Fun on Friday: I Wish I Had This Superpower!

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could just talk and your words would alter reality?

It would elevate you to superhero status — or super-villain depending on your propensity to use your power for good or evil.

You know, there’s a real-life person who at least appears to have this superpower.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Think about it. This dude gets up and makes a speech and the entire stock market moves. Bond markets respond. Gold sells off or takes off depending on the Fed chair’s utterances. Powell talks and the entire direction of the economy shifts, or at least gives the impression of shifting. Powell is like EF Hutton – when he speaks, people listen! (If you are too young for that reference, just watch this.)

It’s almost amusing. The Fed had a meeting this week. It didn’t actually do anything. The policy is exactly the same as it was last week. But markets moved based on all the verbiage coming out of the Fed – particularly from Powell. It’s even funnier when you parse out the words and realize the Fed isn’t even saying anything of substance.

Consider this little blurb from the FOMC statement.

“If progress continues broadly as expected, the Committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted.”

What does that even mean?

Somehow, the mainstream got “tapering will definitely start in December” from that word salad. Of course, it doesn’t say that. It says tapering “may soon be warranted.” That also means it may not soon be warranted. And soon could be anytime from tomorrow to years from now, depending on the timeline you’re operating on.

And what does “a moderation in the pace” of asset purchases actually mean? Are they going to taper QE by 10 billion? 20 billion? Sixty-seven cents? And how long are they going to take to get to zero? Powel has said tapering will be “gradual” – another word with no fixed definition.

We have no clue about any of this. I mean, there is literally no real information in that sentence.

But Powell has his superpower, so there ya go! This is what some people refer to as “open mouth operations.” Powell opens his mouth and that become the monetary policy. But I have to think this can’t last forever. I mean, eventually, economics always wins, right?

While we’re on the subject; when I hear people yammering about the “unrestrained free market in the US” I just have to laugh. You don’t have a free market when a brood of politically connected bankers controls the money — when interest rates are manipulated and fixed.

This is not a free market.

Anyway, that’s enough words for me for today. My words don’t have quite the same punch as Powell’s, so I use them sparingly.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. I dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals (however loosely) and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The opinions expressed are my own. They are 100% correct – but not necessarily shared by anybody else here – including Peter Schiff. Click here to read other posts in this series.