Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did a big flip-flop this week. Her comments and her subsequent attempt to walk them back were telling. She accidentally revealed the ugly truth about inflation and the central bank’s ability to deal with it. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey takes Yellen to task. He also talks about the recent rally in both gold and silver.
Inflation is the word of the day.
We’ve been talking about inflation for months, but now the mainstream is starting to pay attention to rising prices. In corporate board rooms, board members are talking about passing along their increased costs to their customers. Consumers are trying to tighten budgets. But the Federal Reserve keeps telling us there isn’t a problem. Inflation – so we’re told – is transitory. In his podcast, Peter Schiff said the central bankers at the Fed have to tell us that because they can’t be honest about inflation.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent markets into a tizzy on Tuesday when she said interest rates may have to rise to keep the economy from overheating with all the government stimulus. But later in the day, she walked those comments back, claiming inflation isn’t going to be a problem and insisting that she wasn’t suggesting or predicting rate hikes.
Yellen’s flipflop is telling. Even if inflation is an issue (and it is), there isn’t a darn thing the Federal Reserve can do about it.
A lot of the economic data that came out last week looked pretty good. GDP growth came in big in the first quarter. Personal income rose by a record amount in March. The mainstream spun it all as positive, raving as if the economy is earning an ‘A.’ But in his podcast, Peter Schiff argues that the only reason the economy isn’t getting an F is because the Federal Reserve is cheating on the test.
There was a lot of news and economic data that came out this week. The Fed held its April meeting. President Biden unveiled yet another tax and spend plan. And the Q1 GDP numbers came out. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey gives an overview of the week’s news and draws a rather unsettling conclusion — this economy is totally jacked up.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its April meeting yesterday. Again, there were no changes in actual policy, leaving everybody to try to parse out meaning from the FOMC’s statement and Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference.
When you boil it all down, it was pretty much the same song and dance from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
By and large, the mainstream is bullish on the economy. According to conventional wisdom, we are in the midst of a robust recovery. In fact, many people out there believe the Fed is going to have to tighten monetary policy sooner rather than later. But there are a few people in the mainstream who seem to have caught a glimpse behind the veil. Former JP Morgan managing director Jon Deane told Kitco News that we’re sitting on an economic cliff. And because of that, Deane is extremely bullish on gold and silver.
Most people view the Federal Reserve as an important policy-making body driving the economy. But in this clip from an interview with Jay Matin at Cambridge House, Peter Schiff says the Fed’s primary role is that of a marketing firm selling the populace on bad economics and trying to convince everybody that everything is great.
Peter said he thinks a large part of the Fed’s job today is public relations and spin.
The Arkansas Senate has passed a bill that would exempt gold and silver bullion and coins from sales tax. This would not only relieve some of the tax burdens on investors in the state; it would also take a small step toward treating gold and silver as money instead of as commodities.
America has turned into a consumption economy. The problem is, economies can’t run on consumption. Peter Schiff explains in this clip from a recent interview.
Consumption economies are bubble economies.”