Turning Hard Times Into Good Times

John Rubino, Gwen Preston and Eric Coffin return. You might be surprised to learn that according to Bloomberg, the only S&P 500 sector (excluding Financials) that is enjoying positive free cash flows after factoring out consumer price inflation is the gold and silver mining sector. Gold & silver miners are enjoying a positive inflation adjusted free cash flow of ~+1.0%. Other sectors cash flows? Materials ~-0.5%, Consumer discretionary ~-1.0%, Energy ~-1.25%, Consumer Staples ~-1.3%, Industrials ~-2.0%, Communications services ~-2.1%, Health Care ~-2.9%, Information Technology ~-3.1%, Real Estate ~-4.75% & Utilities ~-8.5%. Meantime, for the first time since the 1970s, wage inflation is just beginning to spiral upward as labor shortage puts common workers in the driver’s seat. Workers are starting to go on strike more aggressively than any time since the 1970s leading to rising wages that lead to higher inflation, that result in still more demands from workers for still higher wages in the form of