More Reflections From Hong Kong |
Tuesday, 5 December 2023 — Melbourne, Australia | By Brian Chu | Editor, Fat Tail Daily |
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[5 min read] In this issue: A chance encounter that points to a gold rally forming… Bill Bonner: A new age of brutality, subjugation and stupidity for the WrongThinking masses... |
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Note: Today’s essay once again comes to you from Hong Kong, where our gold analyst Brian Chu is back visiting family. Dear Reader, It’s past midnight on Sunday as I write this. I just came back from a wedding banquet of my wife’s cousin. Here’s a pic of the celebrations: The reason why I’m writing now instead of heading to bed is because I’m still feeling quite pumped. Not only as a result of the celebration, but also because of the conversation I had with the taxi driver on the way home. The taxi ride was a chance encounter. I initially thought of taking the bus home. It would’ve taken almost an hour to travel from East Kowloon to Tuen Mun in the western extremity of Hong Kong, where my family is staying. As it was 11pm at night, my wife — Cindy — and my sister in-law were feeling pretty tired. Cyrus was about to drift off and needed Cindy to carry him. Getting back ASAP was the priority, even if it was going to cost a lot more. In hindsight, I think it was a great decision because there’s a great story that came out of it! More than just a taxi trip! For the first third of the trip, I was focusing on the surroundings and reminiscing on past memories. As an aside, the wedding venue was a stone’s throw away from where my grandparents lived when I was a child. Things have changed a lot since, as is the case with most of Hong Kong. Here’s a photo of that neighbourhood in the early evening: There’s a modern shopping mall a block away from where I took the photo. But you can see some of the older style residential blocks that were there back in the day. Anyway, back to the story. As the taxi zipped past West Kowloon, I decided to strike up a conversation with the taxi driver about how the roads in Hong Kong are now so convenient that our taxi trip would likely take 60% of the time taken 10 or 20 years ago. That resonated with the driver. For the next 25 minutes, we had a good conversation about what’s happening in Hong Kong. We mused over the impressive development of the infrastructure in Hong Kong, the budget surplus of the Hong Kong government that allowed this to occur, and our perspective on the Hong Kong Administrative Government. Interestingly, the taxi driver shared his frustration about how Hong Kong has degenerated due to what he believes is maladministration by the incumbent authority. I was in the mood for it. As we continued, our conversation steered towards how China has lurched between implementing economic reform and centralised governing, and how that has made Hong Kong what it is today. I’ll try not to get too political here, but let me provide some context. For many years, Hong Kong has been the type of society that China had aspired to be. It’s economically vibrant, culturally functional and the Western world considers Hong Kong the gateway to doing business with China. That’s at least before the societal and political tensions breaking out in 2014 and to a greater degree in 2019. On top of that, the extended lockdowns, the implementation of the National Security Law by the Special Administrative Government and the strengthening of the US dollar following the US Federal Reserve raising the interest rate, led to Hong Kong experiencing significant setbacks. So I can understand why the driver was frustrated. The society he lives in risks degenerating before his very eyes. A chance to ‘evangelise’ the goodness of gold Now some of you are aware how I like to go down rabbit holes and speculate over why certain things happen. Indeed, I could’ve steered our conversation to theorising how bad society could go and the doom we’re about to face. However, this was a short taxi trip and I didn’t want to waste it hand-wringing over the uncertainty of the future. So, I decided to take the opportunity to ask the taxi driver what he thought about gold. He was aware that the price of gold has been rising. I noted that gold has risen in US dollars to near the all-time record high, US$2,071 an ounce, last Friday in US trading. He noted gold has continued to increase and wondered whether there was any point in buying. This gave me the perfect chance to ‘preach’ the benefits of gold being an effective hedge against global and societal chaos, and how it retains purchasing power. I then remarked how gold had risen some 80% since my wife and I married six years ago (check the prices!) and owning some gold afforded us peace of mind, since we could preserve our purchasing power with some of our wealth. I wish I could introduce him to ‘The Ultimate Australian Gold Game Plan’! Nonetheless, I was glad to have taken that taxi trip and enjoyed the exchange with this driver… It’s my hope that he takes to heart what we discussed. The general public’s increasing curiosity on gold…is the tide turning? Now, this gentleman wasn’t the only one I encountered on this trip who asked me about gold. A few of my relatives have also asked for my thoughts on the price of gold and what form of gold to buy. What I take away from this (and you should too) is that gold is now gaining interest among the general public. They may not have had much interest in gold in the past few years, but they’re now aware that gold has steadily increased in price. Some are asking if it’s time to buy. The good news is that we have moved ahead of the masses! Yes, you may be occasionally second-guessing whether you’ve made the right decision, especially given gold stocks have delivered mixed results in the past three years. But if there’s anything you can take away from my update today, I can assure you that the public is setting their sights more on gold. And with gold trading at a whisker away from the US dollar record high, expect that there’s money ready to pile into this space if gold continues to rise. And that could set up for the massive gold stock rally we’ve been waiting long and hard for. The signs are clearer with each day! I’ll leave it here for today. Take care and enjoy the week ahead. God bless, Brian Chu, Editor, Australian Gold Report and Gold Stock Pro Brian Chu is one of Australia’s foremost independent authorities on gold and gold stocks, with a unique strategy for valuing big producers and highly speculative explorers. He established a fund that only invests in ASX-listed gold mining companies, possibly the only such fund in Australia, putting his strategy and research skills to the test under public scrutiny. He currently writes two gold focussed investment advisories. In his monthly Australian Gold Report Brian shows you a strategy for building long-term wealth in physical gold, along with a select portfolio of hand-picked stocks, mainly producers with proven revenue streams, chosen for their balance of risk and reward. In his more specialised Gold Stock Pro service Brian helps readers trade some of the most exciting, speculative gold mining plays on the ASX. He uses his proprietary system — based on the famous Lassonde Curve model, which tracks the life cycle of mining stocks. His aim is to help you get ready to trade the next phase of gold and silver’s anticipated longer-term bull market for substantial profits. Advertisement: The ‘Secret Alliance’ out to Get YOUR Gold The world’s biggest financial players, including billionaire elites and central banks, are hatching a plot in the shadows. If successful, they could lock you out of gold for good. See what they’re up to here. |
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| By Bill Bonner | Editor, Fat Tail Daily |
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[4 min read] Dear Reader, If this is really the beginning of a long, dark period of rising yields and falling asset prices, the markets still haven’t gotten the message. The Dow closed on Friday over 36,000 — near an all-time record (still, with an inflation adjusted loss of about 20%). Gold is hitting a record high. And Bitcoin is once again trading over 42,000. Bloomberg: The biggest cryptocurrency rose as much as 6.1% to reach $42,144 as of 11 a.m. on Monday in London. Bitcoin was last at these levels in April 2022, before the TerraUSD stablecoin collapse that accelerated a $2 trillion rout in digital assets. It’s on track for the biggest annual gain since 2020. Of course, we could be wrong. Maybe the economy really is healthy. Maybe stocks and bonds really are going up in price, reflecting the general prosperity of our time. Maybe…but more likely we are still in that transition stage from one major trend to another. We’ve left behind one period (marked by ultra-low interest rates without much inflation); we have not fully entered another (where the threat of higher inflation hangs over Fed policy). In the meantime, anything can happen. But last week, we were looking at something else…deeper and more dangerous — the revolt of the masses. A Superficial Understanding We’ve seen that immigration is a hot button. It was Donald Trump’s ticket to the White House. So it was Geert Wilders’ winning formula. Trump is now counting on it to give him an encore. Other Republican contenders are trying to rouse the rabble by appealing to animosity towards immigrants, but also towards Mexicans, Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Muslims, Democrats, trannies or others. Immigration is a ‘cultural issue.’ Very visible. Easy to understand…at least superficially. [Extended parenthetical: Some of our Dearest Readers insist that immigrants are destroying the country. But most of our adult life has been spent in countries other than our own. We don’t like anyone telling us where to live; we return the favour. In a perfectly free world, people would go where they wanted…with neither aid nor hindrance from the government. But we don’t live in that world. In our world, immigration is a political issue…connected to labour rates, housing, welfare systems, crime and other matters. And like all political issues…it is a mess of lies and propaganda.] Immigration benefits the ruling, asset-owning classes. They get higher sales, lower wage costs, and more voters to do their bidding. So they continue to shove it down the public’s throat, whether the voters like it or not. Immigration may be the key to protecting Americans’ social security system too. The whole program is a ponzi scheme. It needs an influx of new contributors to keep it solvent. New immigrants could help pay the pensions of old, native-born retirees. Whether it is worth the social problems it brings, we don’t know. Cancelled, Fined, Jailed Apart from immigration, elites champion a series of other issues that the masses find hard to swallow. Sex change operations, for example, even in the military. The plain people don’t much care for ‘trans’ women competing at sports with real women either. And they don’t like being told what pronoun to use when addressing or referring to others. They think it is faddish nonsense. Speech has become another battleground between the elites and the masses. Most people think they should be able to say whatever they want without fear of being labelled, censored, cancelled, fined or jailed. ‘Free speech’ is in the US Constitution, after all. But the elites want to control the masses’ thoughts…and they begin by controlling who can say what to whom. The most recent example is in the widespread use of the epithet — ‘antisemite.’ A decent person might disapprove of both sides in the Hamas/Israeli slaughter. And since at least 10 Palestinians are killed for every 1 Israeli, he might begin to wonder about who will suffer the judgment of Heaven. He could condemn the Palestinians and feel very satisfied with himself. But woe to those who accuse the Israelis of mass murder. They are called ‘antisemitic.’ Then, they lose their jobs. Their advertisers leave them. Their speaking fees vanish. Their book contracts are withdrawn. In short, they are ‘disappeared’ from the elite classes. Whatever the subject, elites believe they have the final truth. Vaccines, climate change, EVs, windmills, race relations, sex, marriage, politics — you name it. And the mainstream press backs them up. They ‘condemn’ alternative opinions…‘call out’ incorrect views…and ‘school’ anyone suspected of WrongThink. Antisemitism, Racism, Nazism Their aim is to make sure you never have a wrong thought…and never come in contact with one. That’s the convenience of sloppy slurs such as ‘antisemite’ or ‘racist.’ No need to discuss the issues. Just label opponents; as everyone knows, ‘you can’t argue with a Nazi!’ So too is the accusation of ‘racism’ slung so often it has lost its sting. The common White man is meant to believe he is a racist…(most likely a White supremacist and patriarchal SOB too!). What can he do? He must ask for forgiveness…and sign up for an anti-racist course taught by racism profiteers. The majority of level-headed citizens have a hard time taking this claptrap seriously. The common man wants to ‘save the planet’ as much as anyone, but he suspects that the Green Agenda may be a scam. He believes in treating his fellow man with the respect he deserves…but he’ll decide for himself how much respect is suitable. As for ‘racist,’ the greater danger is that he might begin to believe it. Then, he asks: Why not act like one? ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ was engraved on Moses’s tablet. We don’t recall the qualifier: ‘unless you have a good reason.’ But if your thoughts are pure, approved by the New York Times, why not? Therein lies the final abomination. Once you decide that it is thoughts that matter, rather than acts, you can get away with murder. Regards, Bill Bonner, For Fat Tail Daily All advice is general advice and has not taken into account your personal circumstances. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your own situation, or if in doubt about the suitability of an investment. |
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