We have officially entered a September that no one saw coming. The entire cryptocurrency market is in a serious bloodbath with Ethereum taking the hardest hits. The Tech sector of the stock markets (along with the continued bleeding of emerging markets) are getting pummelled. The core of the US Government, the White House and the US Presidency have been bombed by a New York Times anonymous editorial that tells us that not only is Trump bat shit crazy and as badly informed about world events as a fifth grader – but that there is also a cadre of people he thought were loyalists who are actively working against his bad ideas and protecting us from within.
Knowing Trump, this means he is about to go on an insane witchhunt and start beheading his minions on the least cause. The US government is going to be shaken by this – even more than it already is. Meanwhile a senate confirmation hearing for a young, dangerous, and authoritarian leaning Supreme Court judge is underway at the same time as hearings on social media giants are being grilled about Russian meddling in US elections.
The markets are in turmoil already and the worst is yet to come. Trump is just getting started on the crazy train. Knowing that there are people working against him is going to take him further over the edge. Bad decisions will follow.
The worst part of it is that given what we already know about the Russian meddling in the US election – he shouldn’t have been allowed to run in the first place – but since he has been in office, he has completely reshaped the US judiciary, the tax code, and more in ways that cannot be reversed. The damage has already been done and frankly, I don’t really see a way back from the precipice. Authoritarianism looms large in the US future.
The stage has been set for a massive financial collapse. I’m not saying that it is coming today or tomorrow or next week or even next year – because the masters of finance have become very good at juggling the bills back and forth. But the bill is going to have to be paid. At the moment, we are like a bad credit risk with fifteen credit cards who is using balance transfers and cash advances to keep the bill collector from coming. As long as they keep issuing him new credit cards, he can keep up appearances. The U.S. is this person. The U.S. markets are the balancing act.
In terms of the cryptomarkets and the stock markets – if I had more money, I would put it into both. I would watch top companies like Apple, Netflix, Amazon and IBM take nosedives and I would do my best to catch those falling knives. One thing for sure, I would stay away from bank stocks right now. I would stay away from car companies and luxury brands. I would stay away from real estate and I would stay away from anything that needs a booming economy to survive. Staple foods, dollar stores, bargain markets, and things that people won’t do without. And, since you know me – you know that I would also put money in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Digibyte and I’m taking a chance on this one but Ethereum Classic.
I think that Ethereum is on it’s last legs – it’s already dropped more than 20% in the past day. Regulation and attacks from all sides have beaten it down to the point that it may not recover. It will bring thousands of tokens down with it. I’m not rooting for this – but it seems to be happening and I can see more ways for it to fail than to succeed.
If Ethereum does fail, something will move into it’s place. Ethereum Classic ($ETC), Tron ($TRX), Neo ($NEO), Stellar ($XLM), EOS ($EOS), and when it is completed Cardano ($ADA) all offer platforms which could replace Ethereum – or maybe it will be something else entirely. Nobody knows.
That’s the thing with the crypto space, nobody really knows what it will do – it’s a brand new frontier and there are no rules, there are no precedents. Because of that, there are also big uncertainties in traditional finance and banking and big uncertainties in politics which arise from that. Throw all of that into the pot with Trump, trade wars, nuclear disarmament talks, Chinese global expansion, and more and what you have is a big messy September.
I hate to say it – but Gold and Silver are probably the safest bets right now. Not the most profitable, but the most stable.