Could This Company And Its Cohorts Overshadow Cryptocurrency? Look What’s Coming

Could This Company And Its Cohorts Overshadow Cryptocurrency? Look What's Coming

Wall Street titans such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs have backed a crypto company that has received more funding than almost every prevalent crypto project. In addition, this firm has funded the federal government's spending and has close connections to the Federal Reserve. It's anticipated that its stock will be listed on exchanges later this year. 

The company is Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, and it seems to be setting its sights on slowly dominating the crypto industry. It’s one company we must be mindful of if we value our financial freedom. 

Circle’s History

Interestingly, Circle didn’t start out as a stablecoin project; its history is rooted in the crypto industry and runs very deep. Circle Internet Financial Inc., or Circle, was founded in 2013 by Jeremiah Allaire and Sean Neville. Jeremy and Sean have been working together for decades to build and then sell or IPO cutting-edge technology companies, notably the Allaire Corporation and Brightcove.

One of Jeremy's oldest videos on YouTube is a presentation he did shortly before leaving Brightcove to create Circle. In this video, Jeremy explains how the final step of building a successful technology company is to exit. In other words, to sell to a more prominent company or list it on a stock exchange. Jeremy Allaire has also been involved with the World Economic Forum for many years and has videos on the WEF’s YouTube channel and a profile on the WEF’s website

Circle’s Vision

Jeremy has served as the chairman and CEO of Circle since it was founded, and Sean served as the president of Circle until late 2019, when he stepped down to join Circle’s board of directors. In the beginning, Circle’s focus was Bitcoin payments, similar to other payment companies like Visa and Mastercard, with a vision for bitcoin to become the base layer for a new financial system. However, the concept envisioned was not open and decentralized but closed and centralized. 

To set things in motion, Circle effectively tried to force Bitcoin to fit their vision by pushing for all the altcoin innovations, such as tokenization and smart contracts to the Bitcoin ecosystem. They also urged Bitcoin to increase its block size for scalability purposes, along with the founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, Gavin Andresen, and 60 other corporations. 

The efforts of these entities to increase Bitcoins block size hit their pinnacle in 2017 with the so-called New York Agreement. Furthermore, Digital Currency Group (DCG) reportedly oversaw the New York Agreement.  The DCG conglomerate owns Grayscale and CoinDesk and holds stakes in top crypto projects, including Coinbase and Circle. It’s not surprising that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also wanted to increase Bitcoin's block size. In short, 60 corporations tried and failed to convince the Bitcoin Community to increase Bitcoin’s block size. In short, 60 corporations tried and failed to convince the Bitcoin Community to increase Bitcoin’s block size.


Digital Currency Group 

A Rough Start For Circle

In the bull run of 2017, Circle had already raised around $27 million from Goldman Sachs and others. It used this capital to create a suite of crypto services, including an OTC trading desk, and purchased the Poleniex Exchange. Around the same time, Jeremy joined the International Monetary Fund as part of the IMF’s high-level Advisory Group on Fintech. 

For context, the purpose of the IMF is to ensure that the current US-centric financial system continues without interference from cryptocurrencies and other such technologies. Curiously, Circle and other Wall Street-funded crypto companies also held a closed-door meeting with the IMF in 2017, much to the scrutiny of the crypto community, and it seems there have been many meetings since. 

By this time, Circle realized Bitcoin was not the future of payments, although Jeremy still believes BTC is digital gold and could serve as the world’s next reserve currency and has stated he holds mostly BTC and cash. Central banks also hold alternative currencies as part of their balance sheets, with the US dollar declining.  

Since the conclusion that Bitcoin couldn’t be the payment platform, Circle and others turned to Ethereum, the next-best cryptocurrency. Ethereum grew significantly during the previous bull market cycle and established ETH as the second-largest crypto by market cap. They settled on the decision the build a US dollar stablecoin in 2017, and in 2018, Circle raised $110 million from Chinese crypto mining company Bitmain and others to build its stablecoin. 
 
That same year Coinbase and Circle founded the Centre Consortium to set standards for stablecoins issued on public blockchains and to govern the issuance and redemption of the USDC stablecoin. It’s important to note that any entity part of the Centre Consortium can mint and redeem stablecoins. 

The USDC stablecoin had a rough start when it launched in September 2018 because it was in the middle of a crypto bear market by then. So there wasn’t much demand for stablecoins, and USDC's market cap remained flat primarily during this period. 

Subsequently, Circle sold its suite of products and services to focus on its stablecoin in 2019. The buyers included Kraken’s purchase of Circle’s OTC trading desk and Tron founder Justin Sun, who reportedly purchased Poloniex from Circle.

The WEF, FED, and Synthetic CBDCs

In early 2020, Jeremy attended the WEF’s annual conference in Davos, where he preached about the power of programmable money. He also discussed the importance of a partnership between the public and private sectors to “support the development of global stablecoins backed by central bank money.” Circle also published a stablecoin white paper [pdf] for the WEF.


Image source: Circle Blog

In previous interviews, Jeremy stated that the assets backing USDC would inevitably be held at the FED. As a matter of interest, most stablecoins are backed by US government debt. So, when you buy a stablecoin, you are essentially subsidizing the US government spending. That is a bit of a worry, considering many use stablecoins for safety. 

According to Grant Thornton of the Centre Consortium, the USDC in circulation is backed by the following assets: 61% cash and cash equivalents, 13% Yankee certificates of deposit or CDs, 12% US treasuries, 9% commercial paper, 5% corporate bonds, and less than 1% in municipal bonds.

Almost all of the assets backing the largest stablecoins are some form of debt, i.e., money that’s been lent out. If you’re wondering why all these stablecoin companies hold so much debt, the answer is Interest. The companies behind these stablecoins can make money on their clients’ money by lending it. This makes it possible for Circle to make billions of dollars in passive income.

What’s important to understand is that Jeremy’s repeated prediction that the FED will hold USDC reserves relates to a Synthetic Central Bank Digital Currency. (sCBDC). Synthetic CBDCs involve a partnership between a private company, in this case, Circle, and the central bank of a country, the Federal Reserve, to issue a de facto CBDC, in this case, a de facto digital dollar. 

Unsurprisingly, the IMF and the WEF are particularly interested in this synthetic CBDC setup. The question is, which Blockchain will they agree on to power a synthetic CBDC? Will it be a private and permissioned blockchain created by a big bank or a cryptocurrency? Jeremy has consistently posited the prospect of a global stablecoin that will be modeled on the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights or SDR. The SDR consists of multiple national currencies, and Jeremy believes it will eventually include BTC. 


Image source: Coingecko

A Parabolic Shift For USDC

In mid-2020, the USDC’s market cap was on the move parabolically and continued to grow as  USDC expanded to new exchanges and smart contract cryptocurrencies. Algorand was one blockchain that USDC expanded to and seemed to have a very close relationship with both Circle and the Federal Reserve. Interestingly, Circle is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and in the same proximity as MIT, where Algorand founder Silvio Micali is based. 

CBDC reports by the FED note that the Central Bank partnered with MIT to develop its digital dollar and that the FED would begin testing quantum resistance on its would-be blockchain this year. As it so happens, Algorand recently achieved Quantum resistance by introducing State proofs.

Shortly after Circle announced its multi-chain framework, Wall Street veteran and former CLS Bank CEO David Puth was appointed the CEO of the Centre Consortium. You may not have heard of the CLS Bank; however, according to Jeremy, the CLS Bank is the “biggest bank that nobody knows” and, apparently, settles more than $2 trillion of transactions per day between the 70 largest banks on the planet. 

As per the Centre’s blog post, David's job is to ensure “the most significant transformation of the international monetary system since the formation of the Bretton Woods system.” Oddly enough, David recently stepped down from the Centre Consortium to become a senior advisor to Circle, possibly because of Circle's exponential growth, which began in 2021 as Circle raised a staggering $440 million from various crypto VCs, including DCG and FTX. 

During this time, Circle offered high-yield USDC accounts to institutional investors that were returning 8% – 11% yearly, according to an interview with Jeremy from February 2021. This eventually led to allegations by skeptical journalists that Circle was engaging in extremely high-risk, DeFi activities behind the scenes to earn this high yield. Note that this is the same stuff that crypto platforms like Celsius and Voyager Digital did before they went bankrupt. 

Stablecoins Scrutinized Over Collateral Quality

Following the collapse of the crypto market and the appointment of SEC chairman Gary Gensler, stablecoins began to experience a lot of scrutiny, including USDC. The backlash prompted stablecoin issuers to publish details about the assets backing all their billions of tokens in circulation. Paxos came out as the winner for collateral quality, and Circle has since changed the composition of the assets backing USDC to match those of Paxos’s BUSD. As it stands, the USDC in circulation is currently backed by around 80% short-term US Government debt, and 20% is backed by cash. 


Image source: Cointelegraph

Assuming short-term US Government debt means 2-year treasuries, it implies that Circle is earning a yield of around 4% on almost $40 billion of reserves. If you crunch those numbers, that equals over $100 million in pure passive income every month. This incredible potential for passive profit is probably why Circle managed to secure a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) deal for its stock to list on US exchanges.

Towards the end of 2021, Circle started to call for reasonable crypto regulations and seems to have lobbied to that end. The company also continued to expand USDC to other blockchains and started looking into stablecoins for other fiat currencies, notably the Japanese Yen and the New Zealand dollar. 

Also, in late 2021, Terra’s algorithmic UST stablecoin began to gain serious ground in DeFi protocols, where USDC had reigned supreme for almost two years. According to Decrypt, decentralized stablecoins try to avoid governance issues by maintaining their pegs through algorithms instead of through vast reserves of cash and debt. It also means their creation and destruction are done via voluntary free market arbitrage, and nobody can freeze or confiscate these tokens.

Note that all centralized stablecoin issuers have frozen tokens in the past. This occasional freezing of tokens is just the tip of the iceberg because, in a 2020 interview, Jeremy confirmed that Circle has the power to freeze all its stablecoins in circulation. This prospect is disturbing when you remember that Circle has uncomfortably close ties to Wall Street, the IMF, and the WEF. It's also disconcerting to consider that supposedly decentralized stablecoins, like MakerDAO’s DAI, are backed mainly by USDC. MakerDAO’s founder actually called for DAI to drop its peg to get off of USDC after Circle froze a bunch of tokens related to Tornado Cash. 

Digital IDs And BlackRock Emerge On The Scene

In February 2022, Circle announced the release of the Verite platform, which is instrumental in the rollout of digital identities in cryptocurrencies. Two months later, Circle announced that it had received another $400 million of funding in a round led by BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. BlackRock and circle also entered a “strategic partnership,” which would see BlackRock manage Circle’s cash reserves. 


Image source: Decrypt

BlackRock's buy-in bought Circle’s total funding to well over $1 billion, and Crunchbase suggests that this figure is much higher, though the details of all these investments were apparently not disclosed. In any case, the market cap of Circle’s USDC hit an all-time high of over $55 billion in the aftermath of the collapse of Terras UST and the concerns around Tether’s USDT that arose during the chaos. 

Incidentally, in previous interviews, Jeremy had admitted that both stablecoins were competitors to USDC. As expected, Terra's collapse and the temporary de-pegging of USDT led to renewed calls for stablecoin regulation worldwide. It appears Circle has been involved in influencing the regulations relating to the EU’s final draft of the MiCA Bill. According to CoinBureau, this could be very favorable for Circle, in Europe anyway, and opines that it could also be the catalyst for the next bull run. 

Competition Is Rife

It’s nothing new if Circle is leveraging regulations, as incumbents have often used regulation to prevent competition. Even the Goldman Sachs CEO admitted that “burdensome regulation protects our business from startups” shortly after the bank invested in Circle in 2015. What’s interesting is that  XRP is a top competitor to the global system that Circle and the Centre Consortium are trying to create.

And it’s not just regulations these stablecoin issuers are competing with; Cryptocurrency exchange Binance recently announced it would end support for USDC and has since de-listed Circle’s prominent stablecoin. USDC's market cap has been slipping, but it took a plunge when Binance dropped USDC in September 2022. 

This means that Circle has to sell assets behind the scenes to ensure that the supply of USDC is in line with the lower level of demand for USDC following its de facto delisting. It's well within Binance’s right to make this move, and it just goes to show that crypto is hyper-competitive, and every crypto project and company has its way of cementing itself in the industry. 

In Circle’s case, this involves working with questionable global organizations and expanding on-chain, including issuing stablecoins denominated in currencies besides the USD to appease foreign governments and regulators. At this rate, it's more than likely that every national currency will have its own stablecoin issued by the Centre Consortium, a perfect synthetic CBCD. 

As with USDC, all these synthetic CBDCs will be backed by the government debt of their respective regions. It means we’ll all be subsidizing our government’s spending along with lower interest rates for institutions when the “powers that be” inevitably phase out cash. 

But Wait…There’s More


Image source: Coindesk

More recently, Circle announced that it would expand to five additional smart contract cryptocurrencies and introduce a cross-chain interoperability protocol for its stablecoins. It also announced that it had partnered with Jack Dorsey’s Block to bring USDC to Bitcoin and to think Jack Dorsey is a Bitcoin maximalist! 

Circle is also quickly taking over every smart contract cryptocurrency. With its stablecoin reserves being held by the FED, Circle could potentially have access to unlimited liquidity, aka the money printer. With the money printer in its grip, Circle will have the power to control every proof of stake smart contract cryptocurrency. Case in point, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin recently admitted that Circle would have the power to decide the future of forks on Ethereum due to its stablecoin liquidity. 

For what it's worth, it looks like Bitcoin’s BTC and physical cash will offer protection from the upcoming dystopia that Circle and its affiliates are not so subtly rushing to roll out. Which begs the question, why else would Jeremy hold most of his wealth in cash and BTC? Maybe, he knows what's coming? 

To Jeremy's credit, he wants stablecoins to be as cash-like as possible, meaning transaction privacy and no KYC. The problem is that the regulators will probably never allow this. As we already know, the institutions' that Circle has aligned itself with explicitly want to take control of every transaction we make forever. 

As mentioned earlier, Circle’s co-founders have a history of building up and then exiting cutting-edge tech companies. This raises the question of whether Jeremy and Sean will do the same with Circle once its stock has IPO’d via the SPAC. Circle could become the most valuable company on the planet if it succeeds in its mission of literally recalibrating the global financial system around stablecoins. 

The only issue with this analysis is that fiat currencies are failing, and stablecoins probably won't help much. Jeremy seems to be highly aware of this, and that is ostensibly why he's so bullish on BTC. As such, it's probably wise to watch whether he leaves Circle after its IPO. If he does, it probably means he knows that Circle will inevitably fail. 

On another note, if you’re wondering which blockchain Jeremy believes will support all of Circle stablecoins, the short answer is all of them. The Circle team seems to be genuinely blockchain agnostic, and Jeremy thinks each smart contract cryptocurrency will have a piece of the financial puzzle. In sum, Circle will probably become the most influential company in cryptocurrency, maybe even the entire world, but it will arguably fail because it's fundamentally leveraging failing fiat currencies.


Image Source: Markethive

The Optimistic Approach

A redeeming feature is that Circle’s domination will make the average person comfortable with cryptocurrency. With special thanks to Guy at CoinBureau for his insights and his take on the final objective, he postulates,

“If I had my tinfoil hat on, I’d tell you that was the end game all along. Partner with all international organizations and the financial system, convince them to adopt stablecoins, sneak BTC in through the back door with an IMF SDR stablecoin and turn BTC into the world's next Reserve currency.” 

That is an outcome we would all love to see because the alternative will see us perpetually enslaved by these technocrats. We must also remember that decentralized cryptocurrency is vastly different from a centralized digital currency and extremely difficult for so-called authorities to over-regulate. I doubt they even know what they’re dealing with to the full extent. 

We have committed and robust communities that are creating ecosystems with crypto utility, built on supply and demand with a free market principle, and will always have a place in society, even if it’s in a Parallel Economy. This is where entrepreneurs rise, reclaim their sovereignty and freedom, and thwart the misaligned, agenda-driven elite. I’ll follow up with an article where we’ll discover what the individuals in power are planning about a new kind of social credit score. It’s wise to be aware. 

 

 

 

Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

Gold price sharply up after Goldilocks US jobs report

Gold price sharply up after "Goldilocks" U.S. jobs report

Gold and silver prices are sharply higher in early U.S. trading Friday, boosted by a U.S. jobs report that landed in the sweet spot of marketplace expectations for the report. Silver prices notched a three-week high. Strong gains in crude oil prices and a weaker U.S. dollar index are also bullish outside market forces for the metals on this day. Short covering by futures traders is featured in both precious metals markets to end the trading week. December gold was last up $28.40 at $1,659.60 and December silver was up $0.785 at $20.22.

The just-released monthly U.S. employment report for October from the Labor Department showed the key non-farm payrolls number up 261,000, which was above the expected rise of 205,000 and compares to the gain of 263,000 seen in the September report. Gold prices added to their solid overnight gains after the release of the report, as analysis are saying this is a Goldilocks report that is "not too hot and not too cold"—meaning it is not too strong to prompt the Federal Reserve to become more aggressive in tightening its monetary policy, nor is it too weak to cause more concern about a U.S. economic recession.

Global stock markets were mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are headed for higher openings when the New York day session begins, on corrective bounces from the selling pressure seen the past three sessions, and on the U.S. job report numbers landing in the "sweet spot" of the marketplace expectations.

In overnight news, the Euro zone September producer price index came in at up 41.9%, year-on-year, which was near expectations. Soaring energy costs in Europe are driving the PPI sharply up.

Gold price to trade at $1,700 next year as Fed, dollar outlooks shift, says Capital Economics

The silver market bulls have outperformed gold bulls recently. One reason may be rising demand for India. Broker SP Angel today said in an email dispatch: "Silver India's insatiable appetite for silver eats into global warehouse inventories. Analysts expect Indian silver consumption to haveincreased over 80% this year. Indian silver buying was hit hard over the two covid years but 2022 purchases have seen a major jump in demand. Traders are reporting London and Hong Kong warehouse inventory levels, as pent-up demand feeds into the market."

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index lower on a corrective pullback from strong gains Thursday. Nymex crude oil prices are sharply higher and trading around $91.50 a barrel. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note is yielding around 4.2%.

Other U.S. economic data due for release Friday includes the global services purchasing managers' index.

.]

Technically, the gold futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,700.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,600.00. First resistance is seen at this week's high of $1,673.10 and then at $1,679.40. First support is seen at $1,650.00 and then at the overnight low of $1,631.10. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0

The silver bulls have regained the overall near-term technical advantage. A choppy uptrend is in place on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the October high of $21.31. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $18.00. First resistance is seen at $20.50 and then at $21.00. Next support is seen at $20.00 and then at the overnight low of $19.425. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

Geomarketing: The Future of Marketing and Advertising

Geomarketing: The Future of Marketing and Advertising

MARKETHIVE

Introduction

Geomarketing is a new way of marketing and advertising your business. It uses data, tools, and technology to help you better reach your customers and potential customers based on their location. Geomarketing helps improve customer-company interactions by providing information about them such as how often they visit or spend money at your location. It can also be used to find new ways to advertise in local areas or even draw attention from nearby stores that sell similar products.

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

What is geomarketing?

Geomarketing is a way to use data and tools to better connect with your customers. It's the process of using data to understand where your customers are and how you can reach them. By pairing geolocation with a business's existing marketing efforts, geomarketing can help increase customer retention and spur new growth for both brick-and-mortar businesses and online retailers alike.

Geomarketing solutions are now available to small businesses.

Geomarketing solutions are now available to small businesses. Geomarketing is a great way to connect with customers and promote your products, services, and brand. Geomarketing solutions are affordable for small businesses.

There are many ways that geomarketing can help you reach your target audience, including:

  • Using local search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to promote your business online through search engines like Google or Yahoo!

  • Promoting online reviews of your products or services on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor

  • Advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter

The future of geomarketing.

Geomarketing is a powerful tool for businesses to use to gain insight into their customers and their behavior. Companies can use geomarketing to improve their business in a variety of ways, including:

  • Improve their understanding of customer behavior by using data on location, device type, browsing patterns, and more.

  • Find new opportunities for growth by targeting customers in under-served areas or markets that have potential for growth.

  • Increase sales by marketing products where customers are already spending money (e.g., direct mail).

Geomarketing makes use of data and tools to better connect with your customers.

Geomarketing is a way to reach customers based on their location. It uses data and tools to better connect with your customers, allowing for more relevant advertising that increases sales.

Think about it like this: if you’re selling shoes in Chicago, you want ads to show up when people are looking at their phones while walking down Michigan Avenue—not when they’re sitting in an office building on the other side of town. Geomarketing uses data from GPS-enabled devices like smartphones and tablets to determine where customers are located so that advertisers can send them ads based on where those people are at any given moment.

How Geomarketing has evolved

  • Geomarketing is the use of location data to improve marketing and advertising

  • Geomarketing is a subset of geo-targeting, which means it relies on information about where people are physically located. It's a form of data analytics that helps businesses target their products and services at specific groups or individuals. For example, you might use geomarketing if you wanted to advertise swimsuits in Miami during winter or sell snowshoes in Hawaii during summertime.

  • Geomarketing has been around for a long time, but only recently has it become more accurate thanks to advancements in technology such as GPS-enabled smartphones, big data processing tools like Hadoop, cloud computing resources like Amazon Web Services (AWS), and visualizations such as Google Maps Engine

The Benefits of Geomarketing,

Geomarketing is based on the power of location data. By leveraging this information, geomarketers are able to put the right message in front of the right customer at the right time. This makes it a great way to target customers and improve conversion rates.

Future of geomarketing and how to stay current with trends and technologies

Geomarketing is a powerful tool that can be used to improve business performance. But it’s not necessarily a new concept—the idea of geomarketing has been around for many years. In fact, the first known use of geo-targeted advertisements was in 1887 by an English shoe shop owner who put up signs on lamp posts near train stations and other places where people would see them.

As digital marketing continues to grow and evolve, geomarketing will become even more popular as marketers realize how they can reach their customers where they are—and with more targeted ads than ever before! But keep in mind that it isn't just about knowing how many users are seeing your ad or how far away they live from you; it also means understanding why these users are visiting certain locations at specific times (and what types of businesses are located there).

Conclusion

Geomarketing is one of the fastest-growing areas of marketing. In fact, some estimates suggest that it will grow to a billion-dollar industry by. The technology behind geomarketing makes this possible because it can help you target customers based on their physical locations rather than just online behavior or demographics alone. That means you can reach more people with less effort and spend less money doing so!

Get 10% off Made in the USA candy from Old Time Candy + Free Shipping On Orders Over $250 In The Continental U.S. At OldTimeCandy.com!

Tim Moseley

How to Increase Website Traffic with Automation Tools

How to Increase Website Traffic with Automation Tools

markethive

Introduction

Automation has become an increasingly popular way to manage social media and your blog. Automating the process of sharing posts, scheduling content, and engaging with your audience can save you time so you can focus on other areas of your business. In this article, we'll discuss how automation works and how to use it effectively for your blog. We'll also talk about some tools that make this possible.

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

What is automation?

Automation is a tool that allows you to schedule your posts for the future. For example, if you want to share an article at 3:00 p.m. every weekday, automation can make it happen without having to manually post every day at 3:00 p.m., and without having to worry about forgetting or missing a post here or there.

Automation can also help manage your social media presence more efficiently, saving you time that can be spent elsewhere on tasks such as engagement with readers or growing your following on Pinterest and YouTube.

Automation tools

In this section, we'll look at how you can use automation tools to increase your website traffic.

Automation tools are software programs that automate certain tasks on your blog. These tasks include the publishing of new blog posts, sending out email notifications, or posting tweets and Facebook updates automatically when you publish a new article. There are many different tools available for automating your website but some of my favorites include:

  • Social Warfare (free) – A social media management plugin that allows you to schedule posts on all major networks including Facebook and Twitter as well as Google+ pages and LinkedIn profiles. You can also use it to create custom tabs that show up next to your content (including contact details) so that readers can easily connect with you after reading an article or watching a video. Social Warfare integrates nicely with other WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO so if someone leaves comments on one of your articles then those comments will show up in the social tab too!

  • IFTTT (free) – If This Then That is an amazing tool that allows users to create automated "recipes" based off triggers from various services such as Gmail inboxes or weather reports from websites like Weather Underground. For example: if I receive an email from my wife saying "Hey honey let's go get ice cream!" then IFTTT could automatically send me a text message stating "I heard you wanted ice cream! So do I :)". Or another example would be if it's raining outside then send out a tweet reminding people not to forget their umbrellas before heading out into stormy weather 😉

Sked Social

Sked Social is a social media scheduling tool that allows you to schedule posts across multiple social media platforms. This tool is great for bloggers and social media marketers alike, as it helps you save time and money by scheduling your posts ahead of time. You can easily create an editorial calendar on Sked Social so that your team can stay updated with the latest content related to their niche.

You can also use this tool to plan out when each of your employees will publish their posts. This will help them avoid overlapping or double-booking themselves on any given day!

Kontentino

Kontentino is a social media scheduler that allows you to schedule posts to your blog and social media accounts. It is a paid tool and offers some of the most advanced features in this category such as alerts, analytics and even post templates.

Kontentino allows you to schedule posts for multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. You can also create different types of posts like:

  • Posts (text)

  • Links (with or without images)

  • Videos from YouTube or Vimeo (or other video services), which are uploaded directly into Kontentino with one click!

MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar is a tool that allows you to schedule your social media posts and blog posts in advance. You can use MeetEdgar to schedule your tweets, Facebook posts, and blog posts.

MeetEdgar has a free version and a paid version. The free version allows you to schedule up to 2 social media or blog posts per week with no limitations on the number of characters or images used in each post. The paid version gives you unlimited access to all features for $15/month (or $150/year).

PostPlanner

PostPlanner is a social media management tool that helps you plan and publish content across a number of platforms.

You can use PostPlanner to schedule posts, track performance, and monitor engagement and conversions.

PostPlanner’s software lets you easily create editorial calendars for your blog or business website so you can make sure everything is running smoothly on all fronts. It also offers analytics for each post to help you analyze its performance in terms of clicks, likes, and shares—and even gives suggestions on how to improve it before publishing again!

Blog2Social

Blog2Social is a tool that helps you automate the process of getting your blog posts out to social networks. It takes advantage of RSS feeds, so it's easy to get set up and use.

There are three main ways Blog2Social can help you increase traffic:

  • Schedule posts from your blog or website.

  • Create a custom feed for each network (or for just one social network). This way you don't have to go through all the hassle of setting up multiple accounts on every different platform; instead, you can just feed them into one account and schedule it all in one place.

  • Send web traffic from your website or blog directly back to itself. This lets people come back later when they see something interesting on Facebook or Twitter that links back to your site — they may even subscribe!

Hootsuite Pro

  • Hootsuite Pro is a social media management tool that allows you to schedule posts, track your performance, and monitor your brand mentions.

  • You can use Hootsuite to measure the impact of your social media efforts by tracking specific metrics like the number of new followers, clicks on links in your Twitter bio, and more.

  • The tool also allows you to schedule post reminders so you're always publishing content when it's best for attracting customers.

Automation can help you manage your social media presence more efficiently, saving you time that can be spent elsewhere.

Automation tools can help you manage your social media presence more efficiently, saving you time that can be spent elsewhere. Automation tools are also very useful for scheduling posts and engaging with your audience.

You can use automation to:

  • Schedule posts to various platforms on the same day or at different times, saving you the trouble of having to post them manually.

  • Automatically share content from other websites or blogs onto yours – this helps increase traffic on both sites due to cross-promotion.

  • Engage with followers more often by replying to comments and mentions in real-time (or near real-time), keeping conversations alive and making it easier for people who are interested in what you're saying or offering on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter but don’t have the time right now because they're busy working at their jobs instead!

How to set up an automated system for your blog

To set up an automated system for your blog, follow these steps:

  • Create a schedule for your blog

  • Create a workflow for your blog

  • Create a system for your social media

The benefits of automating your blog

Automating your blog can help you save time and focus on other aspects of your business. As the owner of a business, you may have many responsibilities that need to be completed daily. Automating tasks allows you to focus on other projects or spend more time with family. Social media management is one of those tasks which can be helped by automation tools, allowing for more efficiency and productivity throughout the day.

How to use the tools effectively in order to get results quickly

The best way to get the most out of your automated processes is by testing and measuring them. Don't expect results right away, but keep an eye on how often your posts are shared or clicked on each month. If you notice they're not performing as well as they could be, maybe you need to try a different tool or tweak your approach. Some tools work better than others for different types of blogs; some might require a lot more work than others just because they're so specific in their function.

Use automation tools together whenever possible, rather than separately—this helps ensure that all aspects of your social media presence are covered at once instead of only one or two aspects getting all the attention at once (and then little else). For example: if one tool does really well with Facebook posts but another tool does really well with Twitter posts but neither does very well for Pinterest pinning… perhaps it would be better to find someone who can do all three things rather than trying three different people who each specialize in just one thing!

Conclusion

Automation can be a powerful tool for any blogger. If you’re looking for a way to streamline your social media presence, these tools are an excellent place to start. They make it easier than ever before to schedule posts on multiple platforms at once and keep up with all of your social media accounts in one place.

Back to School Sale

Tim Moseley

Gold silver down amid strong greenback rising bond yields

Gold, silver down amid strong greenback, rising bond yields

Gold and silver prices are lower in midday U.S. trading Thursday, with gold hitting a six-week low in overnight dealings. Silver prices have rebounded well off daily lows. Very sharp gains in the U.S. dollar index and rising U.S. Treasury yields, along with lower crude oil prices, pressured the precious metals markets today. December gold was last down $22.20 at $1,627.80 and December silver was down $0.239 at $19.36.

A still-hawkish Federal Reserve is keeping the metals market bulls squelched. The Fed's Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement Wednesday afternoon initially was viewed as less hawkish. The U.S. central bank raised its main Fed funds rate by 0.75%, to 4.0%, as expected. The FOMC statement said the Fed will take into consideration the health of the U.S. economy after its recent "cumulative tightening." The markets initially read that statement as leaning less hawkish on U.S. monetary policy going forward. The U.S. dollar index sold off and U.S. Treasury yields dropped, while U.S. stock indexes and gold rallied. However, once Fed Chairman Powell started speaking at his press conference and took a still-hard line on the Fed's intent to keep raising rates to stop problematic price inflation, the aforementioned markets promptly reversed course. "Powell dropped the hammer," quipped one business TV anchor. Powell in his presser implied the Fed's terminal interest rate may have to rise higher than earlier Fed expectations—likely above 5%–and stay at that higher level for longer. Notions of a Fed pivot on its aggressive monetary policy tightening were dashed at Powell's presser. More hawkish central banks and in turn weaker economies also suggest less consumer and commercial demand for the metals.

Expect a '75 bps hike,' as Powell zeroes in on inflation – Chance Finucane

Global stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday. Risk-off attitudes are keener in the marketplace late this week.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index very sharply higher. Nymex crude oil prices are lower and trading around $89.00 a barrel. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note is yielding 4.149%.

Focus quickly turns to Friday's monthly U.S. employment report for October from the Labor Department. The key non-farm payrolls number is expected to come in at up 205,000, compared to a rise of 263,000 in the September report.

Technically, the gold futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a longer-term downtrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,700.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,600.00. First resistance is seen at today's high of $1,643.20 and then at $1,650.00. First support is seen at today's low of $1,618.30 and then at $1,600.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 1.0.

The silver bulls have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are still in a choppy two-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the October high of $21.31. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $18.00. First resistance is seen at $19.60 and then at this week's high of $20.11. Next support is seen at $19.00 and then at today's low of $18.805. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5.

December N.Y. copper closed down 385 points at 342.95 cents today. Prices closed near mid-range today. The copper bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, recent price action suggests a market bottom is in place. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at the September high of 369.25 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the September low of 324.30 cents. First resistance is seen at this week's high of 350.85 cents and then at the October high of 359.30 cents. First support is seen at this week's low of 336.15 and then at the October low of 330.30 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

Gold prices move near session highs as Federal Reserve raises interest rates 75 basis points

Gold prices move near session highs as Federal Reserve raises interest rates 75 basis points

The gold market is seeing some new buying momentum as the Federal Reserve looks to slightly adjust its aggressive monetary policy stance.

In a widely anticipated move, the Federal Reserve raised its Fed Funds rate by 75 basis points. This is the fourth consecutive supersized rate hike this year. While the central bank remains focused on bringing inflation down, it does appear to be adjusting its stance.

"The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time. In determining the pace of future increases in the target range, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.

Analysts and economists expected the Federal Reserve to signal a slowdown in its tightening cycle in December and through the early part of 2023

December gold futures last traded at $1,661.70 an ounce, up 0.77% on the day. "The market read that statement as leaning less hawkish on U.S. monetary policy going forward," said Jim Wyckoff, senior technical analyst at Kitco.com.

Katherine Judge, senior economist at CIBC, said that the more nuanced messaging in the statement gives the central bank a platform to slow the pace of rate hikes. However, she added that terminal rate expectations remain in place.

"Today's statement is still consistent with the median dot plot projections released back in September, which showed rates reaching 4.25-4.50% by year end (i.e. a further 50bp hike in December), and between 4.50-4.75% next year," she said in a note. "Our own forecast doesn't include that final 25bp hike in 2023, as we expect to see evidence that GDP and employment growth is slowing more than the Fed previously anticipated by then."

Some economists note that the Federal Reserve still sees resilient strength and high inflation in the economy. The Fed reiterated its stance that it is committed to brining inflation back down to its 2% objective.

"Recent indicators point to modest growth in spending and production. Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher food and energy prices, and broader price pressures," the statement said. "The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks."

Paul Ashworth, Chief North America Economist at Capital Economics, said that with interest rates in restrictive territory the U.S. central bank has room to slow the pace of its tightening.

“Barring another upside inflation surprise in the October and November CPI reports, which we can’t completely rule out, it looks like the Fed is laying the groundwork to shift down to a 50bp hike in December and, if we’re right that core inflation will start to show signs of slowing soon, a 25bp rate hike at the January meeting next year,” he said.

By Neils Christensen

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

Housing Crash Begins And It’s Worse Than You Think

Housing Crash Begins And It's Worse Than You Think

HOUSING CRASH

The U.S housing bubble has finally burst, and home prices are in free, fall with no floor in sight. After two years of stratospheric price appreciation, a major shift has begun, and at this point, homeowners are already seeing property values collapse at the fastest Pace. Since the Great Recession, this downturn is escalating much faster than experts anticipated, as mortgage rates surpass. The seven percent Mark and home sales continue to plunge all across the country.

 

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Given that the vast majority of markets are overvalued by 50 or more we're about to witness the worst housing crash of our lifetime and the consequences are gon na be brutal for the U.S economy, we have a lot to cover today, but before moving on, please support Our work with a thumbs up in this video and don't forget to subscribe. The housing market is one of the biggest segments of the U.S economy and the fact that there's a series of flashing red warning signs hitting the sector means that trouble is on the horizon. A massive downturn continues to pick up steam and the latest numbers are quite breathtaking.

 

Last week the National Association of home builders reported that slumped home construction. Subtracted 1.37 percentage points from the. U S, GDP in the third quarter, which has represented the biggest housing contraction since 2007. At the same time, mortgage purchase applications plunged by 41.

 

on a year-over-year basis. Total mortgage applications are now lower than at any point during the Great Recession. Home sales are also cratering in September. They decline for the eighth month in a row in the west. Sales dropped the most dramatic sinking, 31.

 

percent since last year in the Northeast home. Sales have dropped 18.7 from a year ago and they fell 19.7 in the Midwest and 23 8 percent in the South, meanwhile, pending home sales, declined by a staggering 35 Nationwide this month, which is the biggest drop in at least seven years. All of that is thanks to the highest mortgage rate since 2002.

 

This month they had a new high of 7.16. According to data from The Mortgage Bankers Association that suggests that housing will continue to become less affordable, even if prices keep going down over the past three months, home prices have been dropping by nearly two percent per month. The fastest pace of home price declines recorded since the Great Recession in some Markets, its prices are actually collapsing almost seven times faster than the national average. For instance, new numbers compiled by Black Knight show that in September, prices fell by 13 in San Jose in San Francisco.

 

They went down by 10.8 percent in Seattle, they slipped by 9.9 percent, and more than one in five homes up for sale had a price drop. Last month, a record rate since Redfin began keeping track in 2012. On the flip side, they're still up 4.

 

percent in the past six months, 13.1 percent over the past year, and 42.2 percent since the beginning of the Health crisis, and the Market's biggest irony right now is the fact that even as the price of housing is steadily Falling the cost of housing is still climbing to new highs. Axios, analysts estimate that if someone had bought a Canadian-priced home in September rather than June, they would have paid 5.1 percent less for the house, approximately four twenty-seven thousand, rather than four hundred fifty thousand dollars, but assuming a 20 down payment and a 30-year mortgage.

 

That person would face monthly mortgage payments, almost 10 percent higher at two thousand two hundred and sixty dollars per month. They explained the firm noted that the monthly principal and interest mortgage payment on the median-priced home is up nine hundred and thirty dollars from a year ago. That is a painful 73 increase. In some cases, current mortgage rates are adding an extra one thousand eight hundred dollars to a mortgage payment. It's looking like a 4 500 mortgage payment for the typical home in San Diego.

 

After putting twenty percent down, that's a lot of money. Frankly, that's more than what a lot of people in San Diego are even paying for rent. So that's the biggest hurdle highlighted Jeff Tucker, an economist with Zillow. So when you factor in soaring mortgage rates along with elevated home prices and wages that aren't increasing as fast buying a home is less affordable now than it has been in decades. The expert added the consensus in the industry right now is that it's very unlikely that the cost of purchasing a home will return to the normal level of affordability anytime soon, today, the average American family would need to spend 30 2 percent of their income on monthly mortgage payments at current rates, which means that the Market's affordability Outlook remains bleak.

 

Those who work in the mortgage industry are going to feel a tremendous amount of pain in the months ahead. According to the chief Economist at Redfin, the market is facing the most significant slowdown since the last Bubble Burst. This is the sharpest turn in the housing market. Since the housing market crash in 2008 said Daryl Fairweather many people still have fresh in their minds. The pain.

 

Our society went through in 2008. Back then, National property values fell by 27 from Peak to trough. Although some markets have seen much steeper losses of up to 58 percent this time around property values are set to sink even deeper. There was massive overheating in the housing market in 2021 through this spring that pushed prices higher than what the fundamentals would support now, they're. Finally, coming down Tucker continued for affordability to return to normal levels, home prices would have to lose roughly 92 percent in value to come back to where the value of the typical home was in the fall of 2020.

 

That is without adding mortgage rates to the equation. A Wall Street Economist recently estimated that a 20 drop would occur in the very first stage of this new bubble collapse that will extend through the end of 2022 and from that point on, they would continue to Free Fall as tumbling demand for homes admits sharply Rising. Mortgage rates add immense pressure on home prices, says Ian Shepardson, Chief Economist, with Pantheon macroeconomics. We expect home sales to keep falling in 2023. By early next year, sales will have fallen to the incompressible minimum level, where the only people moving home are those with no choice.

 

Due to job or family circumstances, discretionary buyers a disappearing rapidly in the face to the near 400 basis, point increase in rates over the past year. He said the first price plunge will be just the beginning. Shepherdson continued. The bad news is that prices have much further to fall before the market adjusts fully to the collapse in demand. He explained.

 

Furthermore, in 2008 the housing bubble affected only half of the U.S states. Today, Moody's data shows that, from the nation's 322, Regional Housing markets, 100 percent will see a peak-to-trough home price decline with some of the most overvalued, such as Boise, Idaho, at risk of crashing by 77 percent. The company also predicted that the unemployment rate goes above six percent. The first round of home price declines will be much greater than Shepherdson's current forecast falling between 25 to 30 percent.

 

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Considering that the mortgage rates are expected to continue to see tightening credit conditions for millions of U.S businesses even further, it's only a matter of time before Mass layouts start being announced. Nar Chief Economist Lawrence Young warned that seven percent mortgage rates are the new normal for buyers until the economy begins to improve rates could reach 8.5 percent, which would be another big shock to the market. Nar Chief Economist Lawrence Young, told a group of Real Estate Investors last week.

 

Other analysts predict mortgage rates could hit double digits in the months ahead as the FED desperately attempts to get inflation back under control. It was The fed's Reckless Behavior that created this horrifying inflation spiral and fueled the growth of the housing bubble in the first place now they're trying to fix one crisis by causing another decision to continue hiking interest rates in one of the most aggressive tightening Cycles. In decades is going to spark an unprecedented financial and economic disaster in the United States. In a recent interview with CNBC billionaire Barry, sternlick told the public to brace for a major housing market crash and a serious recession. The economy is breaking hard.

 

The chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group said If the Fed keeps this up, they're going to have a serious recession and people will lose their jobs. He had it. This is neither a seller's nor a buyer's market. It's an environment where everyone loses arky's financial analyst Bill, halter, alerting us that we could soon see a crash that'll make previous crashes blush the action you're seeing now is exactly what you saw in 1987. This is what happens prior to crashes.

 

It's massive volatility, both ways. People are losing both ways. Then the whole floor gives way, and that's where we are. We are right on the doorstep of a crash that will make previous crashes blush. Many people are going to lose everything overnight.

 

All indicators show that this is just the beginning of a nightmarish crisis, and this new crash is going to be way more devastating than what we experienced back in 2008. Very rough weather is headed our way, and everyone is starting to feel that things are about to get really ugly.

Add Julia Hair To Homescreen

Tim Moseley

Walmart Reports Major Shortages As Fears Of Hard Times Rising

Walmart Reports Major Shortages As Fears Of Hard Times Rising

BY EPIC ECONOMIST

The foreign supply chain is far more chaotic than most people can imagine. Not even the world's largest retailer is immune to the shortages and disruptions that have been plaguing U.S businesses in recent years, but given its market dominance in its vast network of suppliers, the fact that empty shelves can still be seen across many of its stores is quite Alarming, especially at a time when pretty much, everyone in the industry is saying that Food Supplies are going to get increasingly tighter in the months ahead, even though its Executives say that the company is actually overloaded with too much stuff. Shoppers tell a different story. Many customers have recently reported on social media what they're, seeing every time they go.

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

Grocery shopping at Walmart, plenty of stock outages, bare aisles, and Scattered merchandise all around the superstore, and if you notice that your local Walmart was closed during Thanksgiving well, you'll probably have to get used to it. Ceo John Furnas is that opening stores during national celebrations is a thing of the past and while he justified the temporary shutdown by saying that employees deserve to spend the day with their loved ones, we'll know that the retail Giant's workplace policies are not that amicable. Thanksgiving is typically one of the days with the highest sale volumes of the year for retailers and experts. Note that Walmart's move may actually be a strategy to ensure inventory for a long, as more shortages are expected to emerge by Christmas, the company's latest woes might be a hint of what the entire sector will be facing soon and if that's really the case, we all should Start worrying: we have a lot to discuss today, but before moving on, please support our work with a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe after the pandemic broke the complex where the tide Supply chains together, things were never the same again, although authorities in the media Kept insisting that shortages would soon be gone they're still here, and they continue to impact our everyday lives. Even Walmart, the seemingly unshakable retail giant, is reporting growing supply, chain challenges, and customers continue to complain about not being able to find the products that they want and need if conditions are looking bad for the superstore chain.

 

What is the outlook for companies that are far smaller, far weaker, and have significantly fewer resources? We'll probably learn the answer to that over the next few months, with the holidays approaching Walmart continues to be a One-Stop shop for many people. Suiting customers' needs for clothing appliances, entertainment devices, and groceries. However, in many recent Reddit threads, Shoppers have been voicing concerns over growing food shortages in their Walmart stores, especially for Frozen Goods, fresh produce meats, and, more recently, many people reporting that they can't find chicken anymore. At the store, countless commentators noted that their local Walmarts had either run out of chicken or were about to perhaps due to the scale of its sales volume.

 

Walmart is the first major retailer to experience the impact of the bird flu pandemic on its food supply chain. One commenter asked: are people hoarding or is there a production shortage? One Restaurant owner wrote that right now it's cheaper to buy the parts than whole chickens, so owners are buying all chicken parts they can find. Meanwhile, a worker of the superstore chain said the store. I work at looks like this too we're barely getting any chicken at all, maybe a day's worth we get per truck in an email sent to Thrillist.

 

The company confirmed that there is a chicken shortage in their U.S stores, but they noted that Walmart is not the only one facing it. A representative for the retailer wrote. This is not just an issue isolated to Walmart it's affecting every chain. It's an industry issue.

 

He said with the worst outbreak of Avian Influenza, killing more than 40 million Birds, supplies of eggs, poultry and turkey have been unusually low over the past six weeks. It's safe to say that shortages were not the only disturbing thing customers have seen at the store lately. Even though the retailer is known for its cheap prices and good deals, those who were buying for Thanksgiving at Walmart were probably shocked to see the turkey prices were 109 more than they were last year, jumping from 11.18 in 2021 to 24.56 this year.

 

According to a Business Insider report, poultry industry, expert, Thomas Elam, said, customers should expect record prices until the end of the year. Christmas will be no different. He said that major impacts on poultry Ag and turkey production and impacts on Broiler meat production, Elam added and we've had general price inflation in wages and salaries, energy and all of those are impacting our retail food sectors. We are working hard with our suppliers to increase inventory. The Walmart spokesperson continued, but the truth is that when an industry Titan that has thrived even during the darkest moments of the pandemic, is still struggling to ramp up its inventory of everyday necessities and to keep stores shells start, then you know things are really bad.

 

That's what supermarket, gurus Phil Lampert noted in a recent interview. In fact, the expert argued that Walmart's decision to close all of its doors during one of the busiest shopping days of the year seems more like a strategy to hold on to its holiday inventory. For longer. Last month, CEO John Ferner announced that stores would stay closed during Thanksgiving, stating that open stores during national celebrations are a thing of the past and that all of our Associates will be able to spend time with their loved ones. This year.

 

On the other hand, lemput noted that the company is trying to reduce costs wherever they can and by shuddering stores, temporarily. They wouldn't have to pay their employees any extra money for working on the holiday with customers paying more for groceries and fuel. The department store saw a decrease in sales of general merchandise this year right now, the retailer is dealing with a massive inventory: glut of Home Goods, appliances, electronics, and other big-ticket items, while the grocery section, which accounts for 60 percent of its sales, is seeing major Inventory holes, the excess supply of products that aren't selling and the shortfall of products that are in high demand, let the company's profit to Collapse by 24. In the first quarter alone and after a disappointing earnings report, its stock shares plunged by 10 percent in a single day. The imbalances in Walmart's supply chain will take several quarters to be sorted out, says president Doug McMillan in September.

 

He said that supply chain problems and inventory shortages are as Stark as he can remember in his 30 years in retail. He also expressed concern about the impact of rising prices on U S, households, I'm concerned about the inflation rate, and should it stay at this level or go up and be there for a sustained period of time? I think that has a negative impact on too many families. Mcmillan said, at the end of the day, inflation needs to come down stress Prime Yara, a retail analyst with the financial services firm, Edward Jones, with inflation as high as it is lower-income families can't afford the general merchandise. Moreover, the USDA says food prices are about to get even higher, so the retailers, sales, and profit Outlook is being hit on all fronts.

 

During last year's holiday season, Walmart reported a record-breaking sales growth of 15.1 percent. That's why this year's forecast of a mere four percent growth in holiday sales highlights the chain's latest struggles. Moreover, MacMillan noted that 2022 supply chain costs were more than 400 million dollars higher than anticipated. The company also took a one billion dollar hit on its operating income, and now executives are scrambling to stabilize the business.

 

However, the problems Walmart is facing in 2022 are not new. Last year, former Walmart president and CEO Bill Simon, said that the supply chain was a mess from start to finish. I've never seen it like this, and I don't really think anybody living in this country has. I mean this is really unprecedented. There's a shortage of Labor in our distribution system and there's a shortage of people to put items on the Shelf.

 

Simon told Fox Business according to a new story in Bloomberg, the company's Inventory management practices actually have a lot of room for improvement. Not only are its sales dramatically slowing but they're having to hire Consultants to figure out why they're stocking up so many of the wrong products. Many products run out quickly and the new stuff doesn't come in Simon, Says, adding that self-inflicted wounds were Walmart's biggest risk. A representative tried to hush the story about an anonymous source who noted that, after a meeting with Executives, they all seemed worried about the ongoing disruptions in the process of replenishing merchandise, to keep up with the cost of demand and changing season. One Californian Walmart, Supercenter manager, who preferred not to reveal their name, said that Simon's comments were dead on.

 

There are gaps where merchandise is missing, we're not talking about a couple of empty shells. This is throughout the store in every store. Some places. Look like they're going out of business. The manager who's worked at Walmart for nine years highlighted my camera bar hasn't had cameras since early January.

 

They let the merchandise phase out, but nothing new comes in to replace them. We're supposed to have 72 cameras, but we maybe have 12 What is a customer supposed to buy the soul set at this point, it's clear that cameras are the least of their problems, the deeper we look, the more Walmart's issues rise to the surface from the elephant in the room that nobody really wants to talk about is the fact that our supply chains will never fully return to the way they were in 2019, too much has changed and if the retail giant is in travel, that means everyone else is also experiencing volatility in the supply chain. These Trends will continue to accelerate in the near future, and many other retailers will be facing similar challenges or worse. A consumer recession is now Brewing, financially squeezed U.S families can't afford to spend at the same pace they've been doing over the past couple of years, given that they're grappling with the most painful cost of living crisis in a generation and as consumers deal with the impact of Higher prices, retailers continue to see their sales dropping and those that are on the edge may fall off of it way before people notice.

Get Ready for Holiday Sale

Tim Moseley

Gold silver gain on ideas of better future demand from China

Gold, silver gain on ideas of better future demand from China

Gold and silver prices are higher in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, but down from daily highs as the U.S. dollar index has rebounded from solid early losses. Falling U.S. Treasury yields on this day are supporting the precious metals markets. Some potentially positive news coming out of China is also working in favor of the metals market bulls. December gold was last up $8.00 at $1,648.50 and December silver was up $0.556 at $19.67.

Global stock and commodity markets were buoyed today by upbeat reports coming out of China. China stock markets rallied Tuesday on rumors the Chinese government has a plan to phase out its "zero covid" policies by as soon as March. China stock prices did back off their highs on reports Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian said he is not aware of the matter. China is the world's second-largest economy and if it gets rolling again, such would be significantly bullish on the demand front for commodities, including gold and silver.

Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight. U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday on profit taking. Stock traders are done with the historically rocky months of September and October, after having a very good October, with near-term price uptrends in place on the daily charts for the indexes.

In other overnight news, Australia's central bank raised one of its main interest rates by 0.25%.

The World Gold Council has reportedly seen substantial, unreported buying of the yellow metal, as central bank bullion purchases hit a record in the third quarter. Reports said 400 metric tons of gold were bought by central banks last quarter, pushing purchases up to their highest since 1967. "Meantime, ETF selling amid soaring U.S. real yields has pushed gold prices lower, while central bankers have been meeting depressed prices with open arms," said broker SP Angel in an email dispatch Tuesday morning. The WGC reports Turkey and Qatar both ramped up purchases, with China and Russia also expected to be partaking, although their purchases are not reported, said the broker.

Gold demand hits pre-pandemic levels, increasing 28% in the third quarter despite dismal investor interest – World Gold Council

Traders are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that begins Tuesday morning and ends Wednesday afternoon with a statement and a press conference from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Most expect the FOMC to raise the Fed funds rate by another 0.75%. Traders and investors also want to see what comments the FOMC and Powell make regarding the future path of U.S. monetary policy—specifically, when the Fed will back off the accelerator on aggressively raising interest rates.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly up. Nymex crude oil prices are higher and trading around $88.25 a barrel. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note is yielding 4.044%.

Technically, the gold futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are still in a longer-term downtrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,700.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,600.00. First resistance is seen at today's high of $1,660.30 and then at $1,670.90. First support is seen at today's low of $1,633.60 and then at the October low of $1,641.20. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.5.

December silver futures prices hit a three-week high today. The silver bulls have gained the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are now in a two-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the October high of $21.31. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $18.00. First resistance is seen at today's high of $20.04 and then at $20.50. Next support is seen at $19.50 and then at today's low of $19.085. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5.

December N.Y. copper closed up 980 points at 347.30 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session high today. The copper bears still have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, recent price action suggests a market bottom is in place. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at the September high of 369.25 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the September low of 324.30 cents. First resistance is seen at today's high of 350.15 cents and then at the October high of 359.30 cents. First support is seen at this week's low of 336.15 and then at the October low of 330.30 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

Wars Asset Stripping and The Real War

Wars, Asset Stripping and The Real World War

With rumors of World War III and nuclear war abounding in the mainstream news, especially in the wake of the Nord Stream enquiry, this article explores the concept of wars, and looks at how asset stripping suggests that the real war lies elsewhere.  

Most importantly it shares how you can play your part in bringing an end to the wars. It is hard to do justice to this topic in one article so as with all articles of this nature, please use it as a point of reference for your own further investigation and research.

Definitions

When you think of a war what is the first thing that comes to your mind, and how would you define a war? A working definition might be that a war is something that happens between 2 countries or more. The Vietnam War, The Iraq War, and most recently Russia v Ukraine are examples of wars. However in examining the roots of war I would like to suggest another angle from which to view it, which starts within an individual.

If you agree with the natural law of cause and effect, you would appreciate that all wars start as a thought within a person, and that the manifestation is an effect of that cause, as it takes shape and materializes, whether through an individual or a collective group of people buying into the idea.

In simple terms a war is the result of a lack of capacity to resolve conflicts in a peaceable way, such that they get displaced onto people, things and nations, causing harm and loss of life and/or possessions.

Most if not all wars carry the themes of the control of money and possessions in their wake, whether it be in the name of religion or otherwise. You may think that the government funds the wars, but it is ultimately borne by we the people through multiple taxation, and the misappropriation of that money by the government in so doing. Wars can come in many forms and sizes. Here are some examples.

Cold War

A Cold War is defined online as ‘a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare.’

Proxy War

According to the online oxford dictionary the definition of a war is one that is ‘instigated by a major power which does not itself become involved’ In other words someone else is doing their bidding knowingly or unknowingly. The Russia Ukraine war has been posited as an example of a proxy war. Take a listen to this exposition by Aaron Mate on the Russell Brand Show.

Guerilla Warfare

This is the description given to a less common war where a small group of people are up against a bigger group. It is usually revolutionary in nature against occupying forces or armies.

It is also highly tactical due to the difference in size of the two opposing factions. In fact Lao Tzu covered such tactics in his book The Art of War. 

 “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

The above is one example of how, deception and propaganda are tactics used to defeat the enemy.

War Re-examined

While it may seem that each government involved in war puts up the funding for their country, this idea has been challenged across history, with a different assertion, which carries the tones of the mix of a cold war, a proxy war scenario, and guerilla warfare throughout.

9/11 Revisited

You may be able to recall quite vividly your whereabouts on the day the events of 9/11 hit the news. I know I did. Like many I watched the horror events unfold as they were reported on the news media, along with the swift verdict of a terrorist attack as the conclusion.

Image Source: New York Times

I went along with that at first because by all appearances it seemed that way. It was only as the dust settled on the event that certain disparities became evident that went beyond government incompetence. Some of those disparities included:

  • The premature contamination of a crime scene
  • The quick dismissal of the suggestion that what was witnessed was akin to a controlled demolition
  • The BBC news reporting the collapse of one of the buildings before it actually happened
  • The discovery of relatively untainted passports in the molten ash

Over time more of the American people have concluded that they have been misled by their government. The fast gaining view is that 9/11 was a false flag which saw The Patriot Act come into play, allowing the government to increase surveillance on its people. Some have gone further to suggest that the removal of trillions of dollars and gold was part of the agenda for which a diversion was needed.

Covid – 2019 Revisited

There are some striking parallels between 9/11 and the so-called CoVid outbreak. Imagine you are in a theater watching a production when somebody stands up and shouts ‘fire’. The immediate reaction is that everyone runs for the exit. There is no time for analysis at that point. Benefit of the doubt is given.

Then imagine that you turn around from a distance, and do not see the gathering smoke and flames which usually accompanies an event? Like 9/11 many things did not add up. At first most people ran for cover and did as they were told. When the figure slipped in that this had a 99.9% approximate recovery rate, the wheels that validated this as a pandemic started to come off the proverbial wagon.

That does not sound like the figures which equate to a pandemic, unless you focus on the number of cases, and then amplify those figures by labeling non related deaths as CovidThe implosion gathered pace when the PCR test was stopped in December 2021 on the grounds that it was inaccurate. Even though Chris Whitty [UK] heralded this as no more than the common cold back in March 2020, and Bill Gates recently and belatedly backed that up, the desired effect had gripped much of the population. 

They had been conditioned to believe what the government told them without question. Many complied with the jab recommendations out of trust, and any that questioned or decided otherwise were labelled as conspiracy theorists and potential murderers. 

If we venture beyond the obvious matters of lockdown, marketing of jabs and silencing of those who questioned the narrative, there was the incredible line of inquiry about patents discussed by David Martin. David Martin worked in national intelligence as an analyst studying linguistic genomics and exposed one of the biggest tax fraud operations in America.

His scrutiny of patents and how they relate to certain diseases was an education to say the least, and added more fuel to the fire of the efficacy of the narrative we were sold. Note in the documentary, his comment about coronavirus being deemed to be an easily exploitable mechanism for ‘good and ill’.

The question had been posed. How can you have a patent for a naturally occurring virus such as the novel coronavirus? Either the patent is illegal or the virus is man made.

There’s a saying that in a sea of corruption the truth takes a while to surface, and certainly serious questions are arising as time goes with this. It is notable that a war has broken out between Ukraine and Russia, at a time when declassified documents were evidencing gain of function studies with viruses. 

Image Source: Kanekoa Substack

The list of jab injuries surpasses what has gone before, yet calls to stop the experimentation have gone unheeded. In the past they would have been stopped. This is remarkable given that it is now known that Pfizer blanked many of their documents relating to the experimentation and have also said they did not know before they went to market if their jabs would prevent the virus.

Their argument of course is that they needed to act quickly, which only begs the question as to why they did not at least exhaust the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as examples of effective and safe medicine against viruses. So why not allow people to make an informed choice, rather than coerce them into taking the jabs or villifying them if they objected and expressed reservation? This is especially relevant given that they have never isolated and identified this ‘novel’ virus, as verified through Freedom of Information Act requests. 

The argument now gathering momentum is that there was an orchestrated attempt to crash the economy, as the nations were already bankrupt, in order to introduce the CBDC, which would undergird the New World Order, and essentially control the populace, a bit like the social credit system in China. The latest UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has wasted no time announcing CBDC as the intended direction.

The same question arises here as for 9/11. If we are being misled, why would the powers that be go to such lengths and turn on their own to do this?  Former technical director of NASA Chief Bill Binney offers an inside view and explanation with reference to surveillance as it relates to population control, and totalitarianism.

Another clue that leaves an enduring trail is the assertion that the banking cartel funds both sides of the war. The obvious references are the Rockefellers and Rothschilds. Here is what David Rockefeller said before 1981 when he was Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank.

“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nation will accept the New World Order.” 

Is it a surprise to learn of John D Rockefeller’s controlling influence in media, money, education, health and politics, and that he was dubbed the founder of the pharmaceutical industry? Is it a wonder that medical error is the third leading cause of death in America with such influence behind the scenes?

So the concept of crisis is a core part of their strategy, and it goes back beyond the era of the Rockefellers, although they seem to turn up in a lot of places. This money masters article traces the history and interface between politics and banking and is well worth a watch to understand the context on which the assertion is made, namely that bankers rule the world and are the true perpetrators of such global events.

If this assertion is true that means most if not all wars are illegitimate if not unlawful. It also means that those funding the wars in this manner create and drive the narrative. What cannot be disputed is that wars reduce populations and leave massive debt, and ultimately it is we the people who pick up the bill indirectly through multiple taxation. Whilst I do not mind paying taxes to build my community and country I do mind paying taxes to fund illegitimate and unlawful wars.

Now in a genuine war you might expect deception and manipulation of information in order to defeat the enemy, as Lao Tzu alludes to in his tactics of war. However, when this strategy is turned against innocent people who fund their government believing that they are using those resources on their behalf to add to the quality of life, this becomes a different matter altogether.

As long as humanity remains ignorant to this the same few will just keep rinsing and repeating their agenda. When they don’t bother to hide their intentions you can glean from this that this is the acid test of whether their planned conditioning of the people through mass media and abuse of their status has succeeded.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false."  – William J. Casey, CIA Director (1981).

The Real War

Some have described the real ongoing war as one based on religion or race, and while this may have merit, the concept of asset stripping carries a greater clue and broader scope as to the nature of the real war in play.

Asset Stripping and War

One of the dictionary definitions for asset stripping is as follows:

‘the practice of taking over a company in financial difficulties and selling each of its assets separately at a profit without regard for the company's future.’

Now if you apply that definition to the well known true story of the confiscation of gold from the people in 1933 when America went bankrupt, it seems that the definition was flipped in favor of the ones experiencing ‘financial difficulty’ in the form of bankruptcy. 

They, the government, were able to strip the people of their hard earned money through an executive order, so that they could continue to operate in business. They managed to convince the people that the ownership of gold was hurting the economy, and most bought into it through belief or fear or both. 

The abuse of power led to the selling of a false narrative, which enabled them to profit from the gold they confiscated, while pushing the people into further debt and enslavement. This game of smoke and mirrors has been played for so long, that they do not bother to hide it anymore, leaning instead on the ignorance and conditioning of the people so they can openly pillage them.

Image Source: Thesaurus.Plus

Asset stripping can take many forms. Since 2020, here in the UK certain bills have been passed through parliament by decree, which further restricts privacy and freedom of choice.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 –  this allows you to be medically detained and injected against your will if you are suspected to be infected.

The Telecommunications Leasehold Act 2021 – applies to leasehold properties where access can be gained to install communication transmitters, receivers including 5G masts without needing the permission of the landlord.

Financial Services Act 2021 – allowing funds to be removed automatically from your account.

Data is an inherent theme and of itself another asset being stripped. This got highlighted in the case of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Two years ago the UK government under Boris Johnson intimated that they cannot guarantee they would not sell off the NHS and share our health data with external third parties.

Coming up in the UK is the move to remove Human Rights with the abolishment of peaceful protest, as one example. Also unfolding under the guise of climate change are climate lockdowns. In Kent and Oxford you can now be fined for driving outside of your zone for more than 15 minutes.

Over in the Netherlands there is a concerted targeting and shutting down of farmers by the government, in the name of climate change. It is not that there are no issues regarding health and climate, yet much of what we are told through the media relies on the controlling influence, the motive and the agenda of those invoking their powers.

So far it appears that at the very least there is an overreach and disproportionate attention given to these matters which are not advancing humanity in general, but are stealing from them in a dystopian fashion.

Is it possible therefore, that 9/11, Covid 19, Ukraine v Russia, are examples of  distractions or trojan horses to the agenda of a new world order, using false narratives to bring in surveillance technologies such as vaccine passports and control via climate agenda restrictions. 

It seems that way, in which case the objective is human enslavement and the reduction of the world’s population. Apart from Bill Gates's open admission of a depopulation agenda, the biggest indicator yet that this is true is the censorship on anyone who questions the established narrative. If you fit that profile as someone with a free thinking mind who welcomes debate and discussion, you are now an enemy of that state, where the real war is the globalists versus we the people.

Under the guise of proxy wars, guerilla wars and cold wars, our freedom of speech, health, travel and general liberty is being eroded in a tactical masterclass, with the latest lockdown taking the form of climate agenda restrictions. 

The weapons may be different, whether it be propaganda, mind control, biowarfare or lately, direct energy weapons to fuel the climate agenda. The studies of fires in California lend weight to the use of direct energy weapons to convey a climate emergency. 

The nature of the war may seem unconventional and insidious, but it is very real. What will they resort to next? Will they use holographic technology as expanded in Project Bluebeam, to simulate an alien invasion so they can secure central power and a new world order?

We are being weaponized to kill in the name of war, to be carriers of propaganda in the latest global event, or injected with DNA altering substances which renders unsuspecting individuals as potential candidates for the next patent where they are literally owned by the government.

All of these things take place because of the unwitting acceptance of the government's propaganda through our misplaced trust in them. This behavior suggests that the real enemy of the state as seen through the eyes of the government are we the people. By the same token it means the real enemy from our perspective are the puppet masters of the corrupt officials in government worldwide. 

The prevalent actors and puppet masters appear to be The Banking Cartels with their supporting cast such as The Vatican, The Committee of 300, The Illuminati, and so on.

Cessation of War

Lao Tzu also leaves clues as to how to end war – by knowing self and the enemy

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 

Since all change starts within we must remain conscious and particularly  become conscious of the war within when we are not able to resolve inner conflicts. We must know ourselves in that respect.

We need to find peaceful ways of resolving these conflicts through forgiveness, compassion, responsible thinking and resolve, so they do not become projected into society on a bigger scale. As within so without, according to the natural law of cause and effect.

Secondly, we must also know the enemy from without, and recognize the real war going on in the external world. We need to journey from being brainwashed to cleaning our minds from the pollution and propaganda that is designed to reduce our lifespan or enslave us, and awaken to understand the game that is being played out with a disdain for humanity as a whole.

Does the greater populace of a country really want a war, or is it down to a few who are perpetrating wars with hidden agendas? Do we want the control of transhumanism where we are patented through abusive use of artificial intelligence, and programmable CBDCs that can switch our money off. Do we want to be told what we can think, where we can go and how we can live our daily lives, like puppets on a string?

Are we willing to go beyond the labels of calling people sheep or conspiracy theorists to simply seek the truth that will enable all to be and live freely, because the truth is what is at stake, and therefore true freedom?

Thirdly we must be practical and create structures that enable humanity to go beyond survival, and share abundance, so all may thrive. Whether this be in technology, money, organic farms or otherwise, it is important to create a better world for all to experience so they can step into something new and shed the old. 

When these alternate societies become prominent the old controlling powers that feed off the life force of the people can be extinguished. In its place, true power can return to the people where they become stewards and facilitators of abundance in all its forms.

 

 

About: Anita Narayan. (United Kingdom) My life's work is about helping individuals to greater freedom through joy and purpose without self-sabotage, so that inspirational legacy can serve generations to come. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Moseley

The Artist that came out of the Winter