Old, fat, and not getting any smarter

[Bill Bonner’s Diary]( Old, Fat, and Not Getting Any Smarter By Bill Bonner, Chairman, Bonner & Partners We’re doing a lot of things that are very good, including waste and fraud – tremendous waste and tremendous fraud. – Donald J. Trump [Bill Bonner] BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – Day by day, the empire ages… drooping unto death. Yesterday came news that Bernie Sanders narrowly won the New Hampshire primary. Sanders (heavily supported by the military/industrial complex) edged out Pete Buttigieg (the billionaires’ favorite), Joe Biden (heavily supported by the one-percenters), and Amy Klobuchar (heavily supported by Wall Street). Waiting in the wings is Mr. Wall Street himself, Michael Bloomberg. Whichever way the race goes, in other words, the real winner will be the Deep State, as it always is. Yesterday, too, the Financial Times reported that the top 1% now owns 50% of America’s equities. This, too, is a milestone on the road to Hell… Recommended Link [How to profit on Trump’s second term]( [image]( President Trump may be the most important thing to ever happen to the stock market… And the profits of American investors. But he’s not tired of winning yet. In fact, he has a shock in store for Americans. A secret plan that will add rocket fuel to the already hot tech market… [The Democrats don’t see this coming]( -- Degenerate Empire Since 1969, wealth and power have become more concentrated. Big Government got bigger. Big Business got bigger. Big Money got bigger. And the Deep State got deeper and deeper. The U.S. now has the oldest president it ever elected. It is also the world’s oldest democracy. Its people are older and fatter than ever. Its businesses are older and bigger than ever. Even its entertainments are old – how many times can they remake Batman? And now it is bent over and shuffling toward the end of the oldest business expansion on record. The numbers we showed yesterday tracked the decline of the U.S. from 1969 over the next half a century. We remember 1969. Still in college, we worked as a “hasher” in a sorority house, washing pots and pans for food. And in the summers, we painted TV towers to pay our tuition. The work was dangerous, so we earned top wages – $5.25 an hour. That was real money back then. If we recall correctly, annual tuition at the University of Maryland was less than $2,000. Now, it’s over $20,000. A hamburger at the Little Tavern was 25 cents. As for medical care, if we needed it, we paid cash. But times have changed. It is much too soon to write a history of the late, degenerate U.S. empire. It takes time for facts to evaporate, nuances to disappear, and recovered memories to fill in the gaps. What will history eventually tell us? Here, we take some guesses… Recommended Link [Why make $1k… when you can make $30k long-term?]( [image]( There’s a new way to make money… So, why make $1,000… When you can make $30,000 long-term in the market instead? Even better… Why make $1,000 taking on too much risk… When you can make $30,000… With defined and limited downside. In short: There’s a NEW way to make money… [And you can get details on the strategy on Thursday, February 20th]( -- If You Can’t Beat ’Em… The U.S. put a man on the moon in 1969. Then, despite the shift to bad money and the takeover of government by the Deep State, it went on to a greater glory. And it got very lucky. First, Paul Volcker saved its funny-money system. Then, Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” brought welcome tax cuts and a new spirit of confidence. China decided to take the capitalist road in 1979. Soon, it was providing the world with an almost limitless pool of low-priced labor… and its goods and gadgets filled the shelves of Walmart. Americans enjoyed Everyday Low Prices… even as the feds inflated the system with cheap credit. In 1991, the Soviet Union, too, decided it was better to join the capitalists than to fight them, leaving America with no plausible enemy. Later in the ’90s, along came the internet… promising huge new gains from hitherto unimagined technology. Even the lowest-caste street sweeper in India, if he had access to the internet, might find a cure for cancer… and the biggest nerd in the ninth grade might become a billionaire in the stock market. Stocks soared, especially the Nasdaq, which went up 10 times, from 400 in 1990 to 4,000 in 1999. Alas, the momentum that had carried the U.S. along since the ’60s came to an end in 2000. The Nasdaq crashed down to below 1,200 in 2002. This was about a three-fourths loss in nominal dollars. In gold terms, the loss was over 80%. Yes, now gold was on the move. It was not merely going up; it was recording the fall of an empire. (Now, 20 years later, the cream of American capitalism – the Dow – is worth less than half of what it was worth in 1999, when measured in gold.) The Nasdaq was falling not only because that’s what stocks do; they go up and they go down. But it was also signaling a failed revolution. Recommended Link [Closed Door Meeting Could Spell Rare 10,645% Gains in 12 Months]( [image]( He couldn’t film what he saw… or record what he heard… but Silicon Valley angel investor Jeff Brown was shocked by what he witnessed at a high-level, closed-door meeting… Jeff now believes this small cap could be a millionaire maker. With extraordinary gains of 3,277%, 5,940%, or 10,645% not out of the question… over the next 12 months. [Get the shocking details here]( -- Revolutionary Flop The Information Age turned out to be a flop. Not that there wasn’t money to be made by Apple and Amazon and other high-flying stocks. But you can’t stop the fall of a great empire by streaming dirty movies, hailing a cab with a smartphone, or buying cheap stuff over the internet. The internet was supposed to send the economy into a new cycle of invention and wealth creation. Instead, it sent it into a frenzy of time-wasting – chatting online… texting… spending hours answering emails… and more hours staying in touch on Facebook. The technology of the Industrial Revolution, by contrast, was powerful. It allowed people to use the condensed energy in coal, gas, and oil to get more output from every hour they spent on the job. And it was reflected in the great wealth produced from the mid-1800s up the 1970s, not just for the rich, but for everybody. But wage gains for most people petered out in the ’70s. Then, the “financialization” trend – financed with funny money – shifted the economy’s focus from the Motor City… to Manhattan. That is, from producing wealth… to extracting it. And the dark trends already underway in a decaying empire – concentration of wealth, more power in the Deep State, more debt, slower growth, fewer business start-ups, more regulation – continued unmolested. And despite all the lessons learned by mankind over thousands of years, now available for free on the internet, humans continued to do very dumb things… such as inflate the currency and start wars. Twin Foes The Fed Funds rate was cut from 5.5% in January 2000 to under 1% in December 2003. Subsequently, the Federal Reserve would resort to more direct forms of money-printing – quantitative easing (QE) in 2009 and Repo Madness in 2019. Meanwhile, with no way to justify further shifts of money and power to itself, the armed wing of the Deep State had to find a new bugaboo. Almost too conveniently, a group of Saudis struck the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. The Bush administration promptly took action, announcing a nonsensical “War on Terror”… and then invading a country – Iraq – that had nothing to do with the terrorist attack. And now, the pieces were in place for the two mortal enemies of empires to do their work… Un-ending war squanders its wealth and energy. Fake money undermines its economy. Together, the two corrode and corrupt its society. Stay tuned. Regards, [signature] Bill Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to feedback@bonnerandpartners.com. FEATURED READS [Warren Buffett’s Investments Have Evolved Since 2000]( investing strategy is likely to change over time, depending on your age, the market performance, and other factors. Read on to learn how this billionaire altered his strategy following the dot-com bubble… [How the Coronavirus Is Expected to Alter Global Economic Performance]( coronavirus is interrupting technological and car manufacturing supply chains. It’s expected to continue, and experts explain just how bad things may get… [Scientists Say Cannabis May Reverse Brain Degeneration]( from one of the leading medical cannabis conferences in the world, colleague Chris Lowe shows why cannabis may hold the key to combatting Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia… MAILBAG Mixed responses from Dear Readers, after Bill called the latest [State of the Union address and impeachment scandal “pathetic shams”]( You seem to have the same “dislike” for Mr. Trump as the Pelosi gang. How sweet it must be to throw stones at Mr. Trump knowing you are safe in your world travels and your foreign properties. Just who in the hell do you want to take his place, a devout Communist? I have subscribed to your Diary and newsletters for a number of years, but your arrogance and “dislike” of Mr. Trump is getting old. Try to add a little support for Mr. Trump while he is our POTUS. Rather than predicting the end of our USA, (you seem to wish it happens on his watch, just as the Dems) give him some credit for trying to do the right thing. Send him your sage advice on how to avoid the collapse of our economy, as if any mortal could make it happen with the Deep State in control. – William H. We need to wake people up to the real truth of our economy and what’s happening to our country. My hat’s off to Bill. The State of the Union speech was a joke, and giving Rush Limbaugh an award was beyond ridiculous and insulting to others who deserved one. I guess that’s the kind of people that Trump likes. – Dorothy L. You criticize the Senate for not weighing the evidence and just voting their party. Did you watch this sham put on by the House? An impeachment tightly controlled by Adam Schiff and his cohorts, with secret meetings in a basement bunker with no due process for President Trump! After more than three years looking for something, anything, that the Dems could bring to that body and claim corruption and abuse of power, they finally thought they had the goods. Please! Read the Constitution. These charges are NOT IMPEACHABLE. – Elaine N. I always enjoy the mixture of facts and fake hopes in your emails. Talking about the debts and financial collapse is very real and might be upsetting to the dreamers. But what surprises me most is the fact that there are still people around who believe that politics is made by politicians. All of them are only actors that follow the script. – Horst M. Was Trump’s impeachment process a sham, as Elaine believes? Is Bill’s take on the U.S. political scene arrogant like William thinks? Write us at feedback@bonnerandpartners.com. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… [Politicians love this dangerous law for investors]( A scary new political trend is taking over America… from college campuses… to even the U.S. Congress. It’s a radical “reform” of the U.S. dollar… meant to create a “fairer” and more “equal” society… Supporters claim this reform is necessary to solve “social and economic injustice.” But there’s a darker truth behind this trend. If you are an investor… own life insurance or annuities… or have substantial savings in an FDIC-insured bank account… [then you need to be aware of serious risks](. [Click here to see what you should do.]( [image]( [Bonner and Partners]( Bonner & Partners 55 NE 5th Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33483 [www.bonnerandpartners.com]( [Share]( [FACEBOOK]( [Tweet]( [TWITTER]( This editorial email containing advertisements was sent to {EMAIL} because you subscribed to this service. To ensure our emails continue reaching your inbox, please [add our email address]( to your address book. To stop receiving these emails, click [here](. Bonner & Partners welcomes your feedback and questions. But please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized advice. 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