This Frightening Trend Is Just Beginning
Last call for Doc's urgent briefing... A credit-market risk you probably haven't considered… This frightening trend is just beginning… Porter was right again (unfortunately)…
We'll begin today's Digest with an important reminder...
Tonight's online briefing with Dr. David Eifrig kicks off less than two hours from now.
As we've discussed, "Doc" has recently become worried about stocks for the first time in years.
And tonight, he's going on-camera to explain exactly why he's so concerned today... and more important, what every investor – but especially those who are retired or nearing retirement – should do to protect themselves now.
This event is absolutely free for all Stansberry Research subscribers. But don't delay... It begins promptly at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Click here to reserve your spot now.
Now, we don't want to steal Doc's 'thunder'...
But one of his biggest concerns has to do with a subject that should be familiar to regular Digest readers: the huge excess in the credit markets today.
In short, over the past 10 years, corporations, consumers, and even governments themselves have taken advantage of record-low interest rates to borrow like never before.
Here in the U.S., total government debt has doubled to nearly $22 trillion over that time. Corporate debt now totals more than $9 trillion, an all-time record in both nominal terms and as a percentage of U.S. GDP. And households now owe more than $13.5 trillion, including a record $4 trillion in consumer debt like auto and student loans.
Sooner or later, this historic bubble will find a "pin," and an equally historic bear market is likely to follow.
Again, Doc will be covering all this and more tonight...
In the meantime, we'd like to update you on a different risk this bubble poses... one that extends beyond the financial markets alone.
You see, a majority of the growth in consumer debt over the last decade has been concentrated in the poorest and youngest segments of our society.
Worse, much of this debt – more than $1.5 trillion and counting – is in the form of student loans that can't be legally discharged through bankruptcy. Tens of millions of Americans have borrowed far more money than they can ever hope to repay. Yet they can't default or restructure... They're trapped.
In other words, in addition to all the other problems we've discussed, this bubble has helped create a generation of young people with no hope of ever achieving the American dream.
What they do have is numbers...
And as Porter warned last spring in his book The Battle for America, this could lead to one of the most dramatic, and dangerous, shifts in American politics we've ever seen. From the book...
Most people don't realize this yet, but for the first time ever, in 2020, there will be more millennial voters than Baby Boomer voters able to decide a presidential election.
Which is extremely worrisome when, according to a recent study from research firm YouGov, more millennials would prefer to live in a socialist society over a capitalist nation.
This trend is already in motion...
Last November's midterm elections saw a handful of far-left candidates win seats in Congress. But as Porter warned, this was likely just the beginning...
We are about to witness the ugliest presidential election in history...
If you were put off by Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign... or couldn't believe how popular Bernie Sanders's socialist platform was – just wait. The 2020 presidential campaign will "out-liberal" anything you've ever seen...
Our next president will proudly proclaim her socialistic, "social justice" roots, and will offer our fellow citizens more handouts than every other president, combined...
And that's because the only way you get hopeless, debt-burdened millennials to show up and vote for you is simple: by making the most radical promises American politics has ever seen...
Specifically, I believe her campaign will consist of three main platforms:
- A "Debt Jubilee" for the masses
- Medicare for All
- Universal Basic Income
These radical ideas are already being pushed by many of the most influential progressive economists and academics in the nation today.
So, who exactly was this candidate he was referring to?
It was a young senator from California, who was relatively unknown at that time. More from the book...
The politician I believe will become the 2020 Democratic nominee, and likely the next president of the United States – is Senator Kamala Harris. You've probably never heard her name before... But few people knew who Barack Obama was two years before he was elected president in 2008.
Sen. Harris is currently the junior U.S. senator from California, where she assumed office in 2017. Prior to that, she served as the state's attorney general, and before that as district attorney. Former President Obama is a huge fan of hers...
I believe it's just a matter of time before you see her name and face on every news network as she prepares for an eventual run. You see, just like Obama in 2008, Sen. Harris is taking all of the calculated steps a candidate with eyes on the White House would be taking at this early stage...
- She's working on a new book that describes her underdog story and political agenda.
- She's headlining sold-out political fundraising events, raising millions of dollars for the Democratic Party.
- She's giving commencement speeches at left-leaning universities, and appearing on highly viewed talk shows.
- She's assembling a campaign team of former Hillary Clinton aides.
- She formally rejected corporate political action committee (PAC) money, and has even launched an online grassroots small-donor fundraising strategy.
Just about the only thing she hasn't done yet is announce her candidacy.
As of this week, that is no longer the case...
As news service Reuters reported on Monday...
First-term Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a rising party star... launched her 2020 campaign for the White House on Monday in an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Harris, 54, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, enters the race with the potential advantage of being the Democratic candidate who looks most like the party's increasingly diverse base of young, female and minority voters.
"Let's do this, together. Let's claim our future. For ourselves, for our children, and for our country," Harris said in a campaign video that was released to coincide with her television appearance.
Now, make no mistake...
We certainly aren't hoping for this outcome.
As we like to say, the history of socialism is "untarnished by success." Sure, our current "crony capitalist" system is broken, but giving the government even more power is certainly not the solution.
Unfortunately, it appears a whole new generation of Americans is intent on learning this lesson the hard way.
Stay tuned... We'll be following this closely.
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New 52-week highs (as of 1/22/19): Kirkland Lake Gold (KL).
Will you be tuning in to Doc's broadcast tonight? We'd love to hear what you thought of it. Send us a note at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
Regards,
Justin Brill
Baltimore, Maryland
January 23, 2019