What is the biggest problem in the US economy? As Peter Schiff put it in a recent podcast, “The big, fat, ugly bubble is deflating and the air is coming out.”
And that is precisely why Peter thinks Jerome Powell recently appeared on 60 Minutes.
This is part of a confidence road show – a dog and pony show.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took his dovish message to the masses during a recent 60 Minutes interview.
Powell continued to talk about “patience” and reiterated that the Fed “does not feel any hurry” to push rates any higher. He also said the interest rate is “roughly neutral” at this point, calling the current 2.25-2.5% rate “appropriate.”
Central bankers and politicians think they can run the economy.
They can’t.
In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey digs into some fundamental economic theories that explain why these central planners will always fail, no matter how noble their intentions.
All of a sudden, the Federal Reserve is considering increasing its balance sheet again.
Remember back in September? QE was on “autopilot.” Then we got the “Powell Pause” and suddenly, the talk was that balance sheet reduction could be winding down. Powell confirmed that was the case just a couple of weeks ago when he told a congressional panel the central bank would be in a position to “to stop runoff later this year.”
The stock market has rebounded nicely since those dark days of December leading many analysts to believe precipitous nosedive was nothing but a bull market correction. But Peter Schiff begs to differ. He’s been saying that the rally in stock since the Powell Pause is really a bear market correction. Furthermore, Peter says an upcoming recession is a done deal.
During the Orlando Money Show, Mark Skousen moderated a debate between Peter and Louis Navellier. The question was: were we witnessing a bull market correction or a bear market rally in the last three months?
Jerome Powell went to Capitol Hill this week and continued to preach patience. In other words, the Powell Pause is still firmly in play. In fact, the Fed chair confirmed that balance sheet reduction is a done deal. But why this sudden patience? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Mike Maharrey talks about it. He also covers the Q4 GDP report, reveals some more bad economic data and reviews gold’s rollercoaster February.
After weeks of hinting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed that the central bank will end its balance sheet reduction program this year. This just five months after insisting quantitative tightening was on “autopilot.”
“We’ve worked out, I think, the framework of a plan that we hope to be able to announce soon that will light the way all the way to the end of balance sheet normalization,” Powell said during testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
There was a lot of Fed-talk on Friday and the big theme was inflation.
For quite a while, Peter has been asking an important question: what is the Federal Reserve going to do when the inflation level gets above 2%? Well, it looks like its setting the stage.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Was Ben Bernanke lying or just wildly mistaken when he claimed the Federal Reserve wasn’t monetizing the debt in the early days of the financial crisis?
The Fed released the minutes from its January Federal Open Market Committee meeting yesterday. There really weren’t any surprises. The minutes emphasized the central bank will exercise “patience” in raising rates and also signaled that its balance sheet reduction program will end soon. A number of figures at the Fed have hinted that quantitative tightening will end in the near future, including Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.
