Joe Elkjer
Precious Metals Advisor
Joe Elkjer, a Precious Metals Advisor at Scottsdale Bullion & Coin since 2019, specializes in helping clients protect their assets through tangible investments. With a strong background in business and finance, he emphasizes stellar customer service and stays dedicated to informing clients about market impacts through frequent appearances on The Gold Spot.
“The people who control our monetary policy…get into the government and use that information to enrich themselves. That’s illegal. It shouldn’t be done.”— Todd Graf, Scottsdale Bullion & Coin Precious Metals Advisor
The waters are choppy when it comes to economic policies in Congress and the Federal Reserve. This week, join us as Joe Elkjer and Todd Graf touch on the tumultuous news around the debt ceiling and two corrupt Fed presidents. It’s this continuous stream of bad news that makes us put our faith in precious metals instead.
The U.S. Government Can’t Solve Its Debt Problem
We’ve been here before: This week marks another round of discussions in Congress about whether to raise the debt ceiling.
The last time the debt ceiling was raised was in 2019. Since then, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been using “extraordinary measures” to delay default.
The U.S. is $28.43 trillion in debt, and brought in only $20.93 trillion of GDP last year. Experts are anticipating that if the debt ceiling isn’t renewed, the U.S. will run out of cash by early November—the “X-Date.” If this happens, we can expect massive economic catastrophe.
And even if Congress does vote to extend the debt ceiling once again, the fact that we are having this conversation again and again and again is an undeniable red flag! The government simply cannot run a balanced budget.
Rotten Federal Apples Destroy Trust in Central Banking
In addition to being incompetent at maintaining a balanced national budget, the U.S. government is riddled with bad apples who use their insider information for their own personal gain.
Dallas and Boston Fed presidents Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren both resigned this week after allegations of corrupt trading. These men are alleged to have used their insider information from their positions at the banks to enrich themselves. They were buying single stocks like Pfizer and Chevron, which all have performed well recently.
We have strong reason to believe that they knew more than the average citizen about the financial health of these companies, thanks to their roles as presidents of their respective Federal Reserve banks.
While not admitting to the crimes, they both “expressed regret” for the “appearance of conflicts of interest.”
We are appalled at this level of behavior from officials in the government—though unfortunately, we can’t say we’re surprised. Morally corrupt people have been running the government for a long time now, and we all suffer.
How can we trust the decisions of people in power to make economic policies that benefit our own individual financial interests? The sour truth is that we can’t.
That’s why we help our clients protect their assets with investments in gold and silver.
Protect Your Wealth from Government Corruption
We can’t know what the next economic storm will bring. We can’t predict how Congress will move forward with the national debt issue. And we certainly can’t trust government officials!
What we can do is: Use the knowledge we have to craft smart investment strategies that will outlast and outplay the absurdities in the government circus.
Learn about how to protect your wealth in a gold retirement plan with our free Precious Metals guide.