One nutball era takes over where one left off: Trump's big ugly bill had no money in it to replenish the Strategic Oil Reserve gutted by Joe Biden, at a time when WTI is half the price it was in 2022

 US seeks 1 million barrels of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve

... The previous administration of former President Joe Biden sold record amounts of oil from the SPR, including a 180-million-barrel sale after Russia, one of the world's top oil producers, invaded Ukraine in 2022. The reserve, which has about a 700-million-barrel capacity, is now holding nearly 409 million barrels. ...

 

Trump's tax and spending bill included about $171 million for the SPR oil purchases and maintenance, much less than the $1.3 billion that had originally been in the legislation. Buying more oil for the SPR will likely require the passage of new legislation. ...

 

Buying a million barrels is a drop in the bucket. Maintenance costs are eating up most of the $171 million. Joe Biden reduced the reserve by 244 million barrels during his tenure.

 

A reserve of 600 million barrels would run the country for only 30 days in a real emergency, max. 

 

We are governed by imbeciles, who think we currently have about 50 national emergencies. 

 

 

 

Gold hit another new record at $4,116.77, silver touched a record $52.12

 Reuters, ten hours ago.

Updated:

 

Gold vs. SPX

SPX 1999-2025

  1,469.25 12-31-1999

   6,753.72 10-8-2025 close

   +359% 

 

GOLD 1999-2025

 

   278.88 average 1999 price per Kitco

   Spot gold was steady at $4,038.59 per ounce at 1226 GMT 

   +1348%

 

Open and shut case, right?

 

Well, not so fast. 

 

With dividend reinvestment SPX returned approximately 712% over the period, not just the 359% increase in the price level. 

 

$279 invested in SPX in 1999 would yield approximately $2,267 by now vs. $4,038 for gold, which yields nothing over time beyond the increase in its price. Plus you have to pay to protect your gold from thieves.

 

Still, the gold outcome has been about 78% better, but that's only thanks to the recent dramatic rise in the gold price since 2023 when gold was still in the neighborhood of $1,940 an ounce, after averaging just a little over $1,800 in 2022.

 

Although I expect gold to continue to rise, a stock market reset would most likely trigger a big self-off in gold as stock and other speculators raise cash to cover their debts.

 

As always, diversification is key to surviving as an investor. And more important than that is being able to cover your debts if you won't live without debt. 

  

Spot gold cruises past $4,000 per ounce, silver on the cusp of making a new all time high

 

U.S. gold futures surged past the $4,000 per ounce milestone for the first time on Tuesday

 Reuters.

Spot gold new high $3,990.85.  

Speaking of Margaret Thatcher, "right-wing" candidate for Japan PM backs "hardline conservative" policies of easy money and aggressive spending of it LOL

"Let''s devalue the Yen and spend the hell out of it"

 

Right-wing Sanae Takaichi is set to be Japan’s first female prime minister

Japan’s ruling party picked hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become the country’s first female prime minister in a move set to jolt investors and neighbors. ...

Takaichi, who says her hero is Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, offers a starker vision for change than Koizumi and is potentially more disruptive.

An advocate of late premier Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” strategy to boost the economy with aggressive spending and easy monetary policy, she has previously criticized the Bank of Japan’s interest rate increases. ...

It's obviously the nationalism, anti-globalism, and possible militarism which really bother the writer from Reuters:

... But her nationalistic positions — such as her regular visits to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan’s war dead, viewed by some Asian countries as a symbol of its past militarism — may rile neighbors like South Korea and China. ...

Takaichi also favors revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution and suggested this year that Japan could form a “quasi-security alliance” with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China. ...

“We hope she will ... steer Japanese politics in an ‘anti-globalism’ direction to protect national interests and help the people regain prosperity and hope,” Sanseito said in a statement.

 

If Japan really wanted to scare the world, maybe it could peg the Yen to the price of plutonium, the vast majority of which in the world it owns, and start aggressively selling it to the highest bidders. 

 

"That will teach them"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, the poor, poor dollar, that old thing

Dollar heads for worst week since July; yen underpinned by BOJ

Gold hit record high $3,896.49 today

 Reuters.

Gold tonight hits record high $3,872.87, silver rises to $47.39

 Gold hits record high on US shutdown risks, rate-cut bets

By Anmol Choubey

September 30, 2025 10:33 PM EDT Updated 8 mins ago

 

... Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,872.87 per ounce by 0206 GMT. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.7% to $3,901.40. ... spot silver gained 1.5% to $47.39 per ounce, hitting a more than 14-year high. ... 

Spot silver hits $46.41 per ounce, gold ends the week just under the Tuesday high

 ... Spot gold rose 0.8% to $3,778.62 per ounce as of 01:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT), after hitting a record $3,790.82 earlier in the week. ...

More. 

Wowie: Gold to $3,790.82, silver to $44.17

 Reuters.

Wow: Gold to $3747.08, silver to $43.99

Gold hits fresh record high as investors eye further rate cuts

 

... Spot gold rose 1.7% to a fresh record high of $3,747.08 per ounce, as of 02:06 p.m. ET (1806 GMT). U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled 1.9% higher at $3,775.10. ... 

 

Spot silver rose 2.1% to $43.99 per ounce, a more than 14-year high. ...

Gold to $3,702.95

 

Yep, gold made another new record high: $3,673.95

 

Gold makes new record high $3,646.29, spot silver to $41.29

 Reuters.

Gold hit a record high $3,599.89 on Friday Sep 5 2025, silver holds just under $41

 

Mark Pulte, the father of Lisa Cook accuser Bill Pulte, loses homestead exemption on Michigan property after Reuters investigation finds he committed same infraction of which his son accused the Fed governor lol

Bill is obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 

 Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers: Reuters

... Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called “homestead exemptions” for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence. 

Local tax officials in both states told Reuters that claiming more than one home as a primary residence isn’t generally allowed in their jurisdictions and could be punishable by fines or back taxes. After Reuters contacted tax officials in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to inquire about the dual claims, Darrin Kraatz, director of assessing, on Thursday said the township “as of today” would revoke the exemption on the Pultes’ residence there. ... 

It isn’t clear how much the Pultes may have saved each year because of the Michigan claim, but on Friday property records already indicated the exemption there is now zero.

 

Bye dad!

 

 

GM to make new EV production cuts in Tennessee and Kansas City according to Reuters

 

... GM will stop production of two electric Cadillac SUVs at its assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, during the month of December, according to a person familiar with the matter and communications to GM employees viewed by Reuters.

The plant produces the midsize Cadillac Lyriq — a relative hit and one of GM’s top-selling EVs — and the Vistiq, a larger electric SUV.

GM also plans to significantly curtail production of those vehicles during the first five months of next year by temporarily laying off one of its two shifts of workers, according to the sources. The company will additionally shutter the plants for one week in October and November.

The automaker is also planning to indefinitely delay the start of a second shift at an assembly plant near Kansas City, which is still slated to begin production of the Chevy Bolt EV later this year, the person familiar with the matter said. ...

More. 

Gold hit a record high $3,578.50 today, silver rose to $41.34

 Safe-haven gold rally gains further momentum after soft US data

... Spot gold was up 1.2% to $3,576.59 per ounce by 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT), after hitting a record high of $3,578.50. ... 

Riding the wave of gold's rally, spot silver rose 1.1% to $41.34, its highest level since September 2011. ...

 

Gold briefly makes new record high $3,508.50 . . . and $3,529.93 in the PM Update per Reuters

 

 ... Spot gold was steady at $3,476.48 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $3,508.50 earlier in the session. Bullion has gained 32% so far this year. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.9% to $3,546.80. ... Spot gold prices rose 27% in 2024, and broke the $3,000 per ounce level for the first time in March ...

More.

PM Update per Reuters:

... Spot gold was up 1.5% at $3,529.01 per ounce as of 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), after climbing as high as $3,529.93. Bullion has gained 34.5% this year. ... 

Spot silver inched up 0.4% at $40.84 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September 2011. ...