- Proactive: Rising inflation is shifting wealth to the rich
- Reuters: Reddit's silver investors are trying to raise the price of silver
- Yahoo!Finance: Gold is reaching towards the $2,000 price
Proactive: Rising inflation is shifting wealth from the middle class to the rich
Modern monetary theory explains the current inflation spiral as a temporary whim that will disappear with the last of the coronavirus restrictions. Nevertheless, the Financial Times refers to it as "the biggest inflation shock since the 1970s." According to Alastair Ford, pragmatists do not see that the spiral began long before the coronavirus crisis – as early as the 2008 financial crisis. And this is just the beginning.Price inflation of assets and commodities has been a reality since the beginning of this millennium, Ford writes, and it has also been influenced by China's growing demand. However, the public has not noticed this due to the actions of politicians and central banks. The pandemic has shown how much the purchasing power of the middle class has suffered – and the average person feels it in their skin.
The news for the middle classes in Europe and North America is bad: inflation is being managed by raising interest rates, and the middle class is dependent on low rates to finance their assets, which would otherwise be out of their reach. According to Ford, we are currently experiencing a multi-generational transfer of wealth from the middle class to the super-rich.
Read full article in English / 7.8.2021, Alastair Ford
Reuters: Reddit's silver investors are trying to raise the price of silver
The social media platform Reddit is home to thousands of small silver investors. One of them is 56-year-old Kerry Kraker, who invests $100 weekly—half of his net income—into silver coins as a counteraction to silver price manipulation. A Reddit community called Wall Street Silver was established in January in response to the rebellion against the money elite of ordinary people inspired by WallStreetBets.The value of silver is approximately €22/oz at the time of writing, but according to Reddit buyers, it is bound to rise as inflation erodes trust in currency and supplies dwindle. They believe that coordinated buying can significantly raise the price, allowing them to outsmart the "banking institutions" that dominate the precious metals trade.
According to the community, banks trade in paper silver that they do not actually own. This drives prices lower than they should be. Their claim is partially true according to market professionals. Technically, a large portion of the silver sold and bought is borrowed, as silver speculators do not actually want to hold physical silver. There could be momentary supply issues if everyone suddenly wanted to redeem their silver at the same time. However, the author states that the overall supply of silver is abundant, and central banks give confidence that inflation will remain at low percentage points. About a quarter of the annual production of a billion ounces of silver goes towards producing bars and coins.
Read full article in English / 7.14.2021, Peter Hobson
