Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell performed some “open mouth operations” on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Powell talked and the markets freaked out.
The markets still seem to believe the Federal Reserve can ratchet price inflation back down to 2% while bringing the economy to a relatively soft landing. In his podcast, Peter Schiff throws cold water on this hopeful narrative. He goes through the economic data that came out last week shows that all roads appear to lead to a hard landing and higher inflation.
Despite the hotter-than-expected CPI data for January, most people still seem confident that the Federal Reserve can win the inflation fight, drive CPI back to 2% in relatively short order, and then return to the easy monetary policy we all have come to expect. Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey does not share this optimism. In this episode, he outlines three reasons the Fed won’t win the inflation fight.
While price inflation has eased modestly from its peak, Americans are still dealing with rapidly increasing prices, and that is squeezing their pocketbooks. And of course, the pain falls disproportionately on the working poor and people living on fixed incomes.
As Ron Paul explains, rising prices and a more aggressive IRS mean servers in the restaurant industry are getting hit with a double whammy.
The Federal Reserve is bleeding money and losses are mounting.
So, what does this mean? Is the central bank in danger of going under?
Hardly.
In fact, losing money isn’t a problem for the Fed at all. But it is a big problem for the US government.
Joe Biden might be confident in the US economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell might be confident about the US economy. But the average American? Not so much.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell for the second straight month in February, dropping from a downwardly revised 106.0 in January to 102.9.
Peter Schiff appeared on Greg Hunter’s USA Watchdog.com show to talk about inflation and the economy. Peter didn’t paint a rosy picture, explaining that the Federal Reserve is ultimately going to throw in the towel on the inflation fight in order to fight something much worse – economic collapse.
The markets basically shrugged off the hotter-than-expected inflation data for January. Most people remain convinced that the Fed can easily get price inflation back to 2% without wrecking the economy. But in his podcast, Peter explains that stuffing that inflation genie back into the bottle is a lot harder than most people seem to think.
Why should you own gold in your investment portfolio? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about some reasons to own gold, including its historical wealth-preserving qualities and its role as a safe haven. He also talks about a new buzzword central bankers and politicians are using to make inflation seem less bad.
The January CPI report threw cold water on the idea that the Federal Reserve has inflation under control. While the headline annual CPI came down a tick to 6.4%, month-on-month prices rose by 0.5%. After the data came out, Peter Schiff appeared on NTD News to explain why inflation is going to get even worse.