"The Hungry Bear"

The stock market bear is hungry. His fangs are out, but the stock market has a fang, too. FANG consists of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Goog—all of which have made fantastic gains during the current bull run. These stocks are bloated pigs, but the bear continues to be thwarted.

Since its tragic inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has made sure we got plenty of war and bubbles, including more recently the Internet Bubble, the Housing Bubble and now we have the current bull market. Some are calling it ‘the greatest bubble ever.’ 

There are a variety of reasons why the market continues to relentlessly escalate to record levels. It has nothing to do with the presidents who like to take credit for such climbs. If insiders wanted the market crash, they could have done so when Trump was elected president. They didn’t want to shoot themselves in their collective foot and lose money, so there was no crash.

The continuing rise has to do with low interest rates by the Fed which has forced money into top companies. Betting on stocks is less risky than loaning it to small businesses or putting it into the already overpriced real estate market. Invest in Illinois bonds? Oh, well never mind. How about precious metals? No, that sector has been in a bear market since 2011. Paper covers rock and the central bankers can print up an unlimited amount of paper silver to keep physical silver contained. They can’t short Bitcoin, hence the amazing rise there.

The stock market seems to be the only game left in town, but who is playing that game? Certainly not young people. They are too burdened with college debt and are having a difficult time finding jobs that pay a decent wage. Real wages haven’t risen much in 30 years, but inflation and taxes have gone up. The cost of living has hurt the American Dream. Rent continues to skyrocket. Landlords are enjoying a bull market because young people can’t afford to buy an over-priced home, even with low rates. Not many young people can't pony up $1,000 to buy one solitary share of Amazon. Also, Baby Boomers are cashing out of the market and retiring. The middle class is going away as the rich get stupendously richer while most of the country gets poorer. 

So who is doing all the buying? Insiders, that’s who. They already own most of the stocks and they know that driving up their investments benefits them very well. Global corporations, many of which pay no taxes at all, buy back their own stocks, thus benefitting the insiders. The central bankers do the same. The richest 10 percent in America own 80 percent of market wealth.

Before you accuse me of inciting class warfare, let me remind you that a lot of that wealth at the top is compounding not because of capitalism, but rather crony capitalism. Mega corporations and their lobbyists control Congress and they make sure conditions are kept in place that allow them to make successful inside bests in the mega casino that they own. President Clinton ended Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed the big banks to gamble, and what happened in 2008 showed us who really runs the show. The central bankers, represented by Hank Paulson, twisted the arm of Congress in order to rake in trillions in bailout money as well as gigantic bonuses. Quantitative easing and free money helped the bankers and Wall Street. Not Main Street. 

When will the bull market collapse? Some say this year, but we’ve heard that every year since the last drop. The doom and gloomers continue to get it wrong. People such as Martin Armstrong, who is predicting the market will double again from here, continue to get it right. The technicals show weaker pullbacks and smaller gains on lower volume. The signs point to a blowoff top and that is attracting a lot of short interest, but many traders have already shorted the market and individual stocks again and again, only to get burned again and again. The bear remains very hungry.

--Ben Garrison

P.S. I had a really bad typo--typed 2013 for the start of the Fed. It's 1913. I fixed it. My apologies. I don't have an editor and my editing skills aren't all that great.

"My 20,000 Pt. Dow Life"

The Dow was up nearly another 100 points today after yesterday’s loss. That seems to be the pattern. Every pull back is now seen as a buying opportunity. We are told the economy must be doing great because the market keeps going up, up UP! I suppose it’s a matter of perspective. It’s not so great for over 50 percent of Americans who own no stocks whatsoever. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck with little or no savings. They’re struggling to pay rent and the bills. They're not going to be buying AMZN at $1,000 per share. Jobless young people who are steeped in college debt and living with their parents can’t afford to buy stocks, either. Baby boomers are cashing out stocks to pay for their retirement. So what exactly is fueling the perpetual rise in stocks? The central bankers and global corporations themselves. President Trump and Obama have nothing to do with it. It’s an insiders’ game. 

The top one percent owns nearly 40 percent of stocks. The top 20 percent owns 92 percent. In other words, the fabulously rich continue to get stupendously richer by pumping up their own stocks while the average working person hasn’t seen a real wage increase in over 30 years. Yes, I know I’m at risk of being called a socialist by pointing this out. Some may say I’m trying to foment class warfare, but all I’m doing is stating facts. We already have a quasi-socialist system. The government steals our money and redistributes it as they see fit. Citizens were ordered to buy ObamaCare whether they liked it or not.

We also have a corporate fascist system. While many Americans are unable to pass ‘GO,’ the Federal Reserve routinely prints and doles out free money to its central banker owners. They in turn sock it into the stock market in the form of quantitative easing, ‘twists’ or whatever they want to call it. They own the Monopoly® board and make us pay each time we land on their squares. They also use their easy money to keep gold and silver suppressed. A classic case of ‘paper covers rock.’ Silver should have done what Bitcoin has done—gone up exponentially. The bankers apparently can’t rig or short Bitcoin. 

The big shots who own the game have run out of ideas about where their free money can be parked. Loan it out to the poor or entrepreneurs? Oh no, can’t do that…too much risk! Bonds? No way with these lower rates. The money addicts want the big returns that stocks can provide and so that’s where the money goes. Martin Armstrong even thinks the Dow can hit 40,000. Why not? It benefits those at the very top—you know, those who already own and control most anything anyway. More money for Bezos, Gates, Warren Buffett and the big bankers—great, huh? Those running the show through the CFR and at Bilderberg will continue to have ever-more money and influence while the little guy will lose more freedom, money and jobs. A rising market is great for the top of the pyramid, and terrible for the rest of us.

These are the things I think about as the rigged Dow continues to get force fed. A fat market living at all-time highs is NOT a good thing for the average citizen who picks up the tab, and if the market ever does explode, it will be the average citizen who will suffer the most. You see, it’s not really ‘free money.’ It’s debt currency and it produces a kind of privileged royalty at the top and debt slaves underneath them. It’s the sort of situation that sparks a revolution.

—Ben Garrison