The latest jobs report in the United States shows strengths and weaknesses. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in December, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent. However, the United States job market continues to show negative real wage growth, the employment-to-population ratio is 60.1 percent, and the force participation rate is 62.3 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), both measures have shown little net change since early 2022 and each remain 1.0 percentage point below their values in February 2020.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned about the optimistic estimates for 2023, stating that it will likely be a much more difficult year than 2022.

Why would that be? Most strategists and commentators are cheering the recent decline in price inflation as a good signal of recovery. However, there is much more to the outlook than just a moderate decline in price inflation rates.

In 2022, central banks will have purchased the largest amount of gold in recent history. According to the World Gold Council, central bank purchases of gold have reached a level not seen since 1967. The world’s central banks bought 673 metric tons in one month, and in the third quarter, the figure reached 400 metric tons. This is interesting because the flow from central banks since 2020 had been eminently net sales.

Why are global central banks adding gold to their reserves? There may be different factors.

[Reprinted with permission of the authors.]

The year 2023 is shaping up to be a challenging one for the Federal Reserve System. 

In 2011, the Federal Reserve invented new accounting methods for itself so that it could never legally go bankrupt. As explained by Robert Murphy, the Federal Reserve redefined its losses so as to ensure its balance sheet never shows insolvency. As Bank of America’s Priya Misra put it at the time:

The spectacular success of Chinese entrepreneurs in multiple regions across the globe has produced a litany of studies. Surprisingly, Chinese immigrants have done remarkably well despite enduring economic constraints and discrimination in foreign countries. Throughout the world, the Chinese are legendary for their prominence in the retail sector and acumen as restaurateurs.

According to popular thinking, the government’s definition of money is of a flexible nature. Sometimes it could be M1, and at other times it could be M2 or some other M money supply. M1 includes currency and demand deposits. M2 includes all of M1, plus savings deposits, time deposits, and money market funds. By popular thinking what determines whether M1, M2, or some other M is considered money is whether it has high correlation with key economic data such as the gross domestic product (GDP).

As reported by CNBC last week, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure of 6.5% shows how the mainstream media disseminates false economic information for consumption by the masses. Try to spot some of the more concerning parts:

On the dedication page of Ron Paul’s The Revolution: A Manifesto, we find these words:

“To my supporters: I have never been more humbled and honored than by your selfless devotion to freedom and the Constitution.”

The modifier “selfless” is intended as a moral tribute. Imagine instead if he had written “selfish.” How would that go over?

The temptation and crucial flaw of a totalitarian mind are that everyone must play a part in a superstructural battle between good and evil. Standing on the sidelines or taking a neutral position on present topics is not allowed; one may not merely observe or ignore the madness played out among the power hungry.