US Federal Reserve

This article was written by Brandon Smith and originally published at Birch Gold Group

For a decade central banks have printed enormous quantities of new money. The excuse is to stimulate the economy by reviving inflation. However, the money has, for the most part, driven up the prices of financial assets instead of consumer and producer prices. The result has been a massive increase in the inequality of income, wealth, and opportunity.

After tumbling in early December, gold has exploded higher since The Fed hiked rates on 12/13, hitting $1310 today - the highest since Oct 16th.

And as Gold has soared so the dollar index has collapsed...

Interestingly in the last month, Gold and Bitcoin have seen a wild ride - converging again today...

As Reuters reports, the dollar’s drop to three-month lows versus a basket of currencies on Friday lifted gold to its highest since mid October.

Putting the year's relative performance in context...

Authored by Mike Shedlock via www.themaven.net/mishtalk,

The Financial Repression Authority interviewed Lacy Hunt, Chief Economist at Hoisington Management on Fed policies.

The interview below first appeared on the FRA website along with a video.

Authored by 720Global's Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,