Soaring gold prices look like a warning to BOTH sides in Washington

Gold crossed the $4,000-per-ounce line this week; with nearly three months to go, the price is up 51% this year — the biggest jump since it soared 126% in 1979, deep in the depths of Jimmy Carter’s stagflation, gas lines and foreign-policy disasters.

In other words, gold spikes historically indicate investor panic; the metal’s seen as the safest place to put money when everything else is going south.

Yet the nation’s just seen two straight quarters of nearly 4% economic growth; the stock market’s hitting record highs.

And whatever hit the economy’s taken from tariffs, the boost from President Donald Trump’s energy policies, deregulation and tax cuts is clearly far stronger.

Maybe it’s simply that the administration seems inclined toward a weaker, not stronger, dollar: In July, the prez told reporters that a strong dollar “is good for inflation, that’s about it” but said it harms tourism and exports.

Plus, Trump’s tough talk on the Federal Reserve adds to the risks the Fed will cut interest rates faster than it thinks it should, potentially reopening the (not yet completely closed) door to Bidenflation.

Or the markets could fear international instability producing central-bank panic, or the chance that the AI boom will suddenly implode.

Perhaps it’s all about worries that our bitter divided politicians in Washington seem completely unable to agree on reducing federal debt that’s now soared past $37 trillion — and Democrats have shut down the government and demanded $1.5 trillion in new, unfunded spending to reopen it.

Nobody can really know right now, but this danger signal suggests that 1) the prez might want to stop talking the dollar down when the economy’s zipping along, and 2) Republicans would be foolish to blink in the face of Democrats’ spendapalooza blackmail.