On this COMEX options expiration day – and last day of this week’s “COT Report cycle,” whose result will be published Friday afternoon – my guess is the “commercials” were yet again unsuccessful in covering their shorts.  Which likely, will push them a giant step further toward their inevitable, spectacular demise.  To wit, yesterday’s sharp key reversal, from the prototypical, blatantly orchestrated “Sunday Night Sentiment”; “2:15 AM”; and 8:20 AM COMEX open smashes, resulting in silver prices being higher as I write, than they were Friday afternoon.

The Cartel – er, “commercials” – had a window of minutes to cover their shorts before yesterday’s “surprise” silver surge.  And in my view, as was the case following May’s “FOMC Minutes Attack,” it was that very attempt to cover shorts that caused prices to surge, and yet again foil their manipulative plans.  Thankfully for them, the tried-and-true 12:00 PM “cap of last resort” still worked – as well as, for now, this morning’s prototypical “Cartel Herald” algorithm.  Or else, we’d be looking down at $20/oz as I write.  However, with major “Cartel-negative” events looming in the coming days – which I’ll get to shortly – it’s going to be very difficult to hold down the silver monster.  And when it gets “out of its box,” it’s going to be might difficult to pretend “all’s well,” in a world where a polar opposite reality resides.

To that end, there are several topics I’d like to address, each of which I feel very strongly about.  The first relates to the “yen/dollar” exchange rate I have discussed at length in my last two articles, of how it’s myth that gold and silver price changes have any real relationship to it – other than temporary, algorithm-driven paper moves, which have a dramatically higher beta on the downside than upside.  To wit, look at yesterday’s action – in which, after the aforementioned morning PM smashes, resulting in gold and silver down $12/oz and $0.30/oz, respectively, at their lows.  At which point, the yen/dollar was modestly higher.  And this morning, in which I awoke to not only a MUCH higher yen/dollar exchange rate – to the tune of 1.5%, but freefalling oil, interest rates, and Deutsche Bank stock.  “Amazingly,” Dow futures were unchanged – whilst PMs, care of the “Cartel Herald” shown above, were barely higher.  In other words, NOTHING is relevant to Precious Metals prices – including the level of nominal interest rates, which I proved in last week’s Audioblog – but the physical market’s ability to overcome the relentless, but noticeably weakening, paper manipulation.

Second, recall that after the Brexit vote, I said a Trump victory was essentially guaranteed – as not only did Hillary Clinton hitch her wagon to the failed “Bremain” campaign, but the referendum would usher in an unprecedented “anti-establishment revolution.”  But that was nothing compared to the email scandal – in which she clealry should have been indicted.  After which, I said she might as well give up, and send back Goldman Sachs and the rest of her massive, corrupt lobby their blood money.  That said, the final nail in her coffin was sealed this week, upon the release of “Clinton Cash,” a documentary discussing the horrendous goings-on of the Clinton Foundation, one of the most corrupt “charities” on the planet.  In my view, this report is at least as damning to the Clinton campaign, as “Brexit, the Movie” was to the “Bremain” movement.  To that end, last week Gerald Celente said the Trump/Clinton debates will score higher ratings than the Super Bowl – which I whole-heartedly agree with, as it will represent the most public status quo flogging in global history.  Frankly, I think this election will be one of the biggest landslides in history, as the walls are clearly closing in on the “elites” that rule the world.  Why now, you ask?  Simple, because history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi Scheme is crashing before our eyes, in what will unquestionably be the biggest economic conflagration in history.

Which leads me to my next topic, of how close we are to the “world’s most systemically dangerous” institution is imploding, as I have been screaming from the rooftops it would.  To wit, I last week wrote of the “lower highs, and lower lows” characterizing the movements of “key markets” the powers that be are desperately trying to prop up.  Crude oil, for instance, reached just half of its 2014 high of $105/bbl before plummeting anew – and is in freefall as I speak, at $42.50/bbl.  Trust me, the bankruptcies will be spectacular in the coming 12 months, as the ad hoc “oil PPT” is put out of its misery.  Next, there’s the currency markets, which are plunging anew – led by the Euro, the world’s second largest currency.  And then there’s Deutsche Bank, which will have to perpetrate the greatest accounting scam ever tomorrow morning, if it’s to escape its second quarter earnings release without the investment world panicking about its true, horrific state.  This, the day of an FOMC rate decision, no less – so it’s entirely possible that the Fed and Deutsche Bank will lose all remaining credibility simultaneously!  And trust me, if they do, the PPT’s maniacal control over stock markets will dissolve like a fart in the wind.  Which will also catalyze plunging sovereign yields, as the entire world anticipates “NIRP to Infinity” – which eventually, will yield hyperinflation.  And of course, exploding Precious Metal prices, in an historically tight market that will run bone dry in the blink of an eye.

Throw in the coincident – and entirely related – explosion of civil unrest, terrorism, and political revolution, and you can see how the walls truly are caving in on the powers that be.  I mean, geez, in the last 48 hours, we’ve seen horrific attacks in Japan, France, Germany, and Fort Myers, Florida.  And sadly, such acts will only multiply as financial market control is lost; i.e., the last bastion of government-manipulated “stability” in the “first world.”

And oh yeah, the unstoppable rise of cryptocurrencies – which, with each passing day, will exert an increasingly powerful pushback on a fiat regime controlled by hyperinflating Central banks, negative interest rate and capital control mandating governments, and costly banking, credit card, and payment processing regimes.  To that end, I made my first Bitcoin purchase yesterday – not investment, but purchase of a good with Bitcoin; and frankly, it was one of the most empowering, and cost-effective, transactions of my life.  For one, the good I purchased cost nearly 50% less than if I had bought it with a credit card on Amazon.com.  Second, the transaction took seconds.  And third, I don’t think any fees were paid at all.  Or if they were, they were infinitesimal in size.  In other words, not only has Bitcoin rapidly gained monetary value, in a world desperate for wealth-preserving alternatives; but unparalleled transactional value, which will inevitably destroy banks, credit cards, and essentially all aspects of today’s time, cost, and regulatorily inefficient baking paradigm.  And by the way, I opened my first “online wallet” earlier this week as well.  Which, too, highlighted just how efficient capital storage and preservation can, and will, be in the future.  Which, too, will serve the “secondary” purpose of weakening the hideous, world-destroying status quo further.  Frankly, far more than even the most lethal nuclear bombs.

In the next three days, said “powers that be” must survive – amongst who knows how many “unknowns” – a massively dovish FOMC statement, in the face of collapsing currencies and crude oil prices; the Deutsche Bank earnings release; COMEX options expiration, with PM prices refusing to decline; a potential Bank of Japan “helicopter money” announcement; EU bank “stress test” results; and continuing pressure on interest rates, as the investment world gets closer to assuming the aforementioned “NIRP” and QE, “to infinity” – even if it is not practically possible, and always leads to hyperinflation.  And eventually, to yet again cite Gerald Celente, who lately, has been on fire – the reality that in the “competition” between the negative yielding, long-term bonds of insolvent entities, and physical Precious Metals – which have been as artificially suppressed as sovereign bonds have been artificially propped up – THERE IS NO COMPETITION.

In other words, “crunch time” is here – for the gold Cartel, Central banks, and the “status quo” at large.  Alas, the walls are closing in; and if you haven’t PROTECTED yourself from what’s coming – in the few places in the world you still can, like the United States – you’ll only have yourself to blame, particularly if you are a regular reader of the Miles Franklin Blog.