The Federal Reserve still seems to be hoping that inflation will just go away on its own or that it can jawbone it down by projecting a few little rate hikes. But the Consumer Price Index data keeps dashing its hopes. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about the January CPI and the Fed’s proposed “fight” against inflation. He also discusses the demand forecast for silver this year.
With little fanfare, the national debt crossed the $30 trillion threshold this week. That is an unfathomable number. And as host Mike Maharrey explains in this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, it’s worse than that. Most people aren’t concerned. Maharrey argues that they should be, likening the federal government’s borrow and spend policy to a monetary Jenga game.
The Federal Reserve held its first FOMC meeting of 2022. The central bank didn’t do anything, but the tone coming out of the meeting was widely perceived as even more “hawkish.” Everybody is convinced the Fed really means it now. The inflation fight is on. Is it though? Host Mike Maharrey talks about the messaging and perceptions coming out of this meeting and calls it a big flim-flam.
It is often said that perception is reality. Politicians spend a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to shape perceptions. So, how does the average American perceive the US economy? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about economic perceptions – both those the politicians are trying to create and those actually held by American consumers.
December gave us another big jump in consumer prices. But despite a lot of talk about an inflation war, accommodative monetary policy remains in play. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey breaks down the CPI data, Jerome Powell’s Senate testimony, and Joe Biden’s plan to fix rising meat prices. That story has a fun plot twist.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from the December FOMC meeting this week. They were even more hawkish than expected. That sparked a big taper tantrum in the markets. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey gives an overview of the minutes and then asks seven poignant questions they raise that aren’t being asked by the mainstream.
We’re on the cusp of a new year. We certainly had a wild ride in 2021 with continuing coronavirus drama, inflation that turned out to be not so transitory, and a record-breaking stock market bubble. So, what was the biggest story of 2021? Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey thinks it was a story that wasn’t told – the story of real interest rates. He wraps up the year by telling that story.
We got more bad inflation news this week as the Federal Reserve wrapped up its final FOMC meeting of the year. Supposedly, the central bank has launched its war on inflation. Has it though? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about inflation and the Fed meeting and explains why it looks more like the Fed is taking a pea shooter into a bazooka fight.
Pretty much everybody now expects the Federal Reserve to go to war against inflation, but the central bank has a problem not many people seem to be talking about – an economy buried under debt. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about consumer debt levels and their ramifications. He also discusses central bank gold-buying and breaks the November CPI data live.
After President Biden announced he was reappointing Jerome Powell for a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman, Powell went hawkish, saying it’s time to retire the word “transitory” when it comes to inflation and talking about speeding up the taper. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the Powell transformation and questions whether a dove can really change his feathers.
