Geo-Politics

Trump’s threat of tariffs appears to be working (specific to border protection).

Numerous countries affected are suddenly offering troops and drug control.

Mexican cartels are promising to kill troops (and Trump) using drones and small bombs.

While I spend time in Canada each week, more than 50% of the news is about the tariffs.

They are very worried, but rightly so…

If you don’t know, Canada is rather liberal, and their policies are nearly identical to a “blue state’.

In fact, even the conservatives I hang with are relatively liberal.

For example, they ALL got the shot.

The Cease Fire in Israel continues to hold, albeit nervously.

The Stock Market Watch

Many are wondering why the stock market correction hasn’t happened yet.

Was it Trump? Or something else?

The housing market is the key right now.

Building permits are a ‘leading indicator’ (they tell us what is about to happen, while ‘lagging’ indicators tell what has already happened – like unemployment numbers)…

Building permit numbers are still a great indicator of the future, it’s just that the future is farther out.

Moral of the story: The Correction is still coming.

Crypto Insights

For those of you who do crypto, several of my sources say that XRP looks to be in the works for use by the government, which will drive prices up.

But before this goes public, there will be a concerted effort, like the gold buy-back of 1933, to drive the price DOWN, not up (when the times comes for the government to do their mass purchase).

Adding to this, it looks like XRP’s parent, Ripple, will be the government’s blockchain of choice, as it ALREADY INTEGRATES existing banking with a digital currency.

The key is to buy and forget!

Metals Market Watch

Gold had been bouncing at all-time highs for the last month.

In mid-2023, I signed up for the email lists for all of the major online sources.

Not only do they have giveaways, but you also get emails of some super sales.

So, I bought a NO PREMIUM coin last week.

Here are my websites I normally use for price comparison (I have purchased from all 3.):

• Bullion Exchange
• Hero Bullion (my favorite)
• SD Bullion

Other News

The FDIC has noted that they have told some banks to limit customers withdrawing (or wiring) funds for purchases of crypto.

These banks are instructed to call it “fraud” and will restrict (slow down or cancel) purchases.

They may even freeze accounts indefinitely.

CNN (I don’t trust their news at all) reported that crypto companies spent almost a quarter billion on political campaigns... and ‘now they want a return on their investment’.

Something is going on…

The Usual Metrics

Another layoff notice went out for WA… 250 jobs this week.

Each of these has a family affected.

Unemployment numbers were announced to be holding near 4.0% - at 4.1%.

(4.0% is where it SHOULD be, keeping inflation and wage numbers in check.)

There is a new addition to the debt clock web page… Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E. savings.

In just over 3 weeks, he has saved the nation $60 BILLION.

Or roughly $3 billion a day.

What Would I Do About All This?

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

As noted above, I pounced on an email (secret) deal with SD Bullion, buying a coin.

Your stack happens one coin at a time.

There is no better time than now to try to get out of debt.

Visit www.daveramsey.com for details.

If you just need his plan, reply back and I can guide you.

We got out of debt using a slight variation of Dave’s plan. But for the most part, we followed it pretty closely.