As Ron Paul pointed out, the recent brouhaha at the Federal Reserve when information came out revealing several central bank officials making multiple multimillion-dollar stock trades in 2020 even as the Fed was putting its big fat thumb on the economic scales was a minor thing compared to the bigger scandal – the everyday operation of the Fed.
The Fed engages in price-fixing. And it fixes one of the most important prices in the economy – the price of money. Peter Schiff said this always ends in a disaster.
There was a recent scandal at the Federal Reserve when information came out revealing that several central bank officials made multiple multimillion-dollar stock trades in 2020 even as the Fed was putting its big fat thumb on the economic scales. But as Ron Paul points out, there’s an even bigger scandal over at the Federal Reserve and it’s a matter of policy. The Fed’s manipulation of monetary policy and the broader economy impoverishes ordinary Americans, even as it enriches the elites, and facilitates government debt and deficits.
We’ve written extensively about the “war on cash.” In a nutshell, governments would love to do away with cash in order to better track and control their citizens. There have been numerous moves closer to a cashless society in recent years, from capping ATM withdrawals to doing away with large-denomination bills. Last year, China launched a digital yuan pilot program and the US has floated moving toward a digital dollar.
The Federal Reserve not only runs US monetary policy with its interest rate manipulations and its quantitative easing program; it also “regulates” financial institutions. That’s why the fact that several Fed members made multiple multimillion-dollar stock trades in 2020 even as the central bank was putting its big fat thumb on the economic scales is more than a little problematic.
For months, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has insisted that inflation is “transitory.” Instead of laying out a plan to taper quantitative easing, Powell used his Jackson Hole speech to double down on that narrative. Looking at the bigger picture, the US government has created a CPI calculation that intentionally understates rising prices.
This raises a question: why are the government and the Fed so desperate to hide price inflation?
The August jobs numbers came in much lower than expected, a kick in the teeth for those touting the “improving economy” narrative. Meanwhile, personal incomes continue to grow but rising prices are eating up that growth and then some.
The economic data suggest the Fed’s plan is failing and stagflation looms on the horizon.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Federal Reserve tapering quantitative easing. So far, it’s been nothing but talk.
A lot of people expected Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to offer some details and perhaps a timeline for the taper during his Jackson Hole speech. We got no such thing. Instead, he tapered the taper talk. In fact, Powell never uttered the word “taper.” he spent most of the speech trying to prop up his “transitory” inflation narrative.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon slamming shut the so-called “gold window” and severing the last ties between the dollar and gold.
On Aug. 15, 1971, Nixon ordered Treasury Secretary John Connally to uncouple gold from its fixed $35 price and suspended the ability of foreign banks to directly exchange dollars for gold. Nixon’s order was the end of a path off the gold standard that started during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, and it set the foundation for the massive government spending and inflation we’re dealing with today.
According to the Federal Reserve, it exists to “stabilize” the economy. Does it though?
Despite inflation coming in hotter than expected month after month this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assures us we need not worry. This surge of inflation is “transitory.” But even if it isn’t we still don’t need to worry. He assures us that if inflation does prove to be significant and “materially” above its 2% goal, the Fed will use its tools to guide inflation back down.
We’ve been talking a lot about rising prices. The CPI has come in hotter than expected every month this year. We’re paying more to buy less.
We see the impacts of inflation on price tags, but sometimes it squeezes us more subtlety. It’s known as “shrinkflation.”
