When the Fed released last month's Beige Book, as part of the explanation why employers are having an increasingly more difficult time finding jobs, it presented the following disturbing anecdote from a Boston Fed respondent:
Is Bitcoin Standing In For Gold?
Paul Craig Roberts and Dave Kranzler
In a series of articles posted on www.paulcraigroberts.org, we have proven to our satisfaction that the prices of gold and silver are manipulated by the bullion banks acting as agents for the Federal Reserve.
The bullion prices are manipulated down in order to protect the value of the US dollar from the extraordinary increase in supply resulting from the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) and low interest rate policies.
Update: after deleting the original tweet that kept much of Twitter, and most of the political media up all night, Trump followed up shortly after 6am with a tweet in which he tried a humorous spin on "covfefe":
"Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!" Trump tweeted at 6:10am ET.
Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
The US dollar will almost certainly remain the world's most important reserve currency for the foreseeable future but the lack of a ready substitute does not mean the dollar's current position is entirely assured, says Fitch Ratings in its latest Global Perspectives commentary.
Update: according to the Pentagon, the much anticipated intercept of an intercontinental ballistic missile was a success, and the mock ICBM warhead was shot down over the Pacific "in a success for America's missile defense program." The test was the first of its kind in nearly three years, and was the first test ever targeting an intercontinental-range missile like North Korea is developing.