On March 1, the national debt eclipsed $28 trillion. The mainstream media hardly gave it a mention. To put the speed of the borrowing into perspective, the US government added $5 trillion to the debt in less than 18 months.
The Federal Reserve was already intervening in the economy prior to the pandemic. Remember, the central bank cut rates three times in 2019 and relaunched quantitative easing that year as well, although it refused to call it QE. Loose monetary policy is the fuel that runs the US bubble economy.
Congress recently passed coronavirus stimulus 3.0, adding another $1.9 trillion in federal spending to the already massive fiscal 2021 budget deficit. That brings total spending related to COVID-19 to somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 trillion.
Meanwhile, the national debt has skyrocketed past $28 trillion. The US government has added $5 trillion to the debt in less than 18 months.
It might be tempting to blame all of this spending and the bloated government that comes with it on the coronavirus, but the trajectory of borrowing and spending was heading skyward even before the pandemic. In fact, the US government has been growing in size and scope for over 40 years, even as progressives bemoaned it as an era of government atrophy.
We’ve talked extensively about the growing levels of debt in the economy. The national debt recently eclipsed $28 trillion. Corporate debt was already skyrocketing prior to the pandemic. All of this is driven by loose Federal Reserve monetary policy designed to drive borrowing. And people wonder why Peter Schiff insists the Fed can’t actually let interest rates rise to fight inflation.
As economist Doug French highlighted, there’s another segment of the economy buried in debt – the commercial real estate market. The problem is compounded by the fact that the value of commercial real estate is falling like a rock thanks to a shift toward work-at-home and the brick-and-mortar retail apocalypse. In a nutshell, the commercial real estate market is plagued by too much debt and not enough assets.
Last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before Congress. In his answer to one question, it sure did sound like he doesn’t believe in the basic economic principle of supply and demand. Peter Schiff talks about it in this clip from one of his podcasts.
We just celebrated St. Patrick Day and that got me thinking about Leprechauns – specifically their pots of gold. I mean, what is a Leprechaun anyway? And how in the heck did they get gold? I’d like to have a pot of gold. Maybe I could get some tips from them.
Now you would think with a name like Maharrey I would be up on my Irish lore. But alas, not so much. Fortunately, we have Google.
The Federal Reserve held its March FOMC meeting this week. There were no changes in monetary policy, but there was plenty of talk. The question is does anybody really believe what the Fed is saying? SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast says the mainstream doesn’t seem to believe the Fed. And he doesn’t either. But for very different reasons.
COMEX is the primary futures and options market for trading metals such as gold and silver. There have been some interesting trends for silver in the COMEX in recent months. More investors are taking delivery of silver. In other words, the short squeeze may still be on track – albeit in slow motion – and this could impact the silver price moving forward.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its March FOMC meeting yesterday. As expected, there were no policy changes. Interest rates remain at zero. Quantitative easing carries on as it has been. Peter talked about the Fed meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s messaging in his podcast. He said the Fed is playing a game of chicken with interest rates and inflation.
As Peter Schiff pointed out during a recent interview with NTD News, America has never done worse on trade. He called it a sign that we don’t have a recovering economy. In fact, we have a phony economy in danger of collapse.
The annual trade deficit for goods came in at an all-time high in January, increasing $3.4 billion to a record $221.1 billion. In another sign of the massive trade imbalance, there is a shortage of shipping containers to bring things into the US.
We’ve gotten quite a bit of economic data this week. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell insists inflation is anchored at 2%. But his assurances notwithstanding, a lot of the data signals inflation. In his podcast, Peter went over some of the numbers and concluded that inflation isn’t anchored at all. It’s anchors aweigh. We are adrift in a sea of inflation.
