Guest: Economist Jack Hanney available by Zoom/Skype from Los Angeles/Pacific Time
Intro: Six-month on the Covid crisis continues with political unrest on the side, with that the stock hasn’t crashed and gold is reaching record highs in the $2,000 per ounce range. Millions are unemployed and receiving government assistance as large sectors of the retail, restaurant and entertainment industry lay idle, waiting for the lockdown to end. Cities fraught with violent riots under the cover of political protests are seeing businesses close and highly-productive citizens fleeing: New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis are all seeing this trend accelerate. During it all how are the fundamentals of the economy reacting?
An upswing in gold prices is viewed traditionally as investors fleeing stocks in fear of inflation, however, those bets have often proven wrong in the past and may well be mistaken again. Inflation generally accompanies an overheating economy, not one that is slowing down. Gold prices also signal fear of a stock market collapse, but many sectors of the economy are proving resilient and one aspect of previous downtowns must be taken into consideration: an extremely powerful Internet infrastructure that allows for many businesses to continue operating remotely or providing services and selling products online. Compared with the downturn in 2008, the speed and power of Internet connections has increased 100 times in terms of backbone strength.
Such a trend has allowed millions of workers, teachers and school children to remain productive despite the lockdown, thus providing an economic cushion. Cities with safe environments will welcome millions of transplants fleeing lockdown and political unrest, causing some to cities to suffer a slow, painful decay while others prosper mightily. When this ends, a coiled spring of economic growth will result.
Q & A:
- Will gold continue to rise and along with it the rate of inflation?
A: Gold has been going up the last few months in response to real fear of economic collapse, however, this is a knee jerk reaction as uncertainty grips everyone. Investors rushing for the exits may have missed many opportunities as many sectors of the stock market have proved sturdy and growing. But one question can’t be answered; when will the lockdowns end? Restaurants and real estate are bleeding out everyday they are not allowed to operate.
- Is gold a true safe haven?
A: It depends on the form of your investment; are you taking the actual gold bullion or gold futures, big difference. Having gold bars in your safe is all nice and fine, but if the economy recovers and the fear of inflation dissipates then the price of gold, as it always does, will retreat along with other precious metals.
- We are looking a fall season unlike any ever experienced in the lives of everyone, what can government leaders do now?
A: Well for one thing they should even talk about raising taxes, that would cripple an economy that is fighting to stay afloat. All one hears from the Democrats are further plans for sucking up the wealth of private citizens, whether if it higher personal income, capital gains taxes of abolishing 401k style retirement plans. These types of actions would be devastating.
- What are the worst political leaders doing right now?
A: Cities and states are in a double bind, places like California, Illinois and New York are crippling the economy with lockdown policies and allowing violence to flourish. Asking citizens to endure both sides of this equation will only result in total disaster. You will get a shrinking economic base and empty cities run by criminals.
- Even with all the uncertainty, the stock market has held up rather well?
Absolutely, I believe many smart investors know this economy was booming and is now like a coiled spring ready to blast forward. When the government gets out of the way it blast off and the gold investors will be left out in the cold. In our modern world capital flows rapidly and the Internet backbone allows for versatility.
- Where may we get more information on your company, Patriot Gold Group, investments and the economy?
Jack Hanney has been in the financial markets for 20+ years and is widely heralded as an expert in his field.
Born and growing up in Westchester County, NY where his father was a successful politician and owner of an Insurance Brokerage Firm. Jack began subscribing to The Wall Street Journal at the age of 14 and moved to California in his early 20’s to study under William O’Neill, arguably the single most successful investor in the history of the markets and founder of Investor’s Business Daily and author of How to Make Money in stocks.
Jack Hanney went on to be the General Manager and Director of Sales at several algorithmic automated trading companies trading the futures and commodities markets working with Introducing Brokers out of Chicago, Geneva and NYC. Jack was recruited by several tech startups and made a name for himself at Infosearch Media, Virtumundo and The Design People before returning to Finance. Jack passed on Morgan Stanley and other reputable, prestigious Brokerage firms to be a CFP in their Wealth Management Divisions and opted for a position as Senior Executive Trader with MG Private Client Services where he spent 4 years 2010-2014.
Jack Hanney had spent two years as Director of Trading, Executive Vice President of WDM overseeing the Retail Division before collaborating with two other prominent experts in his field and opening Patriot Gold Group a collective of Industry-Leading Experts bringing their clients Investor Direct Pricing and superior customer service.
Jack has written over 200M in business and trades maintaining outstanding relationships with his clients at Patriot Gold Group (PGG), where he is a senior partner, who he refers to as dear friends and family and now … welcoming them to the PGG family of investors. Jack resides in Los Angeles, California and is the proud father of his two daughters, Kate age 10 and Luna age 18.
CONTACT: Rachel Ford rford.specialguests.com or Jerry McGlothlin 919-437-0001 jerry@specialguests.com
