What the Major Upset in the Markets Means for You and Your Family
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Summary
Drew Mason, a partner at St. Joseph's Partners, joins the show to talk about what's going on in the financial markets and why we should be worried. In this episode, Dr. Mason discusses what's happening in the markets and what we can do about it.
Transcript
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So heaven is clearly going to extreme measures to try and get our attention to the church has
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ring-fenced this to prevent it from being called evil or fake at all moments and we should be
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Hello my friends and welcome to the John Henry Weston show. There have been crazy things going
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on in the economic markets of late and that's why we wanted to bring you our financial expert
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Drew Mason who partners with us at St. Joseph's Partners. You're going to want to stay tuned for
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this episode and find out what's going on. Mighty nations stumble, world war threatens.
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There's destruction on the battlefield and also in the womb and all this is happening because
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man has forgotten God. Pope Pius XI said men must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of
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Christ and he urged that the faithful give public honor to Christ the king so that individuals and
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states would submit once more to the rule of their savior and that is why LifeSite News is raising up
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the image of Christ the king across the United States. Our billboards have already proclaimed
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the rule of our divine savior to tens of thousands of Americans and you can help us reach millions
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more. Only when Christ the king reigns over our hearts and our minds will there be peace among
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nations and peace in our homes. Please pledge your support today for these billboards at
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Drew welcome to the program. Praise be Jesus. Thank you for having me John Henry. Great to be here
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especially on this auspicious day as we're filming August the 5th. The day we now know is our lady's
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real birthday. Wishing her all the best and our thanks for all that she's done for so many of us
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throughout the years. So good to be with you indeed. Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the
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cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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So Drew there's been a lot happening in the financial market and it's been crazy. Since we
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last recorded which I think was in April there's been tons of volatility in the markets. Can you
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summarize for us what's going on? John Henry the markets have been very complacent. Investors have
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been very complacent for months now. Bad news from the market was not being punished. It was being
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seemingly rewarded. And as a result we have seen investors allocate incremental dollars to leverage
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products which is very risky proposition for them. And they're doing this at a time when professional
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investors, some of the most successful of our generation, are giving siren call warnings that
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these markets are very dangerous. They're richly if not grossly overvalued. This is a time where
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families should be peeling back from financial assets rather than being so aggressively exposed
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to them. I've also seen John Henry what's termed the market breadth, which means if you hear about the
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index, the stock S&P 500, it's supposed to be reflective of 500 stocks and how the whole market performs
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around those 500 stocks. When the market is healthy, you see the vast majority of those stocks
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appreciating in value. When the market is unhealthy, you may see a few who are the so-called leaders
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of it. And these months it has been the magnificent seven, the biggest tech behemoths who have been just
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soaring to the moon, while the broader market has been showing signs of record weakness. Here's a chart,
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John Henry, that shows we have been weaker in terms of breadth than we were leading up to the
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dot-com implosion and leading up to the great financial crisis in 2008. So something was going
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to give. Last week, John Henry, the CPI news came out talking about inflation and talking about
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employment as well. And what we have seen happen is that the markets are now not rewarding bad news
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as if it's good. And what we are understanding is that the economy is much weaker than Wall Street
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thought. We have seen a dramatic revision and expectations of investors who were only a week
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ago thinking that there was basically little chance of the Fed cutting rates because the economy is so
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good. They have now essentially done a 180 on that, and they are looking for the Fed to get aggressive
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in cutting rates with the hope that it will sustain the economy. But that is easier said than done,
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John Henry. There's a lag. And we have seen in the past, in 2008, the great crisis,
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the great financial crisis, cutting rates was not sufficient, did not work. And what we have seen,
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just a few data points, the NASDAQ, again, the tech leaders of the market, which have been the
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darlings, that index fell through its weekly support level for the first time in years. And that
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historically will trigger incremental selling, incremental pressure and bearishness. We saw Warren
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Buffett and Berkshire announced that they have sold half of their Apple stock that had been their
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poster child investment. They were so proud of it. And they talked about, as you know,
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as most investors know, they talk about holding things for the long haul, holding through the
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cycle, just buy and hold. Don't worry about selling. Well, that's not what they're doing.
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They vote with their wallets, and they have aggressively called a top in the tech market here.
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And I suspect the next time the data comes out, we're going to see they have sold probably the
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majority of their remaining shares as well. We saw another great investor, Elliot, talking about
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how NVIDIA, the number one darling in the markets, is simply a bubble. And we're getting more conviction
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from investors that the AI hype that has fueled this market is really unrealistic, that the
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expectations are not going to play out as investors are hoping, and that is unwinding the tech sector.
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We saw John Henry Intel, the bellwether semiconductor company in the United States.
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It lost over 25% of its value in one day. Now, realize this is a gargantuan company,
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multi-billion dollar market cap, and advisors have been telling families, you want to own blue chip
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stocks. They're safe. They pay a dividend. You don't have to worry. Well, 25% in one day is just
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unheard of, John Henry. And it speaks to how brittle the market is, how fragile it is. And they
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actually cut their dividends, saying the outlook was so troublesome that they didn't have the confidence
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that they could use the cash and still not need it. We saw the entire nation of Japan, their market
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traded down nearly 20% in just a few sessions, John Henry. Again, unheard of volatility that has
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come. In the backdrop, as all this was going on, on Friday, gold hit an all-time high. It touched
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$2,500 per ounce for the first time in history. And while it has sold off and will likely continue
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to see pullbacks, we think that it is the antidote to debt and to market stress, John Henry, because
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that's what history has showed us, this inverse correlation. And if we look at past trends of
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gold in times of stress, for example, in the Great Depression, John Henry, investors have to
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understand this because we feel this could be the most important segment that we've done with your
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viewers, John Henry. We have seen in the Great Depression, the stock market fell 80% from peak
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to trough. In the same time, gold rose 70%. That is a very attractive, uncorrelated return,
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which is what you want when building a portfolio. In the dot-com crisis, we saw the NASDAQ fall 40%.
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Tech leaders fell sometimes double that number. Gold also was down during that crisis, but it was
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down less than 5%. It's not perfect, but that is, again, the inverse correlation that you want to see
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where it performs so much better than stocks in the market broadly. John Henry in 08, we saw,
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if you look at it from the peak of the market to when the Lehman collapse took place, the equity markets
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fell approximately 35%. Gold was up 17%. So there's another big question that people are
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having, and that's because of, obviously, in this time, people are starting to really focus on the
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election. How do you think that's going to play out for gold? What are your thoughts there?
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The question is timely. We are getting lots of calls from families saying they want to know what
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the impact will be if Trump wins versus the Democrats win. And the reality is, contrary to what these
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investors are being told, it really doesn't matter. Because even if Trump wins, and even if he had
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dictatorial powers to do whatever he wanted, the math is simply done. The mold is set. America gets about
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$3 to $4 trillion in revenues from taxes. We're losing over a trillion dollars a year. That is
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accelerating. Our debts are $35 trillion. Just think about it. Even if we cut our expenses really
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basically to zero, it's going to take over a decade to pay off our debts. That's just simply unrealistic.
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This isn't Armageddon. America's had multiple currencies already. But what this is saying is that
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the currency of the United States, the dollar, is hopelessly flawed at this point, given our debts.
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And Trump's recent comments talking about crypto, what we think is a key takeaway for investors to
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consider is that they should not save in dollars. He's telling investors, don't save in dollars.
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Whether it's a savings account, a checking account, bonds, T-bills, life insurance denominated in
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dollars, the risk is rising that the purchasing power of those dollars is going to compress
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so much because of our debts. You'll get all those dollars back, but it's not going to preserve your
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wealth. Why do we have conviction that that's going to happen? Because we have hundreds of case studies
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from history, and that's what's happened every time so far. When you can't pay back your debts,
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the value of that currency compresses. The other critical point that this underscores for families
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is that the core financial models that are being used by investment advisors and guiding families
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is broken. It is broken. Advisors are not saying this. I don't think a lot of advisors even realize
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it. Their whole model is built on the idea that the dollar is the risk-free return. A short-term
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T-bill is the risk-free asset. Yet, because our debts are so big, we can't pay them back.
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To believe that that is true today is just absurd. What we see internationally, we see
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the Central Bank of China selling billions of dollars of U.S. currency. Over recent years,
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they have tripled their gold reserve. They're moving away from it. We're seeing central banks
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who control these currencies, who understand the issues these debts are bringing up, are moving
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towards 20 percent, sometimes 25 percent allocations, which is what we are suggesting families want to
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have as well. So, in this model, this new paradigm where the dollar isn't the risk-free asset anymore,
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while people certainly want to have some cash, they want to have plenty for their expenses coming
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at them. We submit, you want to have this gold allocation because that is what has provided
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wealth protection and value in times of currency crises throughout history.
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So, also another big trend is gold and Bitcoin have been in the news. And if you look at things,
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we had that major cyber shutdown. People are wondering, should I go for gold? Should I go for
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Bitcoin? What do you think about the whole issue of Bitcoin versus gold and what people should do with
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their investments right now, especially given this volatility in the election coming up?
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Gold and Bitcoin are totally different assets. And whoever frames the comment to families,
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do you want to have gold or Bitcoin, shows either a complete misunderstanding of these assets,
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or they are knowing that if investors and individuals are given two choices, they're going to pick one.
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Gold is history's safest asset. It carries no guarantees. It may lose money.
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But if you go back millennia, centuries, decades, it has preserved purchasing power.
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Bitcoin could do well. If your conviction is so high that it's going to be great, then go ahead,
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invest in Bitcoin. However, what we would encourage families to really think about is that
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Bitcoin is a risk asset. It has no long-term track record of preserving wealth. It is not a real
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asset. It's purely digital. You can never hold it. And in all likelihood, you're going to continue to
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need access to the internet, which may become problematic at times, to be able to authenticate
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Bitcoin, get it on and off the blockchain. Whereas gold is this physical, real asset that when you have
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it, you have wealth outside of the financial system and free of any counterparty risk. Today,
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Americans have almost all their wealth, either in their homes or some investment real estate
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and in financial products. They have massive risk to counterparties struggling, whether those are
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exchanges, financial parties, or who they may be. So this also underscores what you're talking about,
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John Henry, the cyber attacks or the cyber breakdown that we had. It really underscored how vulnerable we are
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on numerous levels, from a security perspective, from an information perspective. And again, if all of
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your wealth is tied up on assets you can see on your phone, on these exchanges, then that is potentially
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problematic for you down the road. And we want to encourage people, there is great value in getting
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wealth into your own hands where you have this diversification of counterparties. Going back again
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to Trump and what he is saying about the risks of saving in dollar-denominated assets. A T-bill today
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carries a 5% yield. But there is a time in history when overly indebted currencies show that becomes a
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honeypot. It's a trap. Yes, you're getting the yield, but it's losing purchasing power at a rate that exceeds
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the yield. We're really already there. If you look at the erosion of the dollar, where inflation, real product
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inflation is today. In contrast, gold, again, carries no guarantees, but it has been appreciating at a rate that
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exceeds the T-bill rate for years. So to diversify some of your safe money from yielding assets that you consider
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safe and adding gold in there is prudent and is, again, what history has said families want to be doing at this
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moment in this cycle. Well, one of the other things we didn't talk about yet has been silver. A lot of
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people are in situations where the gold price now is sort of out of reach, but silver's not. And you had
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some comments before about silver. What's your take on silver right now? John Henry, if we go back the
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last couple of years since we've been interviewing with you, we have really focused on gold. And since
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that time, gold has moved from an unwanted asset again to even in the face of last week's stress
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sitting at all-time high at 2,500. We're seeing not only Asian true investors, but their youth, the
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central banks. And now we're even seeing Western young adults stepping up and buying gold because
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they see the risk that these financial assets carry. However, we think, John Henry, we are close to the
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threshold of where we're going to see silver now also begin to outperform handsomely. Silver
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is the only real physical asset we're aware of that is still trading below its 1980 inflationary
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peak. That's an amazing statement. Again, no matter what asset you're talking about, cotton, soybeans,
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silver is the only asset trading below that peak. And it is now almost 50% below peak levels. And when
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you think about that, silver has extraordinary end markets in technology, cell phones, in healthcare,
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in hybrid car batteries, in green energy. And silver, we think, will ultimately show that its
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killer app is, again, money. If you look at the United States, our founders, when they set up this
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brilliant system, they put into the Constitution, the only legal money in this country would be gold
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and silver. The gold for large ticket items, but silver, they were protecting the working class.
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As long as they were paid in silver, their wealth wouldn't be eviscerated like has happened
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whenever the working class has been paid in paper currencies like today's dollar.
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If you consider that, silver also is ideal for smaller day-to-day items, small ticket transactions,
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groceries, things like that. So we encourage investors to have silver as well as gold in their portfolio.
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Call our team. We're happy to talk you through the nuances of the different asset classes and to
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guide you based on your input of what's important to you, your risk tolerances, how to appropriately mix that.
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But we expect silver is about to perform extraordinarily well. This will be the fifth consecutive year
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we have consumed more silver than we have mined out of the ground. History tells us that can't go on forever
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and that bodes very well for the price of silver.
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And Drew, I think many of the people who know you and have worked with you at LifeSite know that in addition
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to talking about financial markets and protecting your investments in gold and silver, you also speak
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to us about fasting very often. In fact, last time we were together in April, you were going on to a
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program where you were going to fast six days a week in the month of May. How did that go? And what are
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your thoughts currently about fasting? What's actually going on spiritually in the world today?
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When we last shared with you, we said that we believe war had been declared on the church and
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on America, and that was in April. And we said that we were setting out in the month of May to fast
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six days a week. Seemingly a crazy, crazy idea. But we're in this period where, think about in past
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wars, all that our ancestors have sacrificed. Think about what the boys went through in those boats
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storming Normandy. How great of a sacrifice was that? If that is what our ancestors were willing
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to do so that we could live in freedom, how can we not step up and sacrifice more at this urgent hour
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for our church and for our country? So the way we're fasting is two days a week on Wednesdays and
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Fridays, 24 hours, as we've talked about with your audience before, on bread and water. Get 100%
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whole grain bread, have some butter, have some olive oil with it. It's relatively easy. We don't want you
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to be hungry. Satan suggests, oh, for a fast to do any good, you have to be in such pain. Our Lady has
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shown us it's not like that. God sets the bar so low. He just wants to see us making some effort,
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trying to come to Him, trying to make up for our sins and for what the world's,
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the ingratitude the world shows to Him. We're complementing that on the other four days in the
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week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, by fasting on bread and water for two meals
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and having one full meal. So again, it's even easier, but it's every day we're coming to the
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Lord and we're saying, Lord, really in the model of St. Therese, the little flower, the little way,
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saying, Lord, my sacrifice is so small. It's nothing, Lord, especially compared to your
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incredible sacrifice for us when you died for us. But Lord, we gladly make this little sacrifice
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with joy to you and atonement for our sins and atonement for the offenses that you are facing
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throughout the world today with our disregard for your commandments. And Lord, we pray that you'll
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pour out your Holy Spirit upon our church, upon our country, open our eyes to see what you see,
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to want what you want, and let extraordinary conversion and extraordinary renewal take
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place. So that's what we're doing. Since we recorded, we had some really interesting developments,
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John Henry, in June in Medjugorje. And again, I want to say to all Catholics, the church has
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investigated Medjugorje. It has approved the first week's apparitions. That is an unprecedented
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event in 2,000 years of church history. So heaven is clearly going to extreme measures to try and get
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our attention to Medjugorje. The church has ring-fenced this to prevent it from being called evil or fake
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at all moments. And we should be digging into it. We should be paying attention. And I want to say to
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all our Protestant brothers, you too want to dig into Medjugorje because nothing in our lifetimes has
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created the conversions that Medjugorje has. This impossible scenario, destined to failure,
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six kids behind the Iron Curtain, a net worth of a dollar, no ability to speak foreign languages,
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no one knew about them. How are you possibly going to change the world? 50 million conversions later.
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The signs have been off the charts. Remember, Jesus told us, you'll know the Spirit by the fruits.
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And he told the Pharisees and others, if you don't believe my words, believe the signs. It's indicative
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of when heaven is involved. And whether you talk about the words that have been written in flaming
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letters in the sky over that town, almost akin to the Old Testament passage where believers and
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their captors saw the handwriting literally on the wall. Whether you talk about the miracles in the sun
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in the sky that are just at least unprecedented and are unexplainable, that have been seen by
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thousands and thousands of people. And of course, if you talk about, again, the conversions to Christ,
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this warrants watching. And in June, Our Lady said that the world was in great danger of losing peace.
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And she asked that we make incremental sacrifices for the nine days leading up to her great feast
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in June. And the world responded. John Henry, I was traveling and I would meet people I didn't even
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think that were connected with Medjugorje had ever been there. And they were making their novenas,
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rosaries, making atonement morning and night, just like Our Lady was asking. And at 1130 p.m. June 24th,
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she came on this special feast, dressed in gold, as she usually does on her big feast days. And she
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said, thank you. She was radiant. The sacrifices of the church, praying in earnest, had done what we
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saw in the Acts, right? In the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was incarcerated. He was slated. It was going to
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be executed. But the scriptures tell us the church prayed earnestly and God responded. The angels went
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into the jail freed him in an extraordinary moment in Christianity. The same wonderful event has
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transpired because of the response of believers stepping up at this hour. And so that is great
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news, John Henry. Remember again, Our Lady said this is a time of grace and that grace is spreading
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throughout the world. You see the headlines and it plays right to Satan's game. He wants to discourage
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you. He wants you to think that nothing good can possibly come from your efforts. And heaven is
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telling us just the opposite. Although God hides the good, you do from your eyes. Just like when Jesus
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was on the cross, it didn't look like that was the greatest moment of all history, but it was. That was
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the turning point. You step up with fasting, with your prayers, with your reparation, and you are changing
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history. And when we die, our efforts will be, our sacrifice will be a badge of honor. And we will help
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trigger so many conversions that you don't want to miss this opportunity to pray and to fast in this
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way. And it's an easy thing to do. You don't have to witness to people. If you're in a hostile
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environment, whether you're in a different country, wherever you are, you can just fast and call out
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to the Lord, show me truth. And I'm making the sacrifice to bring you and all of your great blessings
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to this country, to this world. So, John Henry, we would just say to viewers, don't be discouraged.
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Great things are happening. Praise be Jesus. Thank you for having us.
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Drew, my friend, thank you so very much for being with us. Always good to be with you. God bless you,
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my friend. Thank you, John Henry. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.