Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan has been one of the more hawkish Fed members. On Aug 11, he said the Fed should announce a quantitative easing taper in September and begin slowing asset purchases in October. But two weeks later, Kaplan backed off that assertion, saying that with the surge of COVID-19, he was open to adjusting his view. In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” financial analyst Jim Grant explained why the Fed is playing with fire.
As prices continue to spiral upward and the Federal Reserve maintains its inflationary monetary policy, a lot of people in the mainstream keep talking about inflation as a good thing. Peter Schiff said it seems like they’re trying to soften us up and make us willing to accept higher inflation. But as he explains in this clip from his podcast, these pundits are missing a fundamental truth — no matter how much money the Federal Reserve prints, it can’t print actual stuff.
While there is a lot of talk about the Federal Reserve tapering its asset purchases, no such tapering is actually happening.
In the week ending Aug. 18, the Fed pushed its balance sheet to yet another record with the addition of another $85.4 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The balance sheet now stands at a record $8.34 trillion.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Federal Reserve tapering its asset purchases. Peter Schiff talked about it during his podcast, saying even if the Fed does get around to tapering, that doesn’t equate to a legitimately tight monetary policy. Furthermore, any tapering today sows the seeds for its own destruction.
This week marked the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon slamming shut the “gold window” and cutting the last tether between the dollar and gold. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains exactly what Nixon did and the impact of 50 years of monopoly money. He also covers some of the week’s economic data and the release of the Fed’s July minutes.
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.
The Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy through its quantitative easing programs. This has generated a surge of inflation. But there are other less obvious impacts from the Fed’s extraordinary monetary policy. It conceals risk. Everybody sees a “booming” economy and assumes everything is fine. But underneath, the entire thing is rotting from the inside.
GDP for Q2 came in far below expectation at an annualized rate of 6.5%. But despite being a big miss, 6.5% growth is still pretty solid — until you consider what it took to buy that growth.
As economist Daniele Lacalle pointed out, the Fed and the US government rolled out the biggest fiscal and monetary policy in history. All we got from it was a momentary sugar high.
Gold and silver tanked after last Friday’s job report. But both metals have rallied a bit since the July CPI numbers came in right at expectations. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey looks a little deeper at jobs and CPI. Then he goes off-script and addresses some listener comments.
The July Consumer Price Index (CPI) data came out this week. For the first time, the numbers were in line with expectations, leading many mainstream pundits to declare “transitory” inflation is already starting to cool down. Peter Schiff broke down the report in his podcast. He said inflation is far from cooling off. In fact, when it comes to rising prices, you haven’t seen anything yet.
