November 2024 - Week 4 Edition

A Great Week to Be Thankful, Hopeful … and Careful

This is a great week to pause and be thankful, especially because we live in America. Think of the natural advantages of our two large ocean borders on either side and two long, mostly peaceful borders above and below – even if inadequately policed at times. America is one of the only nations that remains primarily independent when it comes to energy and food, so we need not rely on the “kindness of exporters” when it comes to their unfairly high tariffs against our products. We also have 50 independent states, which act as economic laboratories – offering competitive tax and business incentives to draw entrepreneurs to their jurisdiction.

We are also hopeful that a welcome change in fiscal and monetary policy awaits us for at least the next two years, until the mid-term elections of 2026, and maybe longer. We have the added hope that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can find and eliminate up to $2 trillion of waste, fraud and abuse over the coming term, including the possible termination or relocation of one or more major cabinet Departments in Washington. 

Next week, I’ll expand on one such idea – a fairly easy way to save tens of millions per year by abolishing the use of pennies, nickels and maybe the $1 bill. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst included the idea – which I wrote about in 2013 – as one of her Top 10 ideas in a letter to Musk and Ramaswamy last week, stating on X, “Bad Pennies: Currently, the federal government is paying 3 cents to produce a penny and 11 cents to make a nickel. That makes no sense! Only Washington could lose money making money. Changing the composition of coins would save $50 million a year.”

Not producing the penny would also help reduce the number government workers and benefits that account for millions and millions of taxpayers’ dollars that are currently being spent on U.S. Mint payroll.

I’ll fill in some details on how to fulfill this idea next week.

We must also be careful not to add more spending plans to increase an already bloated federal deficit, which is in danger of careening out of control, now at $36 trillion and counting, That doesn’t include another $100 trillion or more in unfunded liabilities to pay for “entitlements” (including Medicare and Social Security) for the huge Baby Boomers generation now retiring and those that follow. Cutting waste alone will not balance the budget. We must make some major changes to the massive entitlement programs to balance budgets.

But in the meantime, we can take the remainder of the week off to be thankful for all the blessings of America, our families, our faith and our future together. Be at peace and raise a toast of thanks this week.

Gobble till you wobble!

Gold returned above $2,700 last Friday but then it dipped back to $2,610 on Monday, November 25, when it appeared there was a ceasefire possibility between Israel and Hamas. Gold’s latest major move began a little over a year ago, in October 2023, after the brutal surprise Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s strong military response against Hamas. Monday’s rumor of peace caused the price move down for gold but any sudden peace in the Middle East often turns out to be a mirage and gold recovered on Tuesday. Also, the U.S. dollar is up 3.3% since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on November 5^th. That’s just about the same amount that gold is down, in dollar terms, so gold has been essentially “neutral” in November in global terms.

Just like Citi and Bank of America have predicted, I also believe gold will eclipse $3,000 an ounce in 2025. I continue to strongly advise investors to routinely add gold bullion and rare gold coins to their portfolios and IRAs. If you haven’t done so or need to discuss adding precious metals to your retirement plan, please contact one of our professional representatives to answer any questions you might have.

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