Peter's Blog

Debt Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

After the Federal Reserve incentivized borrowing with more than a decade of artificially low interest rates and easy money, the debt chickens are coming home to roost. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+, and on Monday, Moody’s cut the credit rating of 10 small and midsize banks.

Australia Ratcheting Up War on Cash

Australia has become the front line in the war on cash with an aggressive effort to ring physical money out of the economy. Over the last financial year, more than a billion dollars worth of physical cash disappeared from circulation, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Australian news service […]

The Real Threat Is a Market-Driven Dollar Downgrade

Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+. While the downgrade won’t significantly impact the US government’s ability to borrow, it should serve as a wake-up call because there is a much bigger problem looming on the horizon: a market-driven downgrade of the US dollar.

Easing Price Inflation Is Transitory

Is price inflation really heading back toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target? Most people in the mainstream seem to think so, and the recent drop in the consumer price index (CPI) appears to support this belief. Price inflation has trended downward over the last several months, with the annual CPI falling from a high of […]

The Fed Follows Its Script and Hikes Again; What’s Next?

I’ll say this about the Federal Reserve: it tends to follow the script. Everybody expected that the central bank would hike rates at the July FOMC meeting, and that’s exactly what it did. The Fed boosted the federal funds rate another 25 basis points to 5.25 to 5.5%.

Millennials Investing in More Gold Than Boomers or X-ers

Millennials are buying more gold than Boomers or Gen-X, according to a recent survey. But there’s a catch. Millennials are also more likely to invest in paper gold instead of physical metal.

Massive Bank of America Paper Losses Underscore Problems in the Banking System

Four months after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the financial crisis sparked by Federal Reserve rate hikes continues to simmer under the surface. As of the end of the first quarter, Bank of America had over $100 billion in unrealized losses on its bond portfolio. This is the exact problem that […]

Better Get Ready; Central Bank Digital Currency Is Coming

You had better get ready for the world of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) because they are coming. And they are coming fast. According to a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as many as 24 CBDCs could be in circulation by 2030.

Fiscal 2023 Budget Deficit Already Higher Than Last Year’s Total With Three Months to Go

With three months left, the fiscal 2023 budget deficit has already eclipsed the massive 2022 shortfall. The US government ran a $227.77 billion deficit in June, pushing the total fiscal 2023 shortfall to $1.393 trillion, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement for June.

Just What the Fed Ordered! CPI Comes In Lower Than Projections

The Federal Reserve got just what it needed – an even cooler-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) report card for June. This could give the central bank a plausible excuse to back off its inflation fight. But make no mistake, inflation isn’t dead or buried.