Interest rates continue to rise. Gold continues to languish. The stock market bubble continues to inflate. In his podcast, Peter Schiff argues that investors are reading the tea leaves all wrong. They think rising rates are going to force the Fed to tighten monetary policy sooner than expected. But Peter says there is a reality out there that nobody wants to acknowledge.
The Federal Reserve expanded its record holdings of US Treasuries in the fourth quarter of 2020 as it continued monetizing the massive federal debt.
The Federal Reserve added another $253 billion to its Treasury holdings in Q4 according to the Fed’s Treasury International Capital data released on Feb. 16. That brought the central bank’s US bond holdings to $4.7 trillion. The Federal Reserve now holds a record 17.5% of all US debt.
The Federal Reserve increased the money supply at a record rate in 2020. And a move recently announced by the US Treasury Department will mean even more money flooding into the marketplace. In other words, another tidal wave of inflation.
Is Jerome Powell the most dovish Fed chair yet?
Peter Schiff said he wasn’t when he first took the position and was raising interest rates. But he is now. The minutes from the January FOMC meeting released last week bear this out.
“We’re all doves now. That is the problem, the Fed gets progressively more dovish,” Peter said in a recent podcast.
A bill introduced in the Kansas House would recognize gold and silver specie as legal tender and repeal all taxes levied on it. The legislation would pave the way for Kansans to use gold and silver in everyday transactions, a foundational step for the people to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
After three straight months of sagging retail sales, American consumers flush with stimulus money went on a spending spree last month. Retail sales surged 5.3% to start the year, significantly beating expectations. In his podcast, Peter Schiff called it Christmas in January.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January meeting this week. It featured some pretty thick Fed-speak. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey translates and tells you what the Fed is telling you about inflation. He also talks about why he thinks gold and silver are both struggling in an economic environment that should be bullish for precious metals.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called for a “society-wide” commitment to reaching full employment. As Peter Schiff put it, Powell basically handed the US government a blank check in order to achieve this “maximum employment goal.” We’re told we shouldn’t even worry about the massive deficit spending and additional debt this will incur. It’s all hands on deck and everybody needs to sacrifice. But what exactly does the Fed mean by “maximum employment?” What are we to sacrifice for?
Nobody knows. Not even the Fed.
The bond market is getting clobbered. Long-term interest rates are rising and that is putting significant pressure on gold. Peter Schiff talked about rising rates and the gold market in a recent podcast. He said the rise in long-term yields is a function of inflation and people seem to forget that inflation is good for gold.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he wasn’t worried at all about inflation. But there are signs that inflation is heating up everywhere, from surging commodity prices to rising bond yields. In his podcast Friday (Feb 12) Peter Schiff talked about increasing inflation and the unreasonable expectations Wall Street has when it comes to the Fed’s willingness or ability to do anything about it.
