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Okay, I'm signing off now. This was fun! Sorry for the confusion with my username at first. Let us know if this was worthwhile and we can do it again soon.

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Hey everyone. Tom has to leave in about ten minutes. Thanks for helping us try out this new feature. You can continue to discuss this topic amongst yourselves after he leaves. And you can let us know if we should try this again (and how to improve it). Also, thanks for your patience as we experiment with new ways to communicate with you. There are always a few bumps in the road. For paying subscribers, look for an announcement on Friday about our next Zoom call later this month.

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Or perhaps it will be an amalgam of the two positions. With the “Fed put” in place, a decline of 70% in the Dow is very unlikely. Gold prices have remained stubbornly under $2k since the pandemic. A likely combination of a drop of 30-50% in the Dow and a rise to $3-5k for gold might be a good bet for the most likely course of action.

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By the way, Investment Director Tom Dyson is posting from his original Substack account as Hobo Family (for those fans of his Postcards from the Fringe)

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I’m concerned that too much has been broken over the last few years. Robin Hood (along with the Fed and politicians) has corrupted a whole generation of investors and the concept of investing. I don’t know if we can return to a rational concept of ownership of value whether in gold or equities. With NFTs, online land being purchased with currency on par with physical land, and other idiocy, the ratio may no longer be valid measure of anything.

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My sense is that Fed cannot afford for interest rates to rise too steeply because the interest cost on our debt would rise to such dramatic proportions that the global community would wise up and the dollar would be pushed to the basement where it rightfully belongs. So, the Fed will keep the shell game of soft default going through inflation going as long as they can.

Remember we do not have Paul Volker at the helm of the Fed. We have the most dovish Fed in history. The real test will come when the dollar loses global reserve currency status, as the pound did before it. The Dow will likely reach 10,000 long before this day arrives. Bankruptcy arrives slowly at first, then very quickly.

We can never know which snowflake will cause the avalanche. However, as surely as the snow falls, the avalanche will eventually come. I believe we reach Dow 10,000 before Gold $10,000.

Both events will occur and both will occur very quickly when they do happen. When we see a market collapse, I would expect gold to temporarily decline because there will be many margin calls and traders will sell what they can to meet the calls. However after that gold will rise as people move to safety. My sense is that it is better to be in safe bets now, including some of Tom's recommendations that he will surely discuss tomorrow.

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Feb 2, 2022·edited Feb 2, 2022

"Lucky 7's" - Dow at 7000 (giving back nearly every last phony point it was given from Central Bank madness since March 6, 2009), and Gold at $7000/ounce (functionally related to the amount of money/credit that has been created ex nihilo since 2008/09). This begs the question: How can it possibly be that the Fed could tighten, DXY *rally*, while Gold rallies simultaneously? Because: 1) the Fed will not tighten enough to call back all of the phony money/credit they have created over the last 14 years; and, 2) Gold rallies when the world goes into chaos mode; and we ain't seen nothing like real "chaos mode" yet - it's last sighting was 2008-2009.

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Dow to Gold Ratio, tanker trades, mining stocks, growth vs. value, buy the dips, Bull or Bear, inflation, stagflation, etc… Knowledge, wisdom, historical context, and reliable information are invaluable in these unprecedented times. But the truth is we are in uncharted waters and nobody knows how it will play out. That being said, the Dow to Gold Ratio is probably the best strategy to manage risk and preserve capital. That and use tight stops and proper size for all your stock positions!!!

Thanks to my unique background and circumstances, I've been reading 150-200 articles per week for almost a decade from people much smarter than me. Been studying the markets, trading, and investing for more than two decades. Pay close attention to major socioeconomic trends. And I look at everything empirically, critically, and with an open mind, and constantly challenge my inherent biases. Yet, trying to make sense of anything and make the right decisions is like shooting at a fast moving target or playing a game where the rules change constantly and unexpectedly. And if I make the wrong choices, it could have dire consequences for my present and future finances and mental and physical health.

The way I see it, human nature is incompatible with modern society and technology. And the more we advance, the bigger the disconnect and systemic socioeconomic distortions. Sometimes I think it would be better to have my head buried in the sand and clueless about what's really going on. At least then I could enjoy the party until that last moment just before impact.

Anyway, that's my positive take on our situation.

Thanks, Bill, Dan, Tom, Joel, and contributing guests for your insight and wisdom.

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My concern is that with such a magnitude of meltdown required for au 10k and or dow 10k the financial system of the western hemisphere will be devastated. Contagion risk will kill global repo operations. No one will counterparty.

As a result globalisation will grind to a halt real quick. So empty shelves for pretty much everything welcome back to the 1930s.

If it isn't manufactured on your doorstop you won't be buying it.

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Feb 2, 2022Liked by Tom Dyson

How do I connect to the 3PM session? Or is the discussion thread below the event you announced yesterday. I thought I would see Tom Dyson.

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Feb 2, 2022Liked by Tom Dyson

Looking for the 3 pm discusion - am I in the wrong place??

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Does it really matter where they both end up? In the end no matter what the price an ounce of gold is going to buy a fine mens suit right?

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“Which do you think is more likely: that the Dow Jones Industrials could decline to 10,000 in the next bear market? Or that the gold price could go over $10,000/oz in the next bull market?”

I do not think it will be an either or scenario. The Fed I suspect will raise rates and they know there will be some pain / decline for Wall Street. They will attempt to minimize that pain but a decline is in the recipe. I also suspect gold will continue to shine. I suspect it will be a combination of the two that includes gold near 5,000.00 oz., not sure where that puts the Dow in a drop to reach Dow gold ratio around 5.

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For those of use who haven't used the Hobo Family account whats the link to get in?

Jim Marshall

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I think we are all waiting for tom

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With all these great comments we will need Tom to get on a pod cast to answer them all! Been waiting for the reserve currency to fail for a while now and the Gold/Silver ratio to normalize. May go broke waiting. In the mean time should we all share a glass of Bonner wine and wait together. Great conversations.

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My concern with Tom’s analysis is the value of our currency by which Tom uses for his discussion. Since the Fed and our government has done it’s best to devalue our dollar, which value of our currency does Tom use for comparison to the Dow for establishing his position. Do we use today’s value or the value of currency say, from 2000, 1990, 1980 or even perhaps, 1971 when we abandoned the gold standard. I may be missing something in my analysis and, if I am, please straighten me out.

My question In summary, how does Tom compare the asset gold, a commodity of reasonably stable value, to a dollar that has had it’s value diluted by the actions of the Fed?

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Feb 2, 2022·edited Feb 2, 2022

Honestly why not both? FDR made it 35 dollars (rumor has it becasue his wife loved those numbers) and Nixon put in a "temporary" measure to decouple the dollar. When problematic times occur governments like to do inconceivable things and the people thank them for it. The question here really is.... How do we protect ourselves from losing our wealth while others have squandered theirs?

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I read a lot of news letters, some specific to gold and silver. The thinking on their part seems to be gold at 3k per ounce in the next couple of years, a 50%+ increase over current prices. This seems more realistic to me than 10k gold. Any comments?

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Tom, while I share the belief that gold prices are bound to increase very steeply (when it is just guesswork) I wonder why several respected advisers are stressing the need to keep physical gold, at least in part, instead of paper gold. The reasoning being that in case of a massive increase in the demand of precious metals, there will not be enough gold to satisfy redemption demands by owners of paper gold. However I wonder if owning shares of streaming and gold royalties companies can be put on the same level as paper gold because we are talking of companies to whom miners have an ironclad contractual obligation to deliver an agreed amount of gold or a share of profits for the entire life of the mine. True, you do not get delivery of the metal but its increase in value is more than covered by the increase in share values. Could you clarify? Thank you. Giorgio Raccah

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I'd like to weigh in. My overall outlook is very negative, so consider this terrible scenario. Accelerating price of stock market to blow off top in the next 6 months with the rumblings of war in the background which quickly enter the foreground resulting in...... frozen markets! No price discovery. No ratio of Dow/Gold. This would not be unprecedented (WW II, by the way, did you know that by April there will only be one chief regulator left at the CFTC, down from 4). In this scenario, give me the gold, but first give me God, shelter, water, food, medicine, guns, ammo and fuel.

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Both scenarios are likely and gold may have to be reset at 10X+ it’s current $ spot in order to provide stability for the failing worldwide monetary system, when the FrankenFinancialization DebtBomb explodes. Hussman projects a 64% decline peak to trough for the S&P during the crash on the horizon. And he nailed the Nasdaq crash during the DotCom debacle. With the new Basel 3 regs now effective to dampen the paper gold manipulation by the usual suspects and China potentially announcing the issuance of a gold backed crypto for the Renminbi at The Olympics, the “Pet Rock” that primary central banks continue to hoard likely will shine brighter soon.

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No one can know what the market will do tomorrow. But, Tom, I can't wait to hear your take on what's goin on in the stock and gold market now. I would also like to hear suggestions on how to easily buy and sell gold without burying it in the back yard.

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Wall Street is of course manipulated, and Wall Street doesn't like gold. So add that to the equation.

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Why not both!

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It went very well to get me partially up to speed, but I have a long way to go. Being 90 with STML slows you down a bit. Thanks for all the inputs.

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Would love to see a similar graph/data on SandP/gold, Nasdaq/gold. they would give additional weight to your perspective and prognosis. are these calculated/displayed anywhere that we can access?

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"Which comes first, gold at $10k... or the Dow at 10,000?" hahaha... The 2nd is important, tries harder, :).

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More than high gains in value of our assets, most of us are primarily concerned with protecting the value of what we now have. The monetary situation in this country, and throughout the world, is in shambles and thus our discussion today centers around predicting the future direction of the economy so that we may take appropriate action. However, while political/economic instability is going to happen, and get worse, an even bigger disaster is the destruction of our power grid. Though not as certain as an economic upheaval caused by incompetent, self-centered politicians, destruction of the electric grid is easy and a high probability.

It has been suggested by one contributor to this thread that all our gold aught should be in financial instruments, ETFs etc. As Tom has pointed out, we need to have some of our gold and silver in our possession. Without the internet or access to your bank or safe deposit box, our financial instruments are worthless. Bury some of your gold/silver in the back yard if you cannot think of any better place, but have ready access to it when the EMP, cyber-attack or terrorists wipe out the grid.

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How Can I to get into the discussion? I'm signed in Hobo Family. The last post are several weeks old. I missed the gold discussion will it be published in archives? Also there has no mention of the toll road particulars. What am i missing please?

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Hi Tom, I'm in the same time zone as you are so I look for any advice that's applicable to the UK. Thanks for your efforts and the 'Top First' setting is useful advice for a newbie... Cheers Richard

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I learn a lot following the discussion; especially how much more I have to learn!

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Off topic: Would be great if you could publish your portfolio recommendation soon, for new suscribers like me

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If the gov tries to confiscate gold, only the sheep would turn it over to them. Just like in 1933.

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Is Tom going to be answering anytime soon?

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GBTC is today at a discount of over 40% of the Bitcoin price. When GBTC will be converted to an ETF, how much will the price of GBTC go up?

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Hi Tom (aka Hobo Family !) I have been following Gold for over a decade now. Every time there is a world event, it rises, then the dollar strengthens and Gold rapidly drops in price. I'm so tired of this cycle ! For Gold to get to 10,000, it is going to take a huge event to convince the world the dollar is not the place to be invested. Your thoughts on what type of events could do this ?

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I have been trying to figure out what asset to put cash into. I am staying out of the US real estate market because of overvaluation, same with stock market. So I am sitting on more cash than ever. What is a reasonable amount of physical gold to hold right now. 50 oz. puts a street value at $100k, right now. I need triple that to get to a 30% of holdings. Does that seem logical to go that heavy on a wealth retention commodity?

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Sorry but this seems like a total waste of time…at least for me.

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As for the question of this discussion thread...

My bet is on gold reaching $10,000 first. And I'd give it a 95% probability

My reasoning is that I doubt that the FED will let the Dow decline 70% (at least not in nominal terms).

However, as for the Dow/Gold ratio, I am not sure if gold will necessarily win out over the next decade, because I think they will both go up substantially. I would still place my bet on gold, but at a probability of 70%.

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Can't seem to connect, I guess I'll go out and plow snow!

Jim Marshall

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Can't figure out how to get into the discussion. Phil Dowd

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My searches on sub stack don’t show Hobo Family

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So when is the correct time to cash out of gold? If you wait until the Dow/gold ratio reaches 5:1, many owners of gold who follow this metric will suddenly want to sell. Will that cause the price of gold to plummet with a sudden glut of gold available for purchase?

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I must be lost, can't find the 3 PM discussion. I am logged in.

Jim Marshall

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Curious about Tom's perspective on when Dow/Gold reverts to the mean, which using heuristic analysis looks to be about 9 or 10 based on the above chart?

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Decades ago I studied/degreed in Economic. I used to be able to make a semblance of passing sense of the market if taking a long enough view. Now, most things/rules/precedent appear to be broken. Robert Heinlein passed over a period of time in his future history, labeling it "The Crazy Years". It fits. I now no longer look at even the most educated opinion as anything but conjecture. As to the initial question: Dow goes down to 10,000. (That is my conjecture ;-)

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Would it not ground us all more in reality while trying to figure this out if we quoted inflation using both current and 1980 criteria? For example: ".....with inflation running at 7% (15% using 1981) etc etc." Shadow Stats and many other reputable analysts have made it clear that we are doing the Fed's and Elites' bidding

when we say 7% without the asterisk!

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More questions than answers, for me: will gold's rise be hampered by the growth of crypto? How much Is the price of gold being manipulated? Will the central banks ensure that share prices defy gravity, to appease the elites? Will that policy be reversed when the mob get on the street? Will inflation and/or deflation, debt defaults, currency crises and the threat of war change the game? Are civil wars coming? How will China and Russia versus the West play out? And who knows?

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