direction and days are only just beginning.

A Light House in the Fog

In a world of geopolitical tensions, can-kicking monetary fantasies, falling bombs, rising debt, discredited leadership, impotent summits, weaponized trade and a comically discredited media narrative, it’s hard to find a lighthouse in such fog.

Even with the world closest to the brink of nuclear war since the Cuban missile crisis, the markets, forever certain that a life-boat of mega liquidity is just one crisis away, churned Titanically forward with no ice berg fears.

VON GREYERZ advisor, Ronnie Stoeferle, sarcastically described the recent S&P, NASDAQ and NIVIDIA behavior as being almost like that of a Zen monk.

But there’s nothing “Zen” about these markets, times, currencies or financial systems. And there’s certainly nothing “Zen” about the once-sacred 10Y UST…

How do we know this? How have we always known this?

In short, what has been our lighthouse?

The answer is as simple as it timeless, indestructible, and honest: Gold.

The Quiet Accumulation Phase

Unlike politicians scrambling for power like donkeys fighting for hay (Chamfort) and squawking threats, promises and miracle solutions for one more X follower, vote or concession, sophisticated gold investors—from generational family offices, portfolio managers and sovereign wealth funds to eastern central banks and even the IMF and BIS—have been quietly accumulating gold at unprecedented levels.

For the last 3 years (since the US foolishly weaponized the world reserve currency), central banks have been annually accumulating over 1000 tons of gold.

Average central bank gold stacking has skyrocketed from 118 tons (pre-2022), to over 290 tons per/bank/year post weaponization.

In short, despite all the fog, squawking, speculating and debating, precious metal investors have been watching what gold does rather than listening to what failed policy makers and systems are saying.

The Unofficial Reserve Currency

Nassim Taleb bluntly said the quiet part out loud in a recent Bloomberg interview, namely that gold is effectively becoming the unofficial global reserve currency.

We have been saying the same for years, not because we fawn on every empty phrase of every empty politico or market pundit, but because we have been watching what gold does.

And let’s look at what gold has been quietly, calmly and historically doing—and SIGNALING—for years.

Signals Rather than Words

In 1971, when the USD lost its golden chaperone, money supply expansion, inflation and hence a gold price explosion followed, held in check only by Volcker’s aggressive, post-1980 rate hikes.

Even the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, in which gold ultimately out-hedged a perfect market storm, the only thing to “save” that not-so-Zen equity market was Bernanke’s money printing to the moon.

But as US public debt levels crawl toward $37T, we objectively know (and knew from day-one) that raising rates wouldn’t work for Powell as they did for Volcker, and hence Powell’s “higher-for-longer” policies were doomed from the onset by the hard math of fiscal dominance.

Or stated more simply, America was too far in debt to afford its own so-called “inflation killing” rate hikes.

We also know that QE to the moon is another useless option, and that Bernanke’s Nobel Prize for such a “temporary” solution has since devolved into a currency destroying nightmare.

In short, the Fed is Trapped. Cornered. Out of good options.

Period.

More Recent Signs of Golden Power

But there are far more current yet ignored signals from that modest pet rock, which has been quietly getting the last laugh on a global system that is loudly getting more desperate and hence more centralized.

From Day-One of the Putin sanctions, we said that trust in, and hence demand for, the dollar and UST would fall as gold slowly rose to replace this mistrust.

That, of course, is precisely what followed despite polite debates with strong-dollar proponents as the reality of de-dollarization became more than just a headline, but a global and irreversible trend.

We also carefully tracked the critically important move by the BIS to rate physical gold as a Tier-One, global reserve asset.

This was another quiet, yet media-ignored BIS signal, that gold was becoming a far more trusted and objectively superior store of value that an over-issued and increasingly weaponized/unloved UST.

We then tracked yet another obvious, yet again, media-ignored signal from the extraordinary physical gold demand/deliveries in the COMEX exchange.

This was neon-flashing evidence that nations preferred physical gold to paper money or unloved US IOUs.

The Old System Nearing Its Gettysburg Moment

Such signals from the BIS, the COMEX, and the BRICS de-dollarization policies were analogous to armies slowly preparing their financial cannons for a massive shift in a global monetary and financial system.

Sadly, yet objectively, this very system– unknown to most participants and trend speculators—was already reaching a clear Gettysburg Moment in which the fight to save it may continue, but the war is already lost.

The Biggest Casualty? The USD…

Today we see the desperate signs of this losing war in the desperate measures to give credit to an otherwise discredited and debased world reserve currency which even JP Morgan confesses is 15% over-valued based on long-term real exchange rates.

This year alone, the USD has lost 10% of its power and is seeing its worst first-half performance in nearly 40 years.

Meanwhile the EUR-USD is nearing 1.17 and gold is consolidating.

Too Late for Gold?

But despite all these signals of gold rising (more than 75 All-Time-Highs in 2025 alone and outperforming the S&P total return for two decades), there are those who would say gold is too volatile or that it peaked at $3500.00.

In other words, there are those who think it’s too late to catch “the gold bubble”?

Oh dear… what a complete misunderstanding of reality, markets, gold and broken financial systems such a view embodies.

Gold: No Mania, just a Sober Culmination

Gold is not in a bubble.

Gold is not to be compared to a tech stock or a speculation craze, and gold is no longer even a volatility “hedge” or “allocation.”

Rather, gold is becoming the base money for a system that is openly denying its own slow death and losing war.

In other words, gold’s exponential growth and role are not peaking, they are only just beginning.

But let’s show rather than say that, as words have become just as cheap as dollars in a system terrified of its own unravelling.

Gold is not spiking because the future of the global financial system and paper currencies is looking brighter.

Instead, and based on the string cite of signals above, gold is rising because that very debt-based, MMT-fantasy pushing addiction to mouse-clicked money and debt-based (currency-destroying) “growth” is failing.

Trust: Hard to Quantify but Easy to Own

The recent and extraordinary (but entirely inevitable) “rally” in the gold price had nothing to with its yields or earnings (it offers none), but everything to do with its trust.

But as we’ve said for years, trust is hard to quantify for those who don’t understand gold.

Or stated otherwise, Gold is not changing, but trust in the global financial and currency system is.

Gold is doing nothing other than what it has done for millennia when debt levels unmask the sins and addictions of its fiat money comptrollers: It is signaling a slow reset toward real money from paper currencies.

In such moments of dramatic global change, looming resets and embarrassing policy failures, the old correlations break down.

Strong dollar or weak dollar, low inflation or high inflation, positive real yields (2023,24 & 25) or negative real yields—gold is rising in all scenarios because gold is breaking away from a broken system that has printed, borrowed, taxed and even traded itself into debt trap.

Who Is Afraid?

Yes, gold loves chaos, but today it’s not Main Street that is running to gold, it is the very central bankers who are terrified of the chaotic system they alone created and broke which are running to this metal.

In short, it’s not the people who are scared—it’s their governments.

Even the IMF, which has recently admitted that it doesn’t fully know what is coming, at least knows that whatever (even horrific CBDC) reset arises, it will have gold (the last truly politically neutral asset in a global financial war) as its anchor rather than a hitherto chastised “pet rock.”

And so, in this backdrop of reality rather than spin, we ask again, is it too late to buy gold?

Silver Speaks

In addition to the foregoing reality checks and answers, let us not forget what silver is saying to us.

Those familiar with long-term, sophisticated precious metal investing are well aware that rising silver (and mining stocks) confirm a bull market in gold, which we argue has not yet even begun despite gold’s recent record highs.

As of this writing, the gold/silver ratio still hovers in the 100:1 area and silver ETF inflows are yawning.

In short, silver, despite its steady movements North, is still greatly lagging the gold moves of late, suggesting that gold has yet to make its true move in price, role and use.

Today silver lags, but when it moves, its move will be explosive.

For us, the current silver lag is a sign that gold is still early rather than too late in its secular direction.

Peak Distrust, Not Peak Gold

The recent gold price tops at $3500 were not a sign of mania or peak gold, but simply an early indicator (and reflection) of the rotten debt foundations beneath a global credit and currency system slowly teetering toward a massive shift.

In such a setting/shift, gold’s value today is merely a fraction of what is to come.

For those thinking beyond the next equity trend or miracle stock toward protecting and growing their wealth, they are not even close to “too late,” but rather right on time.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 07:20

The No-Win Bubble "Wealth Effect": Either Way We Lose

The No-Win Bubble "Wealth Effect": Either Way We Lose

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

I have endeavored to explain how our economy has changed dramatically over the past 50 years beneath the surface. Nothing that's going to happen in the future will make sense unless we understand this, so refill your beverage of choice and let's go through what changed.

Wages gained ground 1945 - 1975, and lost ground 1975 - 2025. In the "glorious 30" (Trente Glorieuses) years of sustained global growth 1945 - 1975, wages' share of the economy remained around 50% of the nation's income. As the economy expanded, wages increased in step with the economy.

Since the mid-1970s, that trend has reversed. Wages have lost ground for the past 50 years. As the economy expanded, wages's share declined, meaning the economy's gains flowed to capital rather than wages. (Chart #1 below)

This wealth transfer was non-trivial: $150 trillion was siphoned from wages to owners of capital.

As the chart below shows, Federal debt as a percentage of GDP declined in the the decades of organic growth, meaning the economy expanded from increases in productivity, efficiencies and resource extraction, as opposed to the synthetic growth of using debt / financialization to boost consumption.

Financialization took off in the 1980s as unlimited credit for financiers enabled a synthetic boom of corporate takeovers and mergers. Financialization expanded into every nook and cranny of the economy in the 1990s and 2000s, so that assets such as the family home became commoditized assets that could be sold as securities to global capital.

As the Federal-debt-GDP charts illustrates, Federal debt rose faster than GDP as financialization hollowed out the US economy. The acceleration of globalization from 2001 advanced this hollowing out.

The destabilizing nature of financialization manifested in 2008 as the Global Financial Crisis, when heavily financialized subprime mortgage securities catalyzed a global meltdown.

the 2008-09 crisis and response was a critical juncture in American history , as the organic economy became subservient to the synthetic economy of debt, bubbles and "the wealth effect," the toxic harvest of hyper-financialization and hyper-globalization.

Federal debt, which has risen from 40% of GDP in the early 1980s to 60% in 2007, exploded higher to 120% as the synthetic "growth" of using debt to inflate asset bubbles that generated "the wealth effect" became the engine of consumption.

As a result of policy decisions made in 2008-2010, our economy became dependent not on wages but on "the wealth effect" for consumption: as asset valuations bubble higher, the owners of the assets feel wealthier, and are incentivized to borrow and spend more of their phantom wealth.

The top 10% of US households now account for 49.7% of all US consumer spending: The U.S. Economy Depends More Than Ever on Rich PeopleThe highest-earning 10% of Americans have increased their spending far beyond inflation. Everyone else hasn't. (WSJ.com)

The problem is that unlike wages, which are broadly distributed, asset ownership is concentrated in the top 10% of households, so "the wealth effect" dramatically boosted wealth and income inequality. So all the synthetic "growth" since 2009 has flowed to the top tier of households as wages' share of the nation's income continued losing ground.

This sets up a can't win scenario: if the Everything Bubble that drives "the wealth effect" continues inflating, wealth inequality will crack our society wide open. If the bubble pops, consumption implodes, jobs will be lost and the Great Recession that was pushed forward in 2009 will kick in with a vengeance.

Beneath the superficial surface of rising GDP, the policies of inflating debt-bubbles to drive "the wealth effect" have hollowed out not just the economy but society. Courtesy of @econimica (X/Twitter), these charts show the pernicious consequences of relying on debt for consumption and channeling gains to the owners of assets.

The net effect was to load younger generations with debt while funneling the majority of Federal spending to the older generations who also happen to own most of the assets. Since younger workers couldn't buy assets when they were cheap, few have gained from "the wealth effect."

By effectively impoverishing the nation's younger generations, we've chosen a demographic doom-loop as marriage and birth rates have collapsed from 2007. Guess what happens when you make starting a family and buying a house unaffordable to younger generations? They no longer start families and have children.

As the Boomer generation retires, the legacy of retirement programs designed in the 1930s (Social Security) and the 1960s (Medicare) is fiscal bankruptcy as these programs are driving the expansion of federal spending and borrowing.

It's called a Doom Loop, with no exit, for all speculative asst bubbles pop. Once "the wealth effect" reverses, assets get sold off to raise cash and since only the wealthy can afford to buy them, there's no buyers left, so valuations crash.

It didn't have to be this way, but our leadership chose poorly, and the consequences will fall on us. Let's go through the charts supporting this grim reality.

Wages share of the national income has declined for 50 years.

As a percentage of GDP, Federal debt has tripled from 40% of GDP to 120% of GDP as synthetic "growth" replaced organic growth:

Thanks to the policy decision to reply on "the wealth effect" for consumption, wealth inequality has soared: the net worth of the top 10% (34 million Americans) is 2X the net worth of the bottom 90% (306 million Americans) and 27X the net worth of the bottom 50%--170 million Americans.

Most of the future expansion of Federal spending and debt is in programs for the older generations and rising interest payments on the expanding debt to pay for these programs.

Here are Econimica's explanatory comments on his three charts reprinted below:

"Federal Reserve policies have far-reaching consequences, well beyond interest rates and economics / finance. Given the Fed is a non-democratically elected entity making policy that is ultimately deciding the winners and losers or our modern-day society...perhaps it's time for a rethink of the power that has been handed to them?

Consider since 2007 (when ZIRP & QE were implemented):

---US births (blue columns) have declined by -0.7 million/yr (-16%...or 12 million fewer births than Census projected since '07 w/ the delta only continuing to grow)
---US female childbearing population (red line) +4.2 million (+11%)
---US 65+yr/old pop (white line) increased +27 million (+72%)

Think of who the economic / financial policies implemented since '07 favor (elderly/institutions holding the bulk of assets) and who they punish (young adults w/ little to no assets to shield them). Young adults have made the logical choice to have fewer or avoid children altogether. Unless something dramatic changes, suggest births/families will continue moving significantly lower and the future of the US working class is likewise deteriorating.

2007 was also the interest rate driven explosion in student loan debt and consumer debt (vehicles, credit cards, etc.) to allow a flat consumer population to continue consuming more."

Note how debt serviced by younger generations exploded higher from 2008 while the population and workforce made only marginal gains.

GDP minus federal debt was positive until 2008-09, and has since crashed into deeply negative territory. It's called eating our seed corn, spending money borrowed from future productivity and generations to fund unsustainable consumption today. Spoiler alert: this ends badly.

Regardless of assurances that this bubble will never pop, all bubbles pop, and they do so with remarkable symmetry, returning to their starting point.

Either way, we lose: if the Federal Reserve manages to keep the Everything Bubble inflated, we decimate the nation's younger generations, fatally destabilizing our society. If the bubble finally pops, all the phantom wealth that's been propping up consumption goes to Money Heaven, gone for good.

We will collectively bear the burdens of catastrophically short-sighted / self-serving policies of 2009-2025 for decades to come. Beneath the easily gamed statistical veneer, our economy and society have been hollowed out to the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.

These are real-world problems, not monetary problems. Unfortunately, playing around with "money" doesn't make all this go away: stablecoins, Universal Basic Income (UBI) and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) are all disconnected from the real world: what ultimately matters is resources extracted, productivity and efficiency, and how the gains and losses of these real world factors are distributed.

"Money" in all its manifestations is simply the unit/medium used to instantiate the distribution.

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Check out my new book Ultra-Processed Life and my new fiction/novels page.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/01/2025 - 06:30

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