"First Step Towards Total Chaos?"

The wild stock market swings of recent days have left investors gasping and with good cause.

Does the age-old "Buy & Hold" mantra still apply?

Based on historical performance the answer is 'Yes'...however some see things differently:

Financial expert Bill Holter says the "ability to prevent a crash no longer exists."

"The system has gotten too big...there's too much debt. Too many sovereign governments have bumped up against debt saturation. In the U.S., we are over 100% debt to GDP."

"You can't fix debt with more debt--but that's what they keep trying to do," he said. "What we need is a complete reset."

Holter's advice? If we get a bounce in the market, use it to get out.

Chris Martenson, of Peak Prosperity, has these words of wisdom: "What goes up must come down--and that's especially true for the world's many poorly-constructed financial bubbles, built out of nothing more than gauzy narratives and inflated with "hopium".

"Markets are quite possibly in crash mode right now, although events are unfolding so quickly--currency spikes, equity sell-offs, emerging markets routs and dislocations and commodity declines--that it's hard to tell for sure. However, that's usually the case right before and during big market declines," say Martenson.

'Further, most of the gains in financial assets engineered by the central banks were false and destined to burst because the were based on bubble technology, not actual returns."

Jim Rickards, author of The Death of Money, explains why China was unable to keep their limited free market under control: "...markets have a mind of their own," he says. "But the 'Empire' will strike back, they have an enormous arsenal of tools they can use to try to fight the bubble."

Good to know somebody is trying to fight the bubble, because according to Rickards, the U.S. Federal Reserve is now out of ammo and on a "Kamikaze Mission."

Nick Barisheff, CEO of Bullion Management Group (BMG) contends: 

"We are living in an age of records in the financial world. The stock market is in its longest bull market in history and near all-time highs. The world has more debt than ever before while interest rates are near record lows, and some are negative in many countries for the first time ever. I have been in the business for 40 years, and this is the first time we have had a simultaneous triple bubble, a bubble in real estate, stocks and bonds all at the same time. So when we have a correction, it's going to be massive. The big problem is this triple bubble is sitting on a mountain of debt like never before."

So, should we 'buy & hold' or jump out & run? 

Your guess is as good as ours.

A wise man once said:  "The central banks are panicking. They don't know what to do anymore...but it's nothing compared to what is coming. The panic that started in the summer was the first step towards total chaos in the world that we will be seeing in the months and years to come. Central bankers see it clearly. They know the banking system is absolutely on the verge of collapse." -- Egon von Greyerz, financial expert

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:36-38

HOW TO GO TO HEAVEN

News:

• The Wall Street Journal: Wild Swings In Repo Rates Raise Concerns About Bond Market; rates for overnight loans surged amid cash crunch in financial system
• Market Watch: GE to freeze pensions for about 20,000 employees; stock surges
• CNBC: Ex-NASDAQ CEO warns that this year's IPO boom feels similar to late 1990's dot-com bubble

"Bitcoin and The Beast"

While some people are going bonkers for Bitcoin--even mortgaging their homes to buy it--the rest of us are scratching our heads wondering what it is.

According to Fortune Magazine:

"Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that can be bought, sold, or traded like a commodity. It can also be used to buy goods.

"Bitcoin is different than U.S. dollars because it uses peer-to-peer technology to operate. That means there is no central authority--in this example, the U.S. Treasury--to issue new money or track transactions. Those functions are built into Bitcoin itself--specifically the so-called "block chain" technology that powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies which is one reason it's such an attractive, and controversial, concept."

In other word, Bitcoin (as well as other cryptocurrencies) allow for anonymous transactions. That means no banks are needed.

Prophecy students should be perking up about now. The Bible describes a time when anonymous transactions will mean the difference between life and death for those left behind during the Great Tribulation. And since we know a good many will survive this period...does that mean they'll be using Bitcoin? Probably not. But they will be using something.

"He required everyone--great and small, rich and poor, slave and free--to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name." (Revelation 13:16-17)

What to expect from Central Bank. Talk on Bitcoin in 2018.

A wise man once said: "Antichrist's mark will allow people to engage in daily commerce, including the purchase of food and other necessities. Without the identifying mark, individuals will be cut off from the necessities of life." --John MacArthur, Grace To You

News:

• Kitco News: Billionaire Peter Thiel Buys $20 Million Worth of Cryptos; compares Bitcoin to "Gold"
• Reuters: Bitcoin Maybe King, But Ripple Dark Horse In Crypto Race; Bitcoin jumped more than 1,200% last year. Ripple surged 35,000% in same period.
• Money Morning.com: Cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) "could become a global reserve currency in the future," analysts claim.

"Is the Federal Reserve on a Kamikaze Mission?"

The wild stock market swings of recent days have left investors gasping and with good cause.

Does the age-old "Buy & Hold" mantra still apply?

Based on historical performance the answer is 'Yes'...however some see things differently:

Financial expert Bill Holter says the "ability to prevent a crash no longer exists."

"The system has gotten too big...there's too much debt. Too many sovereign governments have bumped up against debt saturation. In the U.S., we are over 100% debt to GDP."

Holter believes the credit bubble was "pricked" this week and no matter how things play out in the very short term, the September/October time-frame looks like a disaster.

"You can't fix debt with more debt--but that's what they keep trying to do," he said. "What we need is a complete reset."

Holter's advice? If we get a bounce in the market, use it to get out.

Chris Martenson, of Peak Prosperity, has these words of wisdom: "What goes up must come down--and that's especially true for the world's many poorly-constructed financial bubbles, built out of nothing more than gauzy narratives and inflated with "hopium"..August, it appears, is the new October."

"Markets are quite possibly in crash mode right now, although events are unfolding so quickly--currency spikes, equity sell-offs, emerging markets routs and dislocations and commodity declines--that it's hard to tell for sure. However, that's usually the case right before and during big market declines," say Martenson.

"Further, most of the gains in financial assets engineered by the central banks were false and destined to burst because the were based on bubble technology, not actual returns."

Jim Rickards, author of The Death of Money, explains why China was unable to keep their limited free market under control: "...markets have a mind of their own," he says. "But the 'Empire' will strike back, they have an enormous arsenal of tools they can use to try to fight the bubble."

Good to know somebody is trying to fight the bubble, because according to Rickards, the U.S. Federal Reserve is now out of ammo and on a "Kamikaze Mission."

So, should we 'buy & hold' or jump out & run? 

Your guess is as good as ours.

A wise(?) man once said: "This is a pre-crash, and we are not making it through September without the real thing." --Jim Sinclair, gold expert

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:36-38

News:

• The New York Times: Signs, Long Unheeded, Now Point to Risks in U.S. Economy; "Once you encourage an equity bubble, it will collapse--and then you're really in trouble," says financial strategist Albert Edwards of London. "This was utter madness."
• CNBC: The New York Stock Exchange invoked the little-used Rule 48 to pre-empt panic trading for three days in a row; move historic.
• The Washington Free Beacon: Iran Renews Support for Hamas and Other Anti-Israel Terrorists Groups.