Here's this week's update from Dr. Matt

Geo-Politics

Our top story this week is the European Union announced that they are now ‘on an accelerated path to develop the infrastructure for a CBDC rollout THIS OCTOBER’.
This would be for wholesale AND retail transactions.
Wholesale is for institutional trading.
Retail is for day-to-day use by consumers for everything.
This would make ALL existing paper (and coins) Euros useless.
The Euro is a ‘fiat’ currency and is NOT gold-backed, so stashes of cash are about to be trash.
This means that the Central Bank of Europe is about to have total control of all transactions.
One of the more famous speeches noted “Absolute control”… and “Enforcement”.
Sarcasm mode: How comforting to know that governments ‘have our back’…
As a reminder, ALL of your currencies are owned by the government (including their central banks).
You NEVER own money. The central banks do – and they can confiscate it at will.
Plus, CBDC’s usually have an expiration date, meaning that you will HAVE TO SPEND IT (justified by “Keeping the economy strong”) but also PREVENTING you from saving it.
Now why would they want to do that?

More bad news… China hosted a meeting with Russia and IRAN to discuss IRAN’s nuclear program and how to get around the USA (and allies) sanctions.
This only escalates tension.
There is a UN agreement (for non-proliferation) to avoid countries to obtain nuclear weapons.
One of my more radical sources hinted that Trump could actually STOP imports from China and Russia.
WOW… the impact if that was true…
These three ALSO called for more diplomacy.

The Usual Metrics (Layoff Tracker, Bank Health, Debt Clock, Inversion Chart, & CBDC’s Gone LIVE)

The layoff tracker included another stack from WA.
Cheesecake Factory laying off 250 after announcing they are closing.
The Cow Palace, a major dairy near Yakima, is trying to avoid bankruptcy driven by government lawsuits over containing manure, laying off 100.
Starbucks is still holding to releasing 1000.
The Bank Health list is now up to 8 ‘unhealthy’ banks and only 1 Credit Union on the list.
A small bank in Chicago failed a few weeks ago, the only one of the list for 2025 so far.
The CBDC news above is major, but official ‘current’ list is holding at 3 countries Launched, 44 in Pilot, and 19 in development.
But the USA was dropped from Development to Other… not sure what that means.
The Debt Clock is still flying to $37 trillion… we are over $36.6 now.
But the DOGE savings is listed at 0.2 trillion… WAY UP.
And don’t forget those rumors of $5000 for each taxpayer if we save $2 trillion.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
The inversion chart was in the low 30’s for most of the week but fell to 0.29 (% difference between the 10-year T-bill rates and the 2-year T-bill rates).
The correction is more likely to happen when this is above 0.50, so the FED announcement next week should reveal a path up or down.
Unemployment climbed a full 0.10 percent to 4.1.
(4.0 is the best place for any society as it holds the inflation rates stable).
Weekly NEW unemployment claims dropped slightly.
If there is a correction (like we are supposed to get), then this number will climb based on higher than desired layoffs.
New building permits are in their second month of decline (seasonally adjusted, too).
This is one of three major indicators of consumer confidence.

Other News

As reported last week, there is now a LOT more attention with the (Atlanta) Fed announcing that “a recession is just around the corner”.
The FED, who doesn’t get along with Trump, is already calling this a “Trump-flation”, trying to blame this on DOGE/spending cuts and tariffs.
I told of this even before the election.
It takes a couple years of economic policy to create a recession, so the true culprit is the FED and Biden.
From the Economic Ninja:
The ‘subprime’ auto loan delinquencies are at a new high of 6.56% since 1994.
With another 3% are labeled as “seriously delinquent”.
Subprime loans are when car manufacturers sell loans that are under the current market interest rates.
Even with lower rates, people can’t afford their cars.
There is a bill in congress to ‘fix’ credit card rates.
It is expected that consumer spending will DROP.
Reducing consumer spending adds to the avalanche of a recession.

The Stock Market Watch

The markets have been on quite a roller coaster, but they are mostly down in just the last week.
The S&P 500 is down about 10% in the last month, while the DOW is down about 7%.
The big one is the FED meeting next week… this will drive the market one way or the other.
Having a balanced portfolio is your best hedge against economic disaster.

What Would I Do About All This?

(This is NOT financial advice, but it is what we did in our house…)

We are buying metals (FOR THE LONG HAUL), with nearly all of our metals ‘vaulted’ by insured companies.
We use the OneGold app for these funds.
https://www.onegold.com/join/b5321228046c464aa3d813f9f69afd6f
Be sure to ONLY BUY metal from trusted sources.
My local source is Micah Miller at www.fsmetals.us
In comparing online prices, it seems that the sale prices at www.herobullion.com are the best on the internet.
My ‘trust’ list is Micah, Hero Bullion, SD Bullion, Bullion Exchange, and Monument Metals.