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 trade deficit in goods leaped to another record high in March as Americans continue to spend stimulus money printed out of thin air on products they didn’t produce.
The goods trade deficit surged 4.0% last month, hitting an all-time record of $90.6 billion. That tops the previous record of $88 billion set in February.
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.
There’s been some chatter in the financial media about the decline of the gold market. Gold is a relic of the past and crypto will replace it as the go-to safe haven and inflation hedge, according to some. But as host Mike Maharrey explains in this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, the demise of the gold market is greatly exaggerated. A lot of people still want gold. Mike also touches on the national debt in this episode. It’s even worse than most people think.
Ben Bernanke served as the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. He famously told Congress the Fed was absolutely not monetizing the debt in 2008. He said the difference between debt monetization and the Fed’s policy was that the central bank was not providing a permanent source of financing. He said the Treasurys would only remain on the Fed’s balance sheet temporarily. He was obviously wildly mistaken or outright lying.
In this clip from his podcast, Peter Schiff wonders out loud if Bernanke has ever told the truth.
