Author: kbillholter

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Is anyone surprised?”

Study Finds Wall Street Mega Banks Have Overstated Income for Years on Commercial Real Estate Loans They Sell to Investors

Last August, the Journal of Finance published a study by two finance professors that should have made bold headlines in every major business newspaper in America. It didn’t – suggesting that Americans will eventually learn about Wall Street’s chicanery in commercial real estate the same way they learned about Wall Street’s subprime residential mortgage scams after the 2008 financial collapse: from a movie like The Big Short or Inside Job.

Read more here…

A preview to Incrementum’s “In Gold We Trust 2024” report. Some fabulous charts and graphics here. Any time spent deciphering the story here is time well spent!

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Transparent?”

Federal Reserve Refuses to Provide Records of Foreign Gold Holdings

Weeks after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell evaded a sitting congressman’s questions about the central bank’s foreign gold holdings, the Fed has also declined to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for records about such holdings.

The Federal Reserve’s lack of transparency comes amidst reports that countries are removing their gold and other assets from the U.S. in the wake of the unprecedented Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. According to a 2023 Invesco survey, a “substantial percentage” of central banks expressed concern about how the U.S. and its allies froze nearly half of Russia’s $650 billion gold and forex reserves.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Again, this is Russian roulette with a full cylinder. Watch what happens shortly after any decision to cancel, or worse, use the funds to support Ukraine…”

Johnson eyes Russian assets in Ukraine funding fight

Congress is gearing up to give President Joe Biden a powerful new financial tool to strengthen Ukraine, in a move that could redefine modern economic diplomacy.

At issue is bipartisan legislation approved by House and Senate committees that would let the administration confiscate around $5 billion to $8 billion in Russian sovereign assets under U.S. jurisdiction and use the money to help finance Ukraine’s recovery. Discussions on the plans are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks as Congress hashes out a new Ukraine aid bill.

Read more here…

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Only 10%?”

Utah Formally Empowers State Treasurer to Protect State Funds with Gold and Silver

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has signed legislation explicitly empowering the state treasurer to protect state funds with an allocation to physical gold and silver.

Sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, House Bill 348 permits – but does not require – the Treasurer to hold up to 10 percent of certain state reserve accounts in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes.

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Bill interviewed at X-22 report (Also posted under Interviews)

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Is the biggest bank the riskiest bank?”

Report: Five Banks Have a Combined Half Trillion Dollars in Commercial Real Estate Loans; Number 1 is JPMorgan Chase

Yesterday, American Banker released a report showing that five banks in the U.S. hold a combined half trillion dollars in commercial real estate (CRE) loans. It came as a big surprise to a lot of folks that the bank holding the largest amount of CRE loans is JPMorgan Chase – whose bank holding company is also exposed to $49 trillion in derivatives as of December 31, 2023 according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. (See Table 14 at this link.)

JPMorgan Chase is already considered the riskiest bank in the U.S. according to its regulators.

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Feel good video of the week!”

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Pretty much pure math at this point…”

The Meltdown of Commercial Real Estate

In case you’ve still got money in a bank, Bloomberg is warning that defaults in commercial real estate loans could “topple” hundreds of U.S. banks.

Leaving taxpayers on the hook for trillions in losses.

The note, by senior editor James Crombie, walks us through the festering hellscape that is commercial real estate.

Read here…

Bill’s Commentary:
“Welcome to America!”

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Bill’s Commentary:

“The man is correct, but he did forget to mention the most pressing reason to own gold. Gold cannot bankrupt in a world that is bankrupting …”

“Goldilocks” Is Gonna Get It

The Fed kept the fed funds rate unchanged at last week’s meeting, as I predicted.

That makes 17 Fed meetings in a row going back to March 16, 2022, when I got the Fed forecast right. Events remain uncertain from here, but it’s so far, so good for my forecasting (that’s not because I have a crystal ball but because I know how to read them).

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Bill’s Commentary:

“Filed under the category of BULLSHIT!”

Pictured: Women’s soccer team featuring FIVE trans players that destroyed opposition 10-0 on way to winning grand final – with one biological male scoring SIX goals in one game

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Bill’s Commentary:

“$1 Trillion every 100 days, what could possibly go wrong?”

CBO Director Warns Of Debt Market Meltdown With US Debt On “Unprecedented” Trajectory

We’ve been pointing it out for so long – in fact, for most of our 15 years in existence – that it has become more of a chore than actual reporting, especially since the “number only go up“, as it hits a new all time high virtually every day. We are talking, of course, about the exponential curve that is the US debt, arguably one of the most boring and at the same time, most exciting topics of all time (because one day the “number go up no more” and you want to be far, far away when that happens).

Read more here…

/ kbillholter / 2 Comments

Bill’s Commentary:

“A very good 3 minute video of Vivek on national sovereignty and the global great reset.”