Everybody knew that the Federal Reserve wasn’t going to hike rates at the September FOMC meeting. And yet everybody waited with bated breath to hear what Jerome Powell would say. In his podcast, Peter Schiff explained why people hang on Powell’s every word. It’s not because they think he knows what inflation or interest rates will be next year. They realize that Powell is just guessing. So, why do people care what he thinks?
Meanwhile, inflation is strong — not the economy.
The FOMC and the Bank of England stood pat on interest rates this week. Following the FOMC’s decision, gold and silver fell on the back of its hawkish statement before recovering slightly. In Europe this morning, gold was $1926 up a net $2 from last Friday’s close. Silver fared much better at $23.68, up 65 cents. Silver is obviously in a bear squeeze, while hedge funds have become disinterested in gold.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its September meeting on Wednesday and left interest rates unchanged. But Powell and Company had plenty to say. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey breaks down the rhetoric and argues that what the Fed says and what it will do are two different things.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at the September FOMC meeting, but the committee indicated that it plans to hold rates higher for longer than originally projected.
As you digest the Fed meeting, it’s important to remember that there is a big difference between “saying” and “doing.”
Russia and the Saudis are driving up oil and diesel prices. But these moves are likely to undermine the rouble more than they undermine the dollar, euro, and other major currencies. Therefore, higher energy prices will rebound on the Russians this winter: if they shiver in Germany, they will freeze in Russia. If the dollar is king of the fiats, the rouble is just a lowly serf.
There is little doubt that Putin and his advisers are aware of this problem. Plan A was to introduce a new gold-backed BRICS currency which might be expected to weaken the dollar and euro relative to the rouble. Plan B was more drastic: to back the rouble itself with gold. This is the financial equivalent of dropping a hydrogen bomb on the dollar and the global fiat currency system upon which it is based.
Most people think everything is fine. The Fed is getting inflation under control and soon they’ll be able to cut interest rates, keeping the economy from falling into a deep recession. In his podcast, Peter Schiff poured cold water on this narrative. He explains why the Fed won’t be able to repeat the magic it pulled off after the financial crisis and COVID.
As the world descends into a much-heralded recession, the surprise will be that interest rates will continue to rise as economic activity contracts. This is not what the economic establishment expects.
This article puts the outlook in the context of classical economic theory, when it was the principles behind the division of labour which went unchallenged. Adopting the theme of Say’s law, this article permits a forecast with a high degree of certainty that far from a recession leading to lower prices, lower interest rates, and therefore investor heaven, it will lead to higher prices, higher interest rates, budget deficits soaring out of control, and liquidation of the dollar by over-exposed foreign holders.
As evidence mounts that the major Western economies are heading into a banking and monetary crisis due to contracting credit, we face the consequences of unsound money. The era of fiat is drawing to a close and its death will be painful for the highly indebted advanced economies in North America, Europe, and Japan. History and legal precedent tell us that fiat will die and gold will return to provide an anchor to credit system values.
Gold is nature’s money.
Aristotle listed four characteristics of sound money: it must be durable, portable, divisible, and have intrinsic value. Gold possesses all of these characteristics, which is why gold has served as money for thousands of years.
There is a growing consensus that the Federal Reserve can slay price inflation while guiding the economy to a “soft landing.” In fact, Fed economists now project the US economy will not spin into a recession. Other mainstream pundits and prognosticators have taken up this narrative. But there are plenty of reasons to doubt it.
