I’ve been spending considerable time over the past 90 days going over 24 books and 129 chart patterns that deal with late-cycle investing.

It’s not up for debate that we are in the later parts of this bull market. Ten years ago, thanks to some cosmic fluke, while the entire financial system was in shambles and sending shock waves through the media, in the same manner the Twin Towers collapsing was broadcasted throughout the globe 24/7, I happened to be river-rafting in the Colorado River. My future wife, my 22-year-old brother, and myself, aged 24, were out of contact with civilization, with no cell signal, while the price of, pretty much, every asset class on the planet, was going down faster than an alpine skier flies through the Swiss Alps.

The current financial system, especially as it was used in those years by U.S. banking interests and Washington power brokers, had caused over-leverage to the point of insanity.

The limits of credit were stretched and maxed-out.

What’s worse is that only a few dozen people were truly aware of the danger. It’s unbelievable to think how many problems this derivatives-economy can have, without it communicating transparently the dangers inherent in it to the public or even the higher echelons.

It’s best to assume we know 1% of what’s going on at all times. Only by being humble can we truly be prepared.

Now, when I say that we must haul ass, I mean it.

Today, I want to show you that no one in Washington cares about you. I wish to leave you impressed with the thought, that you must look within for a way out of any drama or predicaments you face in life. Even the lifeline that Americans and Europeans have been relying on for decades, in the form of retirement money, is at jeopardy.

In 2008, while I was having a blast, fighting with 4-5 level rapids and sleeping on the riverbanks for four nights, my portfolio was fighting to stay afloat.

Since I use put options insurance and hedge a big chunk of my micro-cap speculation portfolio, automatic stop-losses and pre-programmed options were triggered, which helped me ride out the meltdown without getting margin calls and with a 25% cash position, at my disposal.

Stocks were cheap. Real estate was cheap. Assets, almost all types, were cheap, but nothing guaranteed they would not stay that way for a long time. Then, the three musketeers, whom I reckon 250,000,000 Americans don’t even know their names, Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner, and Ben Bernanke, were in the difficult position to come up with a strategy to pull the greatest economy, to ever exist, out of the hole it dug.

They decided to sacrifice the majority to save the few. Tax money belongs to the productive, working class. We’re talking about small businesses, employees, low-level and mid-level, who are the backbone of this economy.

Bill Gates is worth $100B, thanks to (1) a functioning economy, comprised of hundreds of millions of people, who get up in the morning to improve their lot in life and (2) the purchasing power and equity positions of our remarkable society. In a broken society, Bill Gates wouldn’t be rich.

There is a balance to things in life. One cannot become rich and wealthy, in general, without providing value to a group of people, willing to pay for the value added. A healthy economy is to benefit of everyone.

The wealthy and the poor are two sides of the same coin. All monetary policy and any fiscal policy, going forward, must help society, as a whole, then, not certain factions of it.

Yet, in 2008, bailout money, which could have been funneled into the pockets of distressed homeowners, or towards small business owners, or be used to initiate government infrastructure programs, which this country desperately needed, instead went to the rich, who kept it ALL.

In 2009, THEIR personal recovery began, but not yours, most likely. For all we know, the recovery never happened for large faction of the population, who don’t own assets or are employed with the companies, which floutished post-crisis, but the rich, on the other hand, saw their net worth go above pre-crisis levels in 2012 already, on average.

The poor and middle-class are still looking to see some of that tax money coming home to help them, but I bet they will only get to see the parade passing by, unable to join it.

We’ll soon call it a wrap on this recovery and begin to experience the contraction, see layoffs, witness lower productivity, and problems will start to surface again.

So, this is it. You’re seeing it. This is your personal recovery in action. Now, prepare for a recession, because it won’t get much better than it is right now.

I don’t think the shareholders of the distressed banks, which were saved, will ever be asked to give back any of the gains made with the use of taxpayers’ money. No, quite to the contrary, I think that entitlements will be attacked next.

Between now and the next elections cycle, we will continue to see the stock market moving higher, but the uncertainty of the next presidency in the U.S. will end this bull market.

The next president, Trump or otherwise, will have the toughest task of any politician. To a public official, nothing hurts more than telling the truth. Painting an accurate picture of conditions is the least popular act in their rulebook, but it will need to happen.

Between now and then, investment-wise, Wealth Research Group sees cannabis as the most lucrative opportunity.

I’ve seen many emerging trends in my 18 years of full-time investing. Cannabis stocks will go through a mania phase, and it is already beginning.

Freshly-Minted Millionaires will be created – there’s not a shred of doubt in my mind. In fact, it is already occurring now.

The Rockefeller oil cartel has robbed modern science from studying this marvelous plant and has paid millions to think tanks, lobbyists, and politicians to create the “Reefer Madness” scare, which turned this plant into a federally illegal substance. In the 1920’s, as they built the oil empire, hemp was becoming a cheap alternative to their gasoline, so they sought to eliminate competition in the old fashioned way, by bribing crooked politicians.

It’s interesting to listen to the hemp farmers of the day, who saw federal agents burn their fields, after cannabis was banned, but the cannabis smokers were left untouched. It was never about public “safety.” It was business.

Medical and adult-use cannabis brands will continue rising in value in the coming 24 months, and early positioning will keep resulting in life-changing gains for us.

Legalization is a magical, fortune-making opportunity. 

Best Regards,

Lior Gantz
President, WealthResearchGroup.com