Greetings from beautiful downtown Nashville! It's my first time here, and I already love it.Music City is well named. Everywhere you go, talented musicians abound.I'm down here for the Paradigm Shift Summit, our company's big investment conference.More than 700 subscribers made the trip, and I've already met a bunch of them.A fine group of people. And happy, too.The timing for this meeting couldn'...Read More

Patterns. Patterns. Patterns.In addition to the boom-bubble-bust cycle of the stock market, there is also the Primary Trend…in which gold and stocks teeter-totter over long periods of time. Stocks hit an all-time peak in 1999, at more than 40 ounces of gold to the Dow. Thereafter it was down, down, down (even as nominal prices rose!) to less than 12 ounces today.We don't know, of course, if...Read More

"Big storm coming…" was how our builder greeted us. Back in Ireland, dark clouds rushed in from the Atlantic. Treetops rustled… rain came down, lightly… the big blast was still ahead.He was putting plywood over the window openings…and battening down the hatches.The stock market is a lot trickier than the earth-bound weather. Here in Ireland, a meteorologist can look into th...Read More

Silver is trading at $47.98 per ounce as I write this.The all-time intraday high here in the U.S. was $50.36 way back in January of 1980. That was the peak on New York's COMEX (commodity exchange).However, silver has never closed a trading day above $50. And that's the official measure of an all-time high.Once silver briefly surpassed $50 in 1980, New York's COMEX essentially killed the momentum....Read More

Is it time to sell?Over the past few weeks, I have received multiple inbounds asking what to do about our precious metals exposure. As of the start of Q3, gold (XAU) is up over 45% while gold miners (GDX) are up over 100%. Most charts bare the resemblance of a hockey stick. Understandably, some of you might be getting a little nervous.So, here's my take.On a purely technical basis, it is true that...Read More

There’s a scene that plays out in nearly every investment seminar: Someone in the audience asks if it’s possible to consistently beat the market.The speaker – usually quoting Eugene Fama, father of the Efficient Market Hypothesis – smiles and says: “Sorry, but research shows you can’t.”Except that’s not quite what Fama said.In fact, the Nobel Prize-w...Read More

Here in the Sharp household, a bathroom remodel is underway. We held off for the first 12 years in this house, so the master bath was in its original 1987 state for 38 years.All our friends and neighbors had long since upgraded their bathrooms.But it was hard to justify a remodel because everything worked fine, even if it looked dated. But over the past year, the tile started to chip and the tub l...Read More

For more than 80 years, American aircraft carrier strike groups have projected raw military power around the globe.U.S. naval and air power were unrivaled. And with more than 850 military bases around the world, the American empire still has unparalleled reach.Along with military might, the dollar remains a key pillar of the American Empire.But let's be frank. Both monetary and military power are...Read More

Last Saturday, as I was waiting for Pam and Micah to arrive back from visiting Pam's sister in Belgium, I went through the Daily Reckoning's mailbag for any responses to my articles.One stood out, and I want to reprint it so you can read it as well.Sean,I read you every day. Most of the time, I appreciate your perspective. This one is not only wrong but absolutely disgusting. There is an entire ge...Read More

What a year for gold and silver bugs!Precious metals and mining stocks have surged higher.Gold led the move, with global central banks driving demand.Silver followed on a delayed schedule, but is now rocketing up towards its all-time high of near $50.And over the past few months, miners have soared. With bullion prices high, and fuel costs low, mining stocks are churning out cash flow.My favorite...Read More

For however long the government shutdown lasts, 750,000 federal employees will have to do without paychecks.Meanwhile, Congress, those noble guardians of our Republic, will continue getting paid. We can rest assured that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will still be able to put food on the table.Here in Maryland, the shutdown is a big deal. Our state is home to 60 federal agency buildings and 14 mi...Read More

Happy September 30th. As Q3/2025 winds up, some things are glaringly apparent, and other things are not so clear. What will President Trump say today to those 800-plus generals and admirals that have been summoned to Quantico, Virginia? And what happens if (when) the federal government shuts down tonight? We'll just have to wait and see...Meanwhile, let's discuss precious metals because, if you've...Read More

In my first column after the events of Jan. 6th, 2021, I criticized those who called the protest a "coup," pointing out that, "Some of the same politicians and bureaucrats denouncing the ridiculous farce at the Capitol as if it were the equivalent of 9/11 have been involved for decades in planning and executing real coups overseas. In their real coups, many thousands of civilians have died."The me...Read More

What's the latest breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI)? The answer may surprise you.We're all aware of the boom in AI-related stocks, AI technology and unrelenting news coverage about AI. You can't open your browser without reading about AI and you can't glance at your stock ticker without noticing the extent to which stock prices have been driven by AI company valuations. That boom may be...Read More

Over the past 10 years, a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 would have grown to around $38,260. That's based on the SPY ETF with dividends reinvested.But the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 would have turned every $10,000 into $58,866 over the same period. That's based on the QQQ ETF and also assumes dividends are reinvested.Historically speaking, these are abnormally high returns. Instead of the 8% per...Read More

After I woke up from a long sleep last Saturday morning, fresh back from my trip to Saudi Arabia, I went downstairs to make myself a fresh cup of coffee. It was a fine morning, as some leaves had already fallen in a sign that Autumn was just around the corner. Although the sun shone brightly, the temperature was pleasantly cool. From my seat in the kitchen, I looked up at the arched brick ceiling...Read More

Is China a rising power or a falling star? The answer is both. The most important geopolitical question in the world today is, which one of those trends will dominate? Will China rise to true great power status with a developed economy, high-value added manufacturing and military parity with the U.S.? Or will China collapse into political chaos as it has many times in the long history of its civil...Read More

Warren Buffett famously says that if he were managing a mere $1 million, he could achieve 50% annual returns.It may sound crazy at first, but trust me, Uncle Warren is onto something here.This is the full quote, which was from a Q&A at the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting.“The highest rates of return I've ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to s...Read More

I've never seen anything like this in my life, and I've been around for a while. Plus, from my reading of history nothing like this has occurred in the U.S. for many decades, maybe a century or more. But something big just happened in America. It affects culture and politics, investments and money, and it behooves us to wrap our collective brain around what occurred.It's the Charlie Kirk story, an...Read More

In 1964, U.S. minimum wage was $1.25 an hour.That's 5 quarters, which at the time were made of 90% silver. There was 0.18 oz of silver in each coin.With silver priced at $44/oz today, the melt value of those 5 silver quarters is now $39.So minimum wage in 1964 was equivalent to $39 an hour today, as priced in silver.1964 would be the last year that U.S. quarters and dimes contained silver. The hal...Read More