Alasdair MacLeod, Rob Kirby, Chris Waltzek Ph.D. & Robert Ian - November 23rd, 2018 - Goldseek.com Radio. A Spina-Waltzek Production-©2005-2018 http://radio.goldseek.com/ Royalty free music from Google Play. Disclaimer: this show is presented as inf

Summary: Nov. 23rd, 2018(S13-E671)Featured GuestsAlasdair MacLeod & Arch CrawfordPlease Listen Here Show HighlightsHead of Research at GoldMoney, Alasdair MacLeod makes his show debut on Thanksgiving Day, 2018.Listeners are encouraged to bookmark his weekly commentary at Goldmoney Insights.The Bank of England (BoE) refused to honor its custodial arrangement and return 14 tonnes of gold held on behalf of Venezuela (MacLeod, 2018).Standard anti-money laundering concerns were cited as the chief reason for the refusal.The fact that the lenders of last resort within the central bank cartel are experiencing dissent among the ranks could send reverberations.Actions by the BoE illustrate that the system based on transparency is flawed amid such unanticipated opacity in the financial system.If central banks cannot even maintain trust within their own ranks, how exposed is the typical investor to rehypothecation, confiscation.Alasdair MacLeod notes that sovereign gold ownership has now morphed into a geostrategic challenge within the global economic arena.Russia is rejecting the US dollar as the de facto reserve currency, opting instead to procure gold and silver bullion for a new sound-money currency.President Putin also directed the accumulation of the largest strategic silver stockpile, worldwide.China may have quietly accumulated the largest stockpile of gold in the world in anticipation of a gold backed Yuan, up to 25,000 metric tons.China's hypothesized total of 40,000 ton stockpile plus the hastily growing reserves of Russia are viewed as a hedge against sanctions.Our British guest wraps up the discussion with an eloquent review of the Brexit situation from ground zero.Arch Crawford, head of Crawford Perspectivesfor 41 consecutive years rejoins the show.Our guest advises investors to hold a core position in gold, which could develop a base near current levels.A close above $1,370 would indicate a sign of pent-up bullish demand.Arch Crawford has closed all long positions in US equities and is holding short-term index puts, in case the current consolidation breaks support.The host proposes a 20% correction is a most likely outcome if recent weekly lows are breached.If equities hold support in 2018, next year is expected to lead to new record levels and the epic selloff will be delayed until 2020.Key reasons for the equities downturn include quantitative tightening (QT) where Fed officials are reversing the decades-long constrictive rate policy.Financial history is replete with tales of failed tariffs that rarely bode well in the long-term for countries that adopt the sanctions.Such Fiscal policies attract rent-seeking behaviors that typically line the pockets of political allies, doing little to improve overall economic welfare.The host proposes that corporate officers prepared for imminent tariffs by accumulating key strategic resources.The resulting significant price increases, inadvertently ignited a US equities market advance.Now that corporate warehouses are fully stocked with requisite resources inelastic demand is yielding to more elastic conditions.Tariffs are de facto inflationary resulting in higher prices across the economic spectrum, to the detriment of working / middle class citizens.Two previous failed experiments in US trade tariff policy include, "The Tariff of Abominations of 1825," and the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Trade Tariff Act.Officials are advised to proceed cautiously with the current trade tariffs to avoid a crushing global economic contraction.Last Thursday news that United States and China increased efforts to resolve lingering trade disputes, according to a Financial Times report.The United States and China doubled their efforts to hammer out a reasonable solution to the eight month trade dispute.The potential silver lining to the entire fiasco is being spearheaded by the US President and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.The meeting is slated for later this month at a G-20 summit