The Gladstone
Economic Newsletter
Volume 19, No. 5
March 30, 2024
The Absolute Blow Off Top?
Mostly Charts in This Issue.
DISCLAIMER: The following is not intended as investment advice, but is rather intended to promote your own analysis of markets and the economic climate. The author is not a registered investment professional. Any action taken as a result of this analysis carries a high degree of risk. This newsletter contains the personal opinion of the author.
Dear Readers-
I will start off this newsletter on two light notes. Sometimes my long-suffering better half will sigh and say, “Oh my God…” I will reply “No, honey, I keep telling you I am only a demigod.” She hasn’t shot me yet, but I’m working on it. At other times I will turn to her and say the line from the Yogi Bear cartoons: “I’m smarter than the average bear!” She will then turn back to me and reply, “Bears aren’t all that smart….” So there you go.
Looking at the world economy, one has to be either a Biden supporter and/or delusional (not mutually exclusive by any means) to say that the US economy is strong. US consumers are getting pushed further to the wall. Every time I go to the grocery store, I see more people shopping thriftily. An example of this is the area with the “day old” bakery markdowns and clearance items is either very crowded with shoppers stretching their dollars or even picked clean. This is really cramping my personal style (I’m cheap).
The following four charts are borrowed wholesale from Peter Schiff, via zerohedge.com:
The first chart I think is a perfect illustration of the current US equity market. The line going up at a 45 degree angle is that of the Nvidia stock price. The line going down at a 45 degree angle is that of Newmont Mining stock. Newmont turned around a little bit since this chart was published, but this gives the reader a clear view of equity performance in our delusional markets.
The second chart compares the track of the current Nasdaq market (in blue) overlaid on the 1999-2001 disastrous Nasdaq market.
The third chart does the same with the current Dow Average (in blue) overlaid on that of 1929-1932.
The fourth chart by Peter Schiff overlays the Nvidia stock price (in green) on that of Cisco Systems from 1975 to 2004. See any commonality in all of these charts?
The following three charts on banking losses are from Zerohedge.com:
Bank charge offs are soaring:
Commercial real estate loans are starting to go bad such as during 2007. We all know how that turned out!
CRE loan defaults are worsening. The building known as “The Eye of Sauron,” goes into foreclosure in Brooklyn:
Credit card defaults are increasing rapidly as well:
The Consumer Board Consumer Confidence Index is showing the economy is going into the basement:
Let’s shift gears and do some quick coverage of the Ukraine conflict. Pepe Escobar did a good piece on the Ukrainian connection to the Crocus Hall concert massacre:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-nulandbudanovtajikcrocus-connection
Our western media is not reporting the fact that the Ukrainians are losing the war (badly) on a daily basis. The following snippet is from southfront.press:
“The recent Russian strikes have been highly effective. The targets destroyed in recent days included locations of accumulation and deployment of Ukrainian military commanders, nationalists and foreign mercenaries. For example, as a result of the Russian missile attack on one of the resorts in Odessa on March 15, at least 550 people from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, the leadership of the national units “Tsunami” and “Lyut”, dozens of foreigners were eliminated, including Ukrainian generals. LINK More devastating strikes on the Ukrainian military personnel have been reported in Slavyansk in the DPR and in the Zhitomir regions.”
NATO countries are experiencing mounting losses of specialists and military officers in Ukarine. How the NATO countries are able to conceal these deaths is unknown. The following is from the moonofalbama.org comment section (I believe it was first posted on Telegram):
“Dear Mr. Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America!
We, Russian Warriors, express our sincere gratitude to you for the Abrams tanks that the United States provides to Ukraine.
As you probably know, we receive bonuses for the destruction of these tanks. We kindly ask you to send more, as the ones already sent are very few, there are not enough for everyone. We have to spend a lot of time and effort to find them. We are ready to transfer 10% of the bonus to your "MIR" card for each tank destroyed. We believe you are a true patriot and the best president of America. We sincerely hope for mutually beneficial cooperation.
Together we will win.”
It seems that nine Abrams tanks have already been knocked out by the Russians. One is these was taken out by a Russian T-72 tank (introduced in 1972). At least one Abrams tank has been hauled off to Moscow as a war trophy.
The following link is only for brave readers who are able consider ideas that challenge their belief systems. As a comment, I have been noticing Joe Biden’s ear lobes are sometimes attached, and sometimes not attached. Note: You can’t unsee what is in the link:
https://rense.com/general97/biden-body-doubles.php
I will close the newsletter with some memes from various sources: