01.24.25- 11 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is Bad
Michael Snyder

Most Americans realize that the federal government is drowning in debt and that inflation is out of control.  But very few Americans can coherently explain where money comes from or how our financial system actually works.  For decades, bankers that we do not elect have controlled America’s currency, have run our economy into the ground, and have driven the U.S. government to the brink of bankruptcy.  The Federal Reserve is an institution that was designed to drain wealth from U.S. taxpayers and transfer it to the global elite. Read More

01.23.25- Too Few Appreciate the Dangers of Our Fraudulent Money System
Dr Chris Martenson

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01.22.25- Opposing the Keynesian Illusion: Spending Does Not Drive the Economy
Jonathan Newman

Keynes held that the economy can suffer extended periods of high unemployment because of deficient aggregate spending. A contraction in spending results in businesses having excess inventories and reduced revenues. Businesses respond by cutting back and decreasing their demand for labor. Due to “sticky wages,” this results in a large decrease in employment and incomes for workers. The problem comes full circle and self-aggravating because workers as a whole must restrict their spending due to their reduced incomes. Read More

01.21.25- Our 101 Trillion Dollar Problem: This Is The Number One Tool The Elite Use To Enslave Us
Michael Snyder

Right now, a tremendous awakening is happening as people all over the world become educated about the tools that the elite use to enslave us to their system.  The number one tool that they use to enslave us is debt.  The financial powers of the world use it to enslave individuals, corporations and governments.  For thousands of years humanity has been taught the proverb that “the borrower is the servant of the lender”, and yet today billions of people around the globe have willingly made themselves servants of the money powers. Read More

01.20.25- And Now, foe Something Entirely Different: From Ozzie & Harriet
to the Kardashians
Donald Jeffries

Recently, I discovered that Pluto TV has all the episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. You have Pluto if you have a smart TV. So that’s become my new nightly routine, watching them until the warmth and nostalgia eventually breaks down my chronic insomnia. It was a remarkably well done show, starring really talented people. Read More

01.18.25- Price Inflation Rose Again in December, Climbing to a Ten-Month High
Ryan McMaken

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in December accelerated while the month-to month increase hit a multi-month high.

The seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.39 percent, month over month, in December, rising to a ten-month high. Year over year, the CPI rose 2.88 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted. That’s a five-month high. Read More

01.17.25- On Joe Biden’s last day, the US is dangerously close to the point of no return
James Hickman

It’s hilarious how Joe Biden spent his entire four year administration using tech companies to suppress dissent and censor critics. He now claims those same tech companies are a threat to democracy.

He just awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to billionaire George Soros, who notoriously uses his money to meddle in elections and fund ultra-woke leftist politicians. But billionaires who fund causes on the right are a threat to democracy.Read More

01.16.25- 161 And Now, for Something Entirely Differrent: Years Ago, A Farmer Warned Us About The Dangers Of AI –
And He Was Right!
Michael Snyder

On June 13th, 1863, The Press newspaper of Christchurch, New Zealand published an ominous letter that warned that machines would eventually become more intelligent and more powerful than humans.  The letter was entitled “Darwin Among the Machines”, and it was written by an English sheep farmer living in New Zealand named Samuel Butler.  He argued that humans are literally “creating our own successors”, and he was entirely convinced that at some point in the future “we shall find ourselves the inferior race”. Read More

01.15.25- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Weaponizing the US Dollar. Can It Work?
Michael Hudson

Trump has promoted a number of plans to make America strong – at other countries’ expense. Given his “we win; you lose” motto, some of his plans would produce the opposite effect of what he imagines.

That would not be much of a change in U.S. policy. But I suggest that Hudson’s Law may be peaking under Trump: Every U.S. action attacking other countries tends to backfire and end up costing American policy at least twice as much. Read More

01.14.25- The Big Bond Battle
David Haggith

Today’s top economic article is about the battle between stocks and bonds and even between US bonds and the global economy, which is all going to intensify this year. While I wrote extensively about that in this past weekend’s Deeper Dive, it’s helpful to see that Bloomberg is now saying the same thing with equal emphasis.

So, here are the highlights of a situation they are calling a “global bond tantrum,” which they claim is a “wrenching and worrisome” start to the New Year. If you read the full Deeper Dive, you know exactly where I think this is going to go … and why. And it’s here to stay for awhile: Read More

01.13.25- "Too Big to Fail"
Banks Sparked the 2008 Crisis...?
Madge Waggy

According to wallstreetonparade– It took eight years of research to compile a data set of annual balance sheets of more than 11,000 commercial banks dating back to 1870 in 17 advanced economies. And in every country, the study arrived at the same finding: concentrating the banking system in the hands of five or less giant banks leads to financial instability and more severe financial crises. The bank balance sheets of the following countries were examined: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Read More

01.11.25- Why two Fed officials doubt the need for many more rate cuts
Greg Robb

Benchmark rate is already close to the goal of ‘neutral,’ Bowman and Schmid say

Two top Federal Reserve officials on Thursday questioned the need for many more interest rate cuts. Read More

01.10.25- Fed can soothe Trump or Treasuries, not both
Mike Dolan

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Extreme bond market agitation has put the Federal Reserve in a bind. It can either cool long-term inflation fears or acquiesce to President-elect Donald Trump's complaints about interest rates being "far too high."

It can't do both and will likely opt to tackle the former, potentially setting up a running verbal battle with the White House over the coming year. Read More

01.09.25- Bond Bomb Goes Off
David Haggith

It just got ugly in the bond market. Ugly for stocks, anyway. Ugly for those owning bonds to trade. Good for those wanting to buy safe Treasury interest to hold to maturity.

Janet Yellen figured out that Covid stimulus may have contributed “a little bit” to inflation. What a chipmunk! With dim-bulb illumination like that, it’s no wonder she finds it “hard to see how the math [of DOGE] works.” Is it hard to see how government efficiency helps reduce the budget deficit, Dear Yanet? Read More

01.08.25- Central banks continue their great gold grab in November
Krishan Gopaul

Assessing the final act of 2024, central banks around the world continued to play a leading role in the demand for gold. November represented another solid month of gold buying as central banks collectively added a net 53t to global official holdings based on available reported data. This extends the broader trend observed throughout this year where central banks – mostly those from emerging markets – have remained keen buyers of gold, driven by the need for a stable asset amid global economic uncertainties. Read More

01.07.25- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Why Russia’s biggest threat
is China
Richard (Rick) Mills

A few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping of China declared theirs was a partnership that contained no limits. 

Since the Russian army crossed the border into Ukraine, the Chinese have not once criticized Russia’s actions, and have abstained on every critical vote at the United Nations including one condemning Russia’s annexations of four Ukrainian oblasts, or territories. Read More

01.06.25- Status of US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency: USD Share Hits 30-Year Low as Central Banks Pile on Other Currencies & Gold
Wolf Richter

If the rate of decline over the past 10 years continues, the dollar’s share will sink below 50% by 2034. Read More

01.04.25- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Now The Mainstream Media Is Talking About The “Mystery Fog” Phenomenon That Is Causing Panic All Over America
Michael Snyder

Has there been an unusual amount of fog in your area lately?  If so, did a lot of people in your area start getting sick after the fog arrived?  All of a sudden, fog has become one of the hottest topics on social media, and even the mainstream media is now talking about this phenomenon.  But is there any validity to this story?  I am going to try to be balanced and I am going to share information from both sides of the debate. Read More

01.03.25- How the Value of Money Will Change After the Apocalypse
Clark Barnes

(65.5% of Americans have begun to stockpile what they think they need in the event of a natural or political collapse.)

Famed French Microbiologist Louis Pasteur once said that “fortune favors the prepared mind”. When the topic of the apocalypse comes up, this quote definitely holds water. If you’re truly wise, you’ll endeavor to build self-sufficient homes, stock up on necessary supplies, and research on potential scenarios to find out what else you may need | 404. One of these scenarios often touches the topic of economics and finances. A common enough question that comes up for a lot of preppers is, what value will money hold when the world, as you know it, comes to an end? Read More

01.02.25- Houston, We Have a Problem
Chris Martenson

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01.01.25- Dollar Booms

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan

Although the Federal Reserve's "hawkish cut" on Thursday had been broadly expected, markets now fear 4% policy rates will be the floor for the coming year at least - and no further easing until midyear or later.

The picture painted by the Fed removes monetary easing as tailwind from the stock market for months and has seen the dollar rocket (.DXY), opens new tab to its highest in more than two years - bowling over emerging, developed and crypto currencies alike. Read More

12.31.24- Under Trump, Expect No Change to the Monetary Status Quo
Brendan Brown

A guilty verdict by US voters last November on inflation mongers will have no follow-through in terms of monetary regime change. Problem: the verdict was not delivered in sharp and comprehensive form. Instead, communication was largely via exit polls and other such surveys. The propagandists of the present monetary regime have been able to manipulate this messaging to the advantage of themselves and their clients.  Read More

12.30.24- 21 Quotes About Central Banking That Show Why The Federal Reserve Must Be Shut Down
Michael Snyder

…and it grows by the nano-second!

We have come to accept that we are permanently trapped in an endless cycle of debt and money creation. But the only reason why debt and money grow at an exponential rate is because that is what our system was designed to do. The Federal Reserve and other central banks around the globe were created with a purpose. The goal was to get humanity into as much debt as possible, and those holding that debt just keep getting wealthier and wealthier. Unfortunately, we have been trained to not even question this deeply insidious arrangement. Read More

12.28.24- The Bailout Fallacy
David Gordon

It is always encouraging when a non–Austrian School economist accepts through his own reasoning an essential tenet of Austrian economics. Ruchir Sharma, who is chairman of Rockefeller International, founder and chief investments officer of Breakout Capital, and a well-known economic journalist, is not an Austrian, though he is aware of Friedrich Hayek’s work. He lends strong support to the Austrian position that because competition moves resources to where they best fulfill consumer demand, the government must not interfere with this process by bailing out businesses that fail. Read More

12.27.24- Gold Falls to One-Month Low After Fed Signals Less Easing
Yvonne Yue Li

(Bloomberg) -- Gold fell to the lowest price in a month after the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates and forecast less monetary easing for 2025.

US policymakers lowered their benchmark interest rate for a third consecutive time on Wednesday, but reined in the number of cuts they expect in 2025, signaling greater caution over how quickly they can continue reducing borrowing costs. Read More

12.26.24- The Fed Is Cutting... So, Why Are Mortgage Rates Going Up?
Peter Schiff

Powell is admitting that inflation is still too high, but the Fed still plans to cut interest rates by .25%. So why are mortgage rates going up?

The Fed has turned hawkish relative to its recent rhetoric, resisting to slash interest rates as low as it had envisioned. Although it’s continuing to cut, the Fed’s actions primarily influence short-term interest rates, such as the federal funds rate. This is the rate at which banks lend to one another overnight. These short-term rates affect a wide range of borrowing costs including those on credit cards, car loans, and adjustable-rate mortgages.  Read More

12.25.24- Central Banks Will Prioritize Government Spending Over Inflation In 2025
Daniel Lacalle

Independence of central banks has been under question for many years. However, the disappearance of “higher for longer” in 2024 erased any doubt about the monetary authorities’ lack of independence.

The Federal Reserve panicked in June 2024 and decided to delay the normalization of its balance sheet, coinciding with a period of massive deficit spending and Treasury debt issuance at elevated rates.  Read More

12.24.24- Fed Plans Fewer Rate Cuts in 2025
Michael Maloney

Gold prices rose Friday but remained on track for a weekly decline of 1-2%, pressured by the Federal Reserve's more hawkish stance on interest rates.

The Fed's latest projections showed fewer rate cuts planned through 2025 than previously expected, with officials now forecasting just two quarter-point cuts instead of the four cuts suggested in September. Read More

12.23.24- The Fed Admits Inflation Mistake, then Repeats It
Peter Reagan

Many people are wondering what in the world is going on with the Federal Reserve right now. 

The general thinking over the last several decades is that one of the Fed’s primary jobs is to keep the economy running along like a well-oiled machine while keeping inflation from getting out of control (which, if you think about it, is a subtle nod to one of the biggest problems with a fiat money supply, but I digress…). Read More

12.21.24- How the Fed Chokes the Economy
MN Gordon

Clouds hovered in the skies over the Eccles Building in Washington, D.C. this week as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held its final meeting of the year.

Inside the climate-controlled building an unelected body of statist central planners supped mugs of coffee brewed with beans imported from the southern hemisphere. They also applied consensus and conjecture to fix the price of credit. Read More

12.20.24- Fed Fumbles, Dow Tumbles,
Bonds Go for Broke
David Haggith

All financial market's were strangely shocked to learn inflation is real and the Fed still has to fight it.

Powell finally admitted that inflation is higher again and that the Federal Open Market Committee that sets the Fed Funds Rate expects inflation will be even a little higher still in 2025. As a result, the FOMC made the one rate cut still expected of it by markets today, but showed clearly in its dot plots for future interest rates and its statements that it expects only half as many cuts in 2025 as it expected at its last meeting it would do in 2025. Read More

12.19.24- The Fed Is as Clueless as Markets
 Jonathan Levin

When the stewards of monetary policy are so uncertain, the best course of action is to do nothing.

In normal times, the conduct of monetary policy is a lot like driving a car through a thick fog of uncertainty. You have a general idea of where you’re going, but you want to move slowly to avoid accidents. At the moment, it’s more like driving while double blindfolded — in a car with malfunctioning brakes. The most prudent move is to stop. Read More

12.18.24- Is Gold the Fed’s Plan B?
David Morgan

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12.17.24- A Road Map To Ending The Fed
Dr Ron Paul

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12.16.24- The Fed can't just be 'data dependent' in 2025 — it needs to be 'policy dependent'
Julie Hyman

Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell has been very firm and consistent in his messaging about the election and fiscal policy.

At his last post-FOMC press conference, two days after the election, he said, “The election will have no effects on our policy decisions.” And “We don’t comment on fiscal policy.” And, just to be sure, “I’m not going to talk about anything that relates directly or indirectly to the election.” Read More

12.14.24- The most insolvent bank in the history of the world is…
James Hickman

As the 1800s came to a close and the world propelled itself full of innovation and optimism into the 20th century, there was perhaps nowhere else on the planet more admired and envied (except for the United States) than Argentina.

In fact, just like America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was overflowing with immigrants from all over the world looking for a better way of life in that land of opportunity. Read More

12.13.24- Treasury Pick Sees a “Global Economic Reordering”
James Rickards

President Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has stated that he believes the world is on the cusp of a “global economic reordering”. And he would “like to be a part of it”.

He has hinted at the need for a new international agreement on the level of the famous Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. Bretton Woods, of course, established the world monetary order over 8 decades ago. Read More

12.12.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: What If A Nuke Detonated
In Los Angeles?
Tyler Durden

As the Deep State continues its desperate push to cause as much chaos as possible before Trump takes office with the overthrow of Assad in Syria and deeper strikes into Russia causing Putin to loosen his nuclear weapons doctrine, Newsweek recently published a harrowing analysis showing the effect of a R-36M2 missile impact in major U.S. cities.

Also know as SS-18 "Satan", the nuclear-grade missile is a cornerstone of the Russian arsenal since the Soviet Union with a range of up to 10,000 miles and yield of 20 megatons (over 1,000x Hiroshima). Just one impact in any major U.S. city would dwarf America's WWII losses in minutes, to wit: Read More

12.10.24- The Evil Cycles of War and Economic Destruction
Egon von Greyerz

As we approach what usually should be a blissful holiday period, the treacherous path the world is now on does not bode well for 2025 and beyond.

Two global crises will dominate the world for at least several years and possibly decades. Read More

12.10.24- The Evil Cycles of War and Economic Destruction
Egon von Greyerz

As we approach what usually should be a blissful holiday period, the treacherous path the world is now on does not bode well for 2025 and beyond.

Two global crises will dominate the world for at least several years and possibly decades. Read More

12.09.24- Fed Chairman's Brazen Lies About Gold Go Unchallenged
Chris Powell

Money Metals writer Mike Maharrey yesterday shot down the laughable assertion made this week by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that bitcoin is, "like gold," merely a "speculative asset" and thus a competitor with gold, not the dollar, because people aren't using bitcoin for payments or as a store of value.Read More

12.07.24- The Joke's on us, and Federal Reserve Jokers Are Not So Funny
David Haggith

It's inside humor.

We start off by looking at an old funny joke told by Alan Greenspan (except that few of us would perceive it as funny at all, though the Federal reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee members, who set monetary policy, found it quite funny as an inside joke): Read More

12.06.24- Are You Unknowingly
on a Suicide Mission?
MN Gordon

“We’re a creature of Congress, we’re not in the Constitution.”
– Fed Chair Jerome Powell, December 4, 2024

Chasing the Wild Goose

The transfer of wealth from workers and savers to the government and the big banks rolled on this week with Swiss-like precision. The process is both mechanical and subtle. Here in the USA the automated elegance of this ongoing operation receives little attention. Read More

12.05.24- Red States Are Taking Action Against Dollar Devaluation
Peter Reagan

Lawmakers in the Lone Star State are so fed up with dollar devaluation that they’re taking matters into their own hands. Outlining a bold proposal to reinvent money – and it’s certain to have the Federal Reserve in an uproar. Here’s the opening shot in the battle of Texas versus the Fed… 

Your News to Know rounds up the most important stories about precious metals and the overall economy. Read More

12.04.24- The Fed Is Already Backpedaling on the Pace and Depth of Rate Cuts
Wolf Richter

Job openings and voluntary quits jumped by the most in over a year, layoffs and discharges plunged.

The underlying dynamics of the labor market bounced back in October, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. The data continues to be muddled by the Boeing strike that lasted through October and ended in early November, and by three hurricanes – Francine in early September, Helene in late September through early October, and Milton in mid-October – whose heavy rains and flooding temporarily shut down work sites in a substantial part of the country. Read More

12.03.24- Is the U.S. Banking System in Trouble?
James Hickman

In the year 1157, the Republic of Venice was engaged in a bitter trade war with its archrival the Byzantine Empire.

While the rest of Europe was barely surviving thanks to the stupidity of their centrally planned feudal economies, Venice was a place where anyone, even the most illiterate peasant, could work hard, take some risks, and become fabulously wealthy. Read More

12.02.24- Central Bank Collapse Incoming! Silver Prices Will Explode!
Adrian Day

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11.30.24- Gold-Backed Or Bust: Judy Shelton's Plan To Tame The Fed And Restore The Dollar
Paul Mueller

Judy Shelton has spent her career advocating for sound money. Her latest book, “Good as Gold: How to Unleash the Power of Sound Money,” makes an up-to-date case for reinstituting a gold standard. Her intriguing conclusion is that the dollar can be reconnected to gold by simply issuing federal treasury bonds with gold-redeemability clauses. The book also addresses recent events and important current debates about monetary systems like whether central bankers should have wide policy discretion, whether fixed or floating exchange rates are better for economic growth, and what happens when countries manipulate their currency to boost exports.  Read More

11.29.24- Chinese Central Bank Just Secretly Bought 60 Tonnes of Gold
Jan Nieuwenhuijs

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is covertly buying very large amounts of gold, adding upward pressure to a tense gold market.

An explosive cocktail of Western institutional investors and central banks in the East buying gold this year is making the gold price rise sharply. Interest rate cuts and geopolitical strain will sustain this bull market. Read More

11.28.24- The Federal Reserve Lost Another $20 Billion in the Third Quarter; You Will Get the Bill
Mike Maharrey

The Federal Reserve booked $19.9 billion in operating losses in the third quarter.

Keep in mind that Fed losses ultimately become your losses. The taxpayer is on the hook for the central bank’s shortcomings.

Fed losses in the last quarter were 35 percent lower than in Q3 2023, but up from just over $16 billion in Q2.  Read More

11.27.24- Judy Shelton has proposed an innovative approach to reintroduce a gold standard for the US dollar
Herman James

Proposal for a 50-year Treasury bond convertible into gold issued at the initiative of President Trump on July 4, 2026.

Judy Shelton is an American economist known for her advocacy of the gold standard and her criticism of the Federal Reserve. She is a former economic advisor to President Trump and has held prominent roles in both the public and private sectors. Her latest book is Good as Gold: How to Unleash the Power of Sound Money.  Read More

11.26.24- The Bureaucratic Dictatorship
TL Davis

The United States is in a much worse place than it was thought to be. The election of Donald Trump signified a desire to end a lot of abuses of the government against the people. They did it to Trump and had no problem doing it to anti-abortion protesters or school board attendees when they disagreed with the sexualization of their children.  Read More

11.25.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Make Ethereum feel like Ethereum again: Based rollups explained
Yohan Yun

Ethereum’s rollup-centric layer-2 roadmap has successfully tamed the congestion and ludicrous gas fees on the base layer - but at the cost of creating a fragmented ecosystem.

Designed to scale the network, L2s have become little islands on their own, each with its own rules, systems and barriers. Read More

11.23.24- Federal Reserve’s likely slowdown in rate cuts could disappoint borrowers
Chris Rugaber

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, the path ahead for the Federal Reserve looked straightforward: With inflation cooling and the job market slowing, the Fed appeared on track to steadily cut interest rates.

In September, its officials predicted that they would reduce their benchmark rate four times next year, on top of three rate cuts this year. Read More

11.22.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The List: Policy Actions To Save America From Globalism
Before Time Runs Out
Brandon Smith

It’s been a wild ride. After years of near total leftist control of every significant social and governmental institution in the US and abroad the American people have said enough is enough. The progressives have once again been slapped with the ultimate lesson of our era – Get Woke, Go Broke. This time they’re not just broke; they’re broken. Read More

11.21.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Prospects for Trump’s Agenda
Paul Craig Roberts

Cities and states controlled by left-wing Woke anti-American Democrats are busy at work organizing to oppose the will of the American people as expressed in the presidential election.  

In Pennsylvania the corrupt Democrat authorities are openly defying the ruling of the State Supreme Court and counting invalid ballots in their effort to overturn the election of the Republican US senator. Read More

11.19.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: America Faces an Impossible Economic Crisis – Can Trump Fix It?
Brandon Smith

On his first day in office, President Trump will be walking into a fiscal disaster. Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.us lays out an aggressive plan to salvage the U.S. economy from the brink of collapse – and explains the crucial role physical gold and silver will play…

For the past several months I've been discussing the high probability of Donald Trump's return to the White House. Specifically, I have warned that the Biden/Harris Administration along with the Democrats have been using data manipulation to hide the growing threat of a stagflationary collapse within the U.S. within the next couple of years. Read More

11.19.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: America Faces an Impossible Economic Crisis – Can Trump Fix It?
Brandon Smith

On his first day in office, President Trump will be walking into a fiscal disaster. Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.us lays out an aggressive plan to salvage the U.S. economy from the brink of collapse – and explains the crucial role physical gold and silver will play…

For the past several months I've been discussing the high probability of Donald Trump's return to the White House. Specifically, I have warned that the Biden/Harris Administration along with the Democrats have been using data manipulation to hide the growing threat of a stagflationary collapse within the U.S. within the next couple of years. Read More

11.18.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Revolution Of 2024
Jeffrey Tucker

People are out and about, smiling at each other. It’s been true since the morning after the election, the results of which defied every prediction. Who doesn’t like to see the smug elites who have ruled the world for five awful years taken down a peg? 

More than that, there are hints of a return to sanity. Mainstream advertisers are suddenly returning to X, putting their economic interest above their tribalist loyalties. The editor of pro-lockdowns Scientific American, which had long blessed totalitarian measures as true science, has resigned. Read More

11.16.24- The Anatomy of a Bubble
Adam Sharp

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.”

-John Templeton, legendary mutual fund manager

In 2006, I asked a realtor friend if we were in a housing bubble.

He assured me that everything was fine. Defaults were low – and this is my favorite – “housing prices always go up”. Read More

11.15.24- And Now, for Someting Entirely Different: This Is Why They Won’t Be Able To Block Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth And RFK Jr.
Michael Snyder

This week, Donald Trump shocked the Washington D.C. establishment to the core.  For decades, the unelected bureaucrats that control our mammoth federal agencies have been running our country into the ground.  No matter who we have sent to Washington, the culture in these agencies has remained the same. Read More

11.14.24- The Fed Is Trying To Save Itself
At Your Expense
Peter Schiff

Well, inflation is up again. You’re probably not surprised, and neither are we.

Over the past few months, in fact, we’ve repeated again and again that inflation will keep rising, and even identified some strange reasons why.

Remember back during the early days of the pandemic when used car prices went through the roof? Read More

11.13.24- GOLD The FED Then END It
Brother Nathanael

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11.12.24- Congress Should Fire
Jerome Powell
Ryan McMaken

There were a few seemingly tense moments at the FOMC press conference on Thursday when two reporters asked Jerome Powell about the prospect of Donald Trump asking Powell to resign. The first reporter asked “would you resign if asked to do so by Donald Trump?” To this, Powell responded with a resounding “no” followed by silence. A few moments later, Powell was asked by another reporter if it was lawful for Trump to either remove or “demote”—that is, remove Powell as chairman, but leave him on the Board of Governors—Powell. To this, Powell responded with a forceful “not permitted under the law.” Read More

11.11.24- All States Are Empires Of Lies
Thomas DiLorenzo

This article is a version of a speech delivered at the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit.

“Most economists are political apologists masquerading as economists,” wrote Doug Casey in one of his columns.

“They prescribe the way they would like the world to work and tailor theories to help politicians demonstrate the virtue and necessity of their quest for power.” Read More

11.09.24- U.S. ‘Debt Tsunami’ Will Force Fed to Negative Rates, Push Gold to $8,000
Brien Lundin

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11.08.24- Is the Alternative to Inflation Actually Worse?
Peter Reagan

Inflation is a controversial topic among economists. They can’t always agree on the best ways to measure it, or even what causes it. They all agree on one thing, though. You’ll never believe why the so-called experts think inflation is a necessary evil… 

Inflation seems to be a controversial topic among economists. Which is strange because economists are supposed to study how the world works in order to help individuals (and, yes, governments) make better decisions. Read More

11.07.24- Donald Trump’s victory sets up traps for central banks
Chris Giles

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. Read More

11.06.24- Propaganda Blitzkrieg Erupts after RFK Pledges to Remove Fluoride
From Water Supply
Ben Bartee

RFK Jr. recently pledged, from his future perch high up in the Trump administration that the former president has promised him, to drain known neurotoxin fluoride from the water supply — in particular, a highly toxic form of fluoride and biproduct of industrial fertilizer production called fluorosilicic acid.

Corporate media and the vaunted “experts” they rely on to issue their pseudoscientific decrees were none too pleased with RFK’s plan to suspend the forced drugging of the American public with no informed consent whatsoever. Read More

11.05.24- Global Economy Already In Recession? Fed Will Cut Rates More
But No QE?
Danielle DiMartino Booth

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11.04.24- Interest Rates Are Soaring...
How High Will They Go?!
George Gammon

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11.02.24- Playing with Fire: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
Mises.org

The Fed has been the source of booms, busts, and the ongoing impoverishment of Americans since the Fed’s founding.

This is why a new, critical look at the Federal Reserve is needed, and why the Mises Institute is now happy to bring you this new documentary on the Fed. Read More

11.01.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Why Trump MUST Win
Brian Maher

A majority of American voters distrust the pillars upon which democracy rests — the vote itself.

They perceive cracks within the marble. Some perceive fissures. Reports Rasmussen: Read More

10.31.24- The Vigilante War is on!
David Haggith

It’s very interesting—too interesting for the Fed’s liking. The Fed is a lone ranger, trying to send interest rates down, but it finds itself surrounded by outlaw vigilantes in the bushes of financial markets who are shooting interest rates up. The Fed has lost control of the markets. It’s a dark day in the Fed world.

Bond guru Jeffrey Gundlach says, in a video linked to below, that the reason interest rates are going up since the Fed set out on a path to lower them is that bond investors are starting to worry about how we are going to finance the nation’s deficits. Read More

10.30.24- Why Governments Have No Incentive to Help You
Peter Reagan

Many people around the world have the idea that their governments are there for their benefit, to help them, especially when times get tough. But the fact of the matter is that governments actually have no incentive to help you, not today and not tomorrow…

We live in a fascinating time in world history, a time when most people around the world seem to believe their governments are their friends. There to help, to find ways to make life safer, more comfortable, more secure. Read More

10.29.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Democrats Have Already Suspended Article II of the U.S. Constitution
John Leake

Talk of Trump being "threat to democracy" is a textbook case of psychological projection.

Today I had a long conversation with one of my oldest friends, who happens to believe that Donald Trump poses a grave threat to democracy. Read More

10.28.24- Oops: The Treasury Secretary spilled the beans about the coming inflation
James Hickman

In the aftermath of World War II, with Europe devastated and Japan in ruins after two atomic bombs, the world faced the monumental task of rebuilding the global economy.

It had already been decided at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that America and the US dollar would dominate the new international financial system. Read More

10.26.24- GDP Inflation: The Hidden Cost of Government Spending
Peter Reagan

It’s election season – which means we’re hearing a lot of talk about the economy and government spending priorities. Today we evaluate the impact of federal government debt, show you how easy it is to inflate GDP, and explain exactly how these political games are picking your pocket…

We’re in an election year, and that means, of course, that the party trying to get re-elected is going to tout how great of a job that they’ve done for the voters. Read More

10.25.24- When This Breaks, it will be a Catastrophe
Chris Martenson

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10.24.24- The Federal Reserve: A Seamless Extension Of The Regime
 Ryan McMaken

For decades, the US Federal Reserve has carefully cultivated and promoted the idea that it is somehow separate and independentfrom the US regime that created it. 

The ruse has certainly worked. Economists and media pundits frequently refer to this alleged Fed “independence” as if it were a given, and as if there were a wall of separation between the executive branch and the central bank. Others take it even further, and in podcasts and social media one encounters a variety of crackpot theories asserting that the Fed is somehow at odds with the regime, or that the Fed answers only to bankers without regard for the regime’s agenda. Read More

10.23.24- 23% of tax revenue ($1.1 TRILLION) is now interest on the national debt
James Hickman

The corpse of King Louis XV was still warm when his son and successor, 19-year old Louis XVI, started cleaning the royal house.

French finances were an absolute mess. The country was almost hopelessly bankrupt after decades and decades of costly warfare… and even more costly royal luxury. The young king’s predecessors, Lous XIV and Louis XV, spared no expense when it came to their comfort and grandeur, and the end result was the largest national debt in the history of the world up to that point. Read More

10.22.24- No Compromise With the Fed!
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

Some people argue like this: Although the Fed as it now exists is very bad, a nation needs a central bank to regulate its money supply, and the Fed is better than nothing. That being so, we should try to urge the Fed to adopt a non-expansionary monetary policy. In this view, calls to “End the Fed” are mistaken. I’m sure most of my readers already know what I’m about to say, but, just to be clear, that view is disastrously wrong. We do not need a central bank, and to argue in the way indicated is to betray the great Murray Rothbard and the great Dr. Ron Paul, whose slogan “End the Fed” has galvanized so many of us. Read More

10.21.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: How To Remove Fluoride From Your Water At Home
Sheramy Tsai

Since 1945, fluoride has been added to public drinking water supplies, but research has shown it may pose risks to our health.

When Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first city to add fluoride to its water supply in 1945, it was hailed as a major public health innovation aimed at preventing cavities. Many other cities quickly followed suit, and water fluoridation became a widespread practice nationwide. Read More

10.19.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Goodbye Digital, Hello Physical
James Rickards

Is the election over already?

Sure, Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. But the election is happening in real-time and will mostly be over by the end of this week because of early voting, mail-in ballots, drop boxes and ballot harvesting. Read More

10.18.24- Whip Inflation Never
MN Gordon

The storyline all year from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury was that consumer price inflation was coming down. That it would soon be within the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent target. That the runaway inflation over the last few years was a mere pothole in the road to greater prosperity.

On September 18, the Fed was so sure it had expelled inflation that it cut the federal funds rate for the first time since March 16, 2020. What’s more, the Fed went big. It cut 50 basis points. Read More

10.17.24- The Next Wave(s) of Inflation
Adam Sharp

Have you ever been caught in a set of gnarly waves at the ocean? The kind where you get smashed by a breaker, come up for air and there’s another big one waiting for you at the surface?

This is a solid metaphor for inflationary periods. They don’t happen like a single big tsunami.

They are typically processes that play out in stages over a decade or more. Policymakers try various fixes, and most fail or only provide temporary relief. Read More

10.16.24- Fake News on the Economy Is Driven by Fake Money
Stefan Gleason

The mainstream financial media is hailing Friday's surprise "blowout" jobs report. According to the Labor Department, employers added 254,000 jobs in September, much more than had been forecasted.

President Joe Biden joined Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in taking a victory lap for the supposedly strong economy. Read More

10.15.24- Inflation Eats the Food of the Poor, and Taxes Inflate
the Wealth of the Rich
David Haggith

When are we going to stop it from happening

My latest Deeper Dive did what I could to take down any remaining false hope that inflation is now over, but over the weekend I’ve found other articles that add support to my position, so I’ll share those now with all readers of The Daily Doom. Read More

10.14.24- How the Bankers Outfoxed the Politicians
George F. Smith

Since the job that was actually assigned to [the Fed] by Congressman Carter Glass back in 1913 is now vestigial and long gone, and the financial system has been flooded with massive liquidity for decades on end, it might well be time to declare victory and let the free market take care of jobs, growth, inflation and prosperity. Read More

10.12.24- Banks Need Your Trust Because They Don’t Have Your Money
Peter Reagan

The latest inflation report contained bad news for banks. They’re deeply underwater, and still sinking – in such bad shape that even the head of the SEC doesn’t want anyone looking too closely…The first inflation report since the Fed’s September interest rate cut begged some questions…

Since I sincerely hope most of you don’t follow these stories as closely as I do, we’ll start with a quick recap: Read More

10.11.24- Mistakes from the Past
MN Gordon

Sometimes things don’t work out as planned…

On September 18, the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by 50 basis points. This was the first time the Fed cut rates since March 16, 2020. The aggressive rate cut was goaded on by people like Elizabeth Warren, who said Fed Chair Jerome Powell was “behind the curve.”

Over the last three weeks something unexpected by the Fed has happened. The yield on the 10-Year Treasury didn’t follow the Fed’s rate cut down. Rather, it did the opposite. Read More

10.10.24- Bond Market Smells a Rat: On Eve of CPI Inflation Data, 10-Year Treasury Yield Jumps to 4.08%, +43 bps since
Monster Rate Cut
Wolf Richter

Fed is seen as deprioritizing inflation fight, while a tsunami of supply heads for markets.

At the auction today, on the eve of the release of the CPI inflation data that may “surprise” markets with a further acceleration of inflation, the US Treasury Department sold $39 billion in 10-year Treasury notes, maturing on August 15, 2034, at a yield of 4.066%, substantially higher than the yield at the last 10-year Treasury auction on September 11 of 3.648%. Read More

The Unstoppable Path to Ever-Increasing Currency Debasement
Nick Giambruno

The Federal Reserve has returned to monetary easing in an environment of elevated inflation.

It raises an important question…

If one of the steepest rate hike cycles in history couldn’t defeat inflation…

And the Fed can’t raise rates much further without bankrupting the US government because of the soaring interest expense… Read More

10.08.24- No Interventionist Government Or Central Bank Wants Lower Prices
Daniel Lacalle

Many citizens want more government control of the economy to curb rising prices. It is the worst strategy imaginable.

Interventionist governments never reduce consumer prices because they benefit from inflation, dissolving their political spending commitments in a constantly depreciated currency. Inflation is the perfect hidden tax. Read More

10.07.24- Why the Fed’s Two-Percent Inflation Target Is Meaningless
Ryan McMaken

Federal Reserve technocrats like to use a variety of slogans and buzzwords designed to make the Federal Reserve look like it’s an apolitical, “scientific” institution guided only by a quest for sound management of the economy. Specifically, nearly every time Fed chairman Jerome Powell makes an appearance—whether it’s the usual FOMC press conference, or when testifying before Congress—Powell is careful to make mention of how the Fed is “data driven,” and how the Fed “seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.”  Read More

10.05.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: What Would World War III Really Look Like? It’s Already Starting…
Brandon Smith

One of the most common assumptions I come across in the survival-sphere is the idea that the next world war would automatically necessitate global nuclear conflict and a Mad Max-like outcome. In other words, a lot of people assume we aren’t in a world war until the nukes start flying and the survivors are left fighting in soda can armor over an irradiated desert. This is a dangerous misunderstanding for a lot of reasons. Read More

10.04.24- Did Jerome Powell Just Trigger A Stock Market Crash?
George Gammon

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10.03.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Lookout Don't Look Up
Nicholas Creed

Is the art of conversation dying or dead amongst those born since 2000? Does that age cohort favour emojis and digital communication over face to face human interaction and verbal dialogue? I ask these questions both rhetorically and tongue-in-cheek, because we all know the answer.

I feel like I am surrounded by zombies. I am surrounded by zombies. I’ve ranted about this kind of thing before, here, here, and here. Read More

10.02.24- The Present Monetary System Is Heading for a Breakdown
Frank Shostak

Many economists incorrectly assume a growing economy also requires a growing money stock, assuming that economic growth gives rise to a greater demand for money. It is held that failing to increase money to facilitate increased trade will lead to a decline in prices of goods and services, destabilizing the economy and leading to an economic downturn. Read More

10.01.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: COVID Roundup: Bill Would Force Pfizer to Cough Up Compensation
For Victims of Its Vaxx Fraud
Ben Bartee

COVID Propaganda Roundup: The latest updates on the “new normal” – chronicling the lies, distortions, and abuses by the ruling class.

Congressional bill would remove vaxx manufacturers’ liability shields

I assume most Armageddon Prose readers are familiar with the reason you can’t sue Pfizer for melting your liver or maiming your baby in utero, which is that they bribed Congress sufficiently back in the day to give the immunity. Read More

09.30.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows
Jim Quinn

As we accelerate towards whatever disastrous outcome awaits our debt-ridden, delusional, decadent, despairing society, I seem to be drawn to the anti-establishment lyrics of Bob Dylan, written during the turbulent 1960s. Maybe it’s the assassinations and unpopular war in the 60s that have triggered my focus. You certainly don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing today. A gale force wind is blowing the nation towards civil and global war, simultaneously. And it is not a naturally occurring wind, but an artificial storm created by the ruling plutocracy in a last-ditch traitorous effort to retain their wealth, power and control over our lives. Read More

09.28.24- Will the Fed Repeat 1970s
Policy Mistakes?
Vance Ginn

The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to cut the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to a range of 4.75 percent to 5 percent, despite inflation still exceeding its 2 percent target, bears alarming similarities to the monetary policy missteps of the late 1970s. Back then, under pressure to stimulate economic activity, the Fed loosened monetary policy too soon. Read More

09.27.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Putin sends a SHOCKING warning to NATO, Stop now or face nuclear consequences
Redacted News

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09.26.24- It's a Recession! But I digress.
David Haggith

Today, Jeffrey Tucker is pointing out the view that is almost inescapable, at least, as one of two clear alternatives, regarding the Fed’s large crisis-scale rate cut at a time when it says the economy is “strong.” Adjusting the trim tabs on its 747 for a smooth and level landing is one thing, but gunning the engines is another—something only done if the plane is coming down much too quickly: Read More

09.25.24- The Future Of The Fed
Jeffrey Tucker

By dropping rates dramatically only a month and a half before an election, the Fed is playing with fire. The election, by all visuals, would seem to pit the establishment against an insurgent populist movement. Regardless of the countercyclical motives, it’s a move that has been widely seen as deeply political. And that invites resentment and retribution. Read More

09.24.24- Based on Today's Report, Powell Should be Biting His Lip on Inflation
David Haggith

That lip is going to be getting a little raw.

The rise in inflation that I’ve said we could see by end of summer, continues to look increasingly likely to emerge soon and not like it is going to cut Chairman Powell’s rate cut a break. Read More

09.23.24- A Global Snapshot:
The Stupid, the Broken & the Evil
Matthew Piepenburg

As a polarized U.S. marches toward a political, financial, and perhaps even military crossroads in the closing months 2024, many feel what George Lucas might otherwise describe as a “disturbance in the force.”

From blow-off market tops, empty political platitudes and an openly broken bond market to debased currencies and large swaths of the planet at war or inching toward escalation, it seems we are juggling aspects of the stupid, the broken, the insane and perhaps even…the evil. Read More

09.21.24- World Gone Wild: From the Fed to War to Violent US Politics against Trump Supporters
David Haggith

The Fed is super-stimulating the economy during what Powell said are good times economically, and Trump haters have decided not to wait until they lose the election to go violent against MAGA. Read More

09.20.24- Powell Scores His Soft Landing ... until it All Blows up
David Haggith

Today certainly looks like Powell just landed the plane softly, except that it hasn't really quite landed yet, and the tarmac is riddled with land mines and maybe a few engine-stuffing goats.

Time will tell. It was the most important non-event Fed meeting in recent memory. The Fed did exactly what nearly everyone believed it would do and lowered interest rates half a percentage point. Had it done any less, investors would have been shocked, and that probably would have moved markets for the worse, except they moved for worse anyway. Read More

09.19.24- Modern Slavery
Jim Rickards

Today, the Fed did what I predicted it would do and cut interest rates. The “pivot” has finally arrived, ending the rate hike cycle that began in March 2022.

I’ll have much more to say about it in tomorrow’s issue, so please tune in tomorrow. But today, I want to talk about the dangerous globalist threats to our freedoms that we presently face. Read More

09.18.24- Founding Father Edmund Randolph vs. The Federal Reserve
Mike Maharrey

After Congress passed a bill to establish the first national bank -- a forerunner of the modern Federal Reserve -- President George Washington asked Attorney General Edmund Randolph to prepare an opinion on the bill’s constitutionality. Randolph came down firmly against the measure, arguing that the Constitution didn’t delegate to Congress the power to charter corporations. Read More

09.17.24- Three Ways the US Government Could ‘Kick the Debt Can Down the Road’
Richard Mills

Developed-world governments continue to spend beyond their means, borrowing and printing money to pay for their exorbitant expenditures. None of it has any consequences, other than inflation, due to fiat currencies. It doesn’t matter how high interest rates go, they just keep borrowing, adding to deficits and national debts.

This is unsustainable and eventually will come to a crashing halt. When an individual borrows money he/she starts a loan by paying mostly the interest off first. Gradually the principal gets paid down and the loan is paid off. Read More

09.16.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The 2nd Assassination Attempt
Martin Armstrong

The Secret Service has captured the alleged attempted assassin, who is supposed to be a registered Democrat. Since he did not fire, they may not be able to charge him with an attempted assassination. This is the problem that the press and their constant hatred of Trump are dividing the country so profoundly that we are not likely to survive united as a nation beyond this election. In a recent article by D. Earl Stephens, he wrote: Read More

09.14.24- A Plague On Both
Your Monetary Houses
Christopher Irons

Whether your candidate wins or loses, there's a monetary policy silver lining. 

For all the huffing and puffing I do about politics, you’d think that both candidates would have substantially different ideas for monetary policy, should they be elected. After all, this is supposed to be a finance blog. 

But the truth is, they don’t. Read More

09.13.24- Smoke And Mirrors: What Happens When Biden's Economic Manipulations Disappear?
Brandon Smith

Statistical manipulations are at the heart of the Bidenomics success story, according to Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.us – but does that really matter? How would the economic landscape change during a second Trump presidency?

There is a popular school of thought that believes most economic stability is purely psychological; that the health of the economy relies on the population NOT knowing the true state of things. In other words, “ignorance is bliss.” Read More

09.12.24- Bad Data And Bad Models: How The Fed Has Shattered Confidence
Mike Maharrey

The Federal Reserve boasts of its data dependence. But what if it’s relying on bad data?

Even worse, what if it’s plugging that bad data into a faulty model? In July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) made massive downward revisions to the job numbers. Poof – the agency simply erased 111,000 jobs from existence. Read More

09.11.24- What To Expect On Interest Rates For The Remainder Of 2024
Simon Moore

The Federal Open Market Committee has three scheduled meetings remaining in 2024 and markets expect interest rates to be cut at all of them. Statements from FOMC policymakers have generally become more dovish.

Inflation has eased substantially and the labor market is weakening somewhat, albeit from a period of very low unemployment. Economic theory suggests both factors typically call for less restrictive monetary policy when compared to current levels. Read More

09.10.24 - And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Deep State
is Past Its Shelf Life
J.B. Shurk

At the Economic Club of New York, President Trump announced: “I will create a Government Efficiency Commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government — and making recommendations for drastic reforms.”  Elon Musk is eager to get involved with the project.  In one fell swoop, every other reason for re-electing Donald Trump took a back seat to the tantalizing possibility of turning his second term into an Office Space sequel. Read More

09.09.24- The Fed’s Balance Sheet Feeds Bailout Culture
Paul Mueller

Fed-watching has become a hobby for many, and an occupation for some. When will the Fed cut interest rates? (September) How much will it cut interest rates? (25 – 50 basis points) How will this affect credit card and mortgage rates? (They will start coming down)

These are the kinds of questions most people ask. But what people wrongly ignore is the Fed’s huge balance sheet and its related consequences: subsidizing explosive government deficit spending and creating a bailout culture. Read More

09.07.24- The Fed Is Our Friend -
Gold Price Predictions
David Brady

Labor data on Wednesday, specifically the JOLTS numbers, were much lower than expected. This led to a brief jump in expectations for a rate cut of 50 basis points to a 50-50 probability. Next we have the Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

If the Payrolls are lower than expected, the probability of a 50bp rate cut will rise significantly. Typically, this is supportive of precious metals and miners. Read More

09.06.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Here's Who You Should Be REALLY Concerned About
Rick Rule

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09.05.24- The Fed Is Cutting Rates Soon. Should I Wait to Get a Loan?
Kelly Shue

The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates at its meeting on September 17–18. Many homebuyers and other borrowers incorrectly believe that they get a lower rate by waiting until a cut becomes official, according to Prof. Kelly Shue. This misconception is so widespread that it can undercut the effectiveness of Fed monetary policy. Read More

09.04.24- Powell Announces “Pivot”
Jim Rickards

Labor Day weekend is over, and the election is just over two months away. Is the U.S. economy in a recession as election season enters full swing?

There’s a mountain of data suggesting the answer is yes, or if we’re not in a recession, we soon will be. We’ll explore this data below but let’s begin with the (supposedly) most powerful force in the U.S. economy — the Federal Reserve. Read More

09.03.24- Average rate on a 30-year mortgage eases to 6.35%, its lowest level in more than a year
Alex Veiga

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage eased for the second week in a row and remains at its lowest level in more than a year, good news for prospective homebuyers facing home prices near all-time highs. 

The rate fell to 6.35% from 6.46% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.18%. Read More

09.02.24- Central Banks Are DOOMED! Gold & Silver Are About To Go PARABOLIC!
Greg Mannarino

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08.31.24- Fudging the Figures
Alasdair Macleod

Of all the dangers that threaten the global financial system, the one most likely to topple it is the US Government’s debt trap. This article explains how and why it is becoming inevitable

According to the US Government, its debt stands at $35.210 trillion having grown 57% in the last five years. As the chart below shows, there was a big step up in early 2020 due to Covid. But subsequent attempts to control the deficit and therefore indebtedness have been absent. Read More

08.30.24- The Long, Slow Goodbye
(to the USD)
GoldFix

"The primacy of the dollar is the tired old wallpaper of the world monetary system.” — James Grant

“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.” ― Raymond Chandler, Long Goodbye

Intro: Inside James Grant’s latest Interest Rate Observer there is a nice piece on Gold in it titled Long goodbye to the dollar standard fromwhich some important comments should be shared. As always his writing is part history, part observation, and part dry humor. Here is a summary and analysis of that article. Read More

08.29.24- Tumbling Down
David Haggith

Jobs are falling down, down, down, taking the economy with them, and the Fed barely knows it.

I have to keep it short today as medical issues got in the way of writing time, but I’d like to point out a few things from the news headlines below.

Economist David Rosenberg, who predicted the 2008 financial collapse, said that the 818,000 adjustment in new jobs that I wrote about here on The Daily Doom signify an economy that is in a worse meltdown than the Fed realizes. Read More

08.28.24- Inflation is Forever
David Haggith

You may beat the inflation rate back down, but all future inflation happens from the new higher benchmark of prices that never fall back down, and central banks never stop trying to push them up.

"The time has come for cuts," Powell said at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium Read More

08.27.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different:Lies, Lies, Lies and MORE Lies!
Charles R. Dickens

“The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those that speak it.” ~ George Orwell

Several of us suffered the ignominy and revulsion of the political rallies these past few weeks. I was particularly dumbfounded by the free-flowing falsehoods from the Nationalist American Socialist Party (NASP). You may know them as the Democrat Party, but there is nothing democratic about this new political blight on our republic. They have transformed this political party into agents for Karl Marx and everything he envisioned in his communist manifesto and treatises on social re-engineering. Read More

08.26.24- Uneasy Fed Admits We Are Approaching Recession
Peter Reagan

Fed Chair Jerome Powell stepped up to the podium at Jackson Hole and announced the inflation fight was over – because the balance of economic risks has shifted. Here’s what they’re so worried about…

Remember how the Biden administration, the Fed, and corporate media has kept saying the economy and job market were “strong”? Well, it turns out that isn’t the case. Read More

08.24.24- Starting with a 25 basis point rate cut 'makes a lot of sense to me': Fed's Harker
Jennifer Schonberger

Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker said he expects the central bank to start with a 25 basis point cut as it begins to ease monetary policy and he would be open to a larger cut if the labor market deteriorates suddenly.

"Starting at 25 makes a lot of sense to me," Harker told Yahoo Finance Friday during an interview at the Kansas City Fed's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Read More

08.23.24- "Powell Pivot Is Complete": Gold, Stocks, Bitcoin, & Bonds Surge As Fed Chair Powell Says "Time Has Come For Policy To Adjust"
Tyler Durden

Powell’s comments confirmed that a September rate cut is coming, as he said "the time has come for policy to adjust", with traders on the lookout for clarity regarding the magnitude of the cut. Commenting on the speech, WSJ's Nick "NIkileaks" Timiraos put it best: "The Powell pivot is complete" and notes the following: Read More

08.22.24- Gold Pares Gains After New Record as Focus Turns to Jackson Hole
Jack Wittels

Gold pared gains after hitting another record as traders look ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair JeromePowell later this week.

Bullion climbed to as high as $2,531.75 an ounce, taking this year’s gain to more than 22%, before giving up some of the advance. Powell’s address on Friday at the annual Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming will be closely analyzed for clues about the central bank’s thinking on widely expected rate cuts — often seen as positive for non-interest bearing gold. Read More

08.21.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Manuka honey reduces breast cancer cell growth by 84% in prelim studies
Paul McClure

Manuka honey reduced breast cancer cell growth by 84% without harming healthy cells or causing major side effects, according to preliminary studies. The findings open the door to developing a natural, non-toxic supplementary, or potentially stand-alone, anticancer treatment. Read More

08.20.24- We Don't Have a Wage Problem; We Have a Money Problem
Mike Maharrey

The push to raise the minimum wage is relentless.

For a while, it was "Fight for $15," but with rampant price inflation, a $15 an hour minimum wage isn't sufficient. Now it's "Fight for $20." Heck, it might even be "Fight for $25" at this point.

I understand people's frustration with wages. Their pay doesn't keep up with rising prices. Read More

08.19.24- The Federal Reserve and Pandora’s Box
Paul Mueller

The Federal Reserve system in the United States is the largest financial institution in the world with more than $7 trillion in assets. It “manages” the most important currency in the world. Its decisions can dramatically affect the course of the largest economy in the world. Wouldn’t it be nice if its officials knew what they were doing? Read More

08.17.24- What has the Fed Done to Our Lives?
George Ford Smith

[The following is derived from a speech in my novel, The Flight of the Barbarous Relic.]

Wars must be funded, and for this, governments functioning as states call upon the banking system for assistance.

Central Bank counterfeiting, which is another name for inflation, is the fuel that energizes the forces of war. Inflation, or counterfeiting, amounts to issuing receipts for something that doesn’t exist, which legally is the prerogative of the central bank. Calling such receipts money allows them to be created in massive amounts quickly. When the U.S. Congress votes to send billions of fiat money to Ukraine, Israel or anywhere else, no one questions the nature of what is being sent because legal tender laws make it all copasetic. Read More

08.16.24- Sandy Hook Black Mirror
Dr. James Fetzer

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08.14.24- A $150,000 House In 1988 Now Costs $707,500; Thank You, Fed!
Mike Shedlock

The Fed has grossly distorted the housing market and no fix is in sight. A couple of images will explain...

Chart data from Case-Shiller, mortgage calculation based on Fannie Mae 30-year mortgage rates, chart by Mish Read More

08.13.24- Why the Fed Can't Win –
and We All Lose
Peter Reagan

In the much-anticipated statement following the most-recent FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at the possibility of near-term rate cuts.

If rates start falling, that would certainly get speculators excited. But let’s examine the situation a little more closely. Read More

08.12.24- The Fed Is Powerless
Brian Maher

We are told the time has come for the Federal Reserve to wield its ax… and cut its target rate.

We are further told that prevailing conditions may demand multiple axings.

And that these adjustments to the overnight lending rate will work healthful impacts. Read More

08.10.24- "Japan Mixed The Batter, The Fed Will Bake The Cake..."
Peter Schiff

Americans are already struggling to feed their families and pay their bills, but having predicted every US recession since 1960, the steepening bond yield curve is speaking loud and clear that an “official” downturn is nearly inevitable. With bond prices on the rise as the Fed looks increasingly likely to cut rates in September, the yields are going down and the inverted curve is finally leveling out after an epic two-year inversion. Read More

08.09.24- Don’t bank on a put from Jay Powell’s Federal Reserve
Claire Jones

Panic won’t prompt an emergency rate cut and a 50-point reduction in September isn’t nailed on either.

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08.08.24- Fed Fails Spectacularly Again and Again!
David Haggith

If these guys were a rose bush with so many thorns and so few flowers, you'd burn it!

The Fed can easily be made to work but nobody apparently wants it to, or we’d change it. This rose bush puts out flowers that only stink and wither, but it has thorns the size of your fingers that cling to your pockets and tear at your flesh. We have three articles that were prominent in my news searches today that lay out just how miserably (for all of us) the Fed is failing at its actual mission. Read More

08.07.24- The Failures of Fiat Currency and the Federal Reserve: An Analysis
Joshua D. Glawson

Fiat currency and the Federal Reserve have long been subjects of debate and criticism for their perceived failures in achieving key economic objectives.

This article dives into the main points of criticism surrounding these issues, focusing on the 7 key failures of the Federal Reserve including the following objectives: Read More

08.06.24- Blood in the Streets!
Jim Rickards

“Most people think today will be like yesterday,” Daily Reckoning co-founder Bill Bonner says…

“But every now and then, today is NOT like yesterday. Something changes, something goes off the rails, there’s a paradigm shift.”

We may be facing such an inflection point right now. Today, I’ll show you why, and what’s at stake. Read More

08.05.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Switzerland Launches ‘Assisted Suicide Pods’ to Euthanize Citizens
with the ‘Push of a Button’
Frank Bergman

Switzerland has launched a new vending machine-like “assisted suicide pod” that allows people to climb inside and be euthanized with the “push of a button.”

The new portable death “pod” is on track to claim its first victim this year after winning approval from the Swiss government.

Florian Willet, the CEO of the pro-euthanasia organization The Last Resort, announced the launch of the machine during a recent press conference. Read More

08.03.24- Central Banks Purchase Gold to Offset Their Own Money Destruction
Daniel Lacalle

Why is the price of gold rising if the global economy is not in recession and inflation is allegedly under control? This is a question often heard in investment circles, and I will try to answer it.

We must begin by clarifying the question. It is true that inflation is slowly decreasing, but we cannot say that it is under control. Let us remember that the latest CPI data in the United States was 3% annualized and that in the Eurozone it is 2.6%, with eight countries publishing data above 3%, including Spain. Read More

08.02.24- Well, Bite my Lip for Repeating this, but Pilot Powell Says We're Now Coming in for a Soft Landing
David Haggith

The Fed surprised no one today when it chose not to lower interest rates at this week’s FOMC meeting. What was a small surprise to some was that Powell said nothing in his prepared talk about cutting rates in September either. So he was asked about that by a number of reporters in the question-and-answer time afterward, to which he stated in a very measured way that, while he saw the lowering of rates in September as more likely than the Fed had presumed before, it would all depend on whether inflation continued to keep its head down. Read More

08.01.24- The Economic Situation of the West
Paul Craig Roberts

Once upon a time America had a capitalist economy. Bank deposits were used for loans that expanded productive ability. America produced its own goods and grew its own food. America’s currency was backed by gold and inflation was nonexistent. New technology brought into play by new investment improved the productivity of labor, and living standards rose. Profits were plowed back into improved methods and expanded production. Read More

07.31.24- No Fed "Pivot" Tomorrow
James Rickards

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve is meeting today and tomorrow for the purpose of discussing the economy and setting monetary policy going forward.

What does it mean for markets and your money? Today we’ll explore those questions. Read More

07.30.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: You’ll Never Work
in This Town Again!
James Howard Kunstler

“The kids are hooked on wokeness now. They’d be better off with cigarettes.” — Ian Miles Cheong on “X”

Did we just witness the suicide of Wokery? I think you saw what’s called, in the argot of progressive thinking, the “queering” of the Olympics. That was some spectacle. First, Death on a Pale Horse came galloping down the Seine River so that no one would miss the point of the symbolism to follow: the beheaded Marie Antoinette portrayed singing in the window of a flaming palais. Read More

07.29.24- Inequality Is Caused By Inflation
Lennart Wagemans

Many claim the problem with fractional reserve banking is that it loans money into existence. It does, but under normal circumstances the money created by commercial banks disappears when loans are repaid or defaulted on, which therefore doesn’t create a permanent inflation of the money supply. Read More

07.27.24- Why Radical Spending Cuts Are Needed
MN Gordon

The International Monetary Fund, a creature birthed at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, turned 80 years old this week.  Its bureaucrats are worried.

The title of the IMF’s recently published World Economic Outlookis titled, The Global Economy in a Sticky Spot.  The source of the stickiness, per the WEO, is services inflation.  Namely, nominal wage growth, especially in the U.S., is increasing above goods price inflation. Read More

07.26.24- Bidenomics Kicks in, Economy is on a tear, Inflation plunges and Unemployment Falls!
David Haggith

And I’m DEAD WRONG on all of it (if all that you read is true)... but so is the Fed!

I’ve had, one might say, a great run for all of my predictions this year. Every step along the way, I was able to show where they came true. The economy slowed to a crawl in the first quarter, inflation returned to rising when few thought it would. Read More

07.25.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Empire of Lies
Brian Maher

Why does government lie so repeatedly — and so atrociously?

Why does it fear truth as the vampire fears garlic?

The answer, we hazard, reduces to its desperate quest for prestige. Government equals authority. And an authority is an authority. Read More

07.24.24- Going the Way of the Denarius
Jeff Thomas

History repeats. (Or it rhymes, depending on your choice of words.)

Throughout history, there has been an extraordinary tendency for governments (and cultures) to follow similar paths. Even regarding eras thousands of years apart, we see people behaving in much the same way, over and over. This is particularly true in the case of “wrong moves.” Over and over, people and their governments make the same mistakes, seemingly never learning from past errors. Read More

07.23.24- Republican Platform Ignores Real Causes of Inflation
Dr. Ron Paul

View Video

07.22.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Acoustic Evidence Proves Beyond All Doubt More Than One Shooter
Paul Craig Roberts

I and others have pointed out astonishing voids in the Secret Service’s protection of Trump. The voids are so egregious that they cannot be blamed on incompetence. Scott Ritter says that intent is the only explanation. Read More

07.20.24- Politicians Pressure Powell to Give Up the Inflation Fight – Rate Cuts Ahead?
Peter Reagan

The latest inflation report says we’re still 50% over the Fed’s target. Is that really close enough? Will inflation disappear by itself? Why is Jerome Powell so close to giving up the inflation fight?

Morgan Stanley thinks the Federal Reserve could start cutting rates as early as September, based on the idea that “inflation is finally under control.” Read More

07.19.24- Something to Crow About
MN Gordon

What good would an American presidential election be in the year 2024 without an assassination attempt?

These days, everywhere you look, there are lunatics roaming around.  You see them at the market or the gas station.  Or wandering down Main Street.

They’re crazy and deranged, and they believe what the media has told them.  That Donald Trump is Hitler.  What’s more, some of these crazies, in the spirit of democracy, are eager to put their fingerprints on the turn of history. Read More

07.18.24- Donald Trump warns US Fed chair not to cut rates before the election
James Politi

Ex-president says he would let Jay Powell finish term at central bank if he was ‘doing the right thing’

Donald Trump has warned Jay Powell not to cut US interest rates before November’s presidential vote, but said if elected he would let the Federal Reserve chair serve out his term if he was “doing the right thing”. Read More

07.17.24- Stocks Soar for Economy in Doldrums
David Haggith

And Fed feints toward a September rate cut because the economy is slowing.

Traders are now betting 100% odds that Powell & Co. will lower interest rates in September, and Powell’s dovish tones, as talked about in my last editorial, certainly sound like he is preparing to move that way, though I have argued he won’t. The oddity here is that he is—after saying the Fed needs to really be convinced that inflation is headed back down—averring to the possibility of a cut. Read More

07.16.24- Dollar dips ahead of Powell, bitcoin climbs as investors
weigh Trump win
Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - The dollar retreated from earlier highs on Monday ahead of comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while cryptocurrencies rose on bets an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has boosted his re-election chances.

In the aftermath of the shooting, investors narrowed the odds of a Trump victory. Online betting site PredictIt, opens new tab showed bets of an election win for Trump at 67 cents, up from Friday's 60 cents, with Joe Biden at 27 cents. Read More

07.15.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Did We Just Witness the FBI’s Attempt on Trump’s Life?
Paul Craig Roberts

A number of independent security experts have noted egregious failures in the Secret Service’s protection of Trump’s venue. Perhaps most notable was the failure to include the nearby buildings in the security zone. Three possible explanations have been offered: incompetence, intent, and insufficient assigned resources.

Incompetence is a possibility. In all federal agencies including the military, ability and merit have been set aside in order to make race- and gender- based appointments. Read More

07.13.24- Welcome to Inflationary Depression
Jeffrey Tucker

There was an oblique message buried in a recent New York Times story on the growing crisis in commercial real estate in cities.

Yes, this is exactly the kind of article that people pass over because it seems like it doesn’t have broad application. In fact, it does.

It affects the core of issues like our city skylines, how we think about urbanism and progress, where we vacation and work and whether the big cities are drivers or drains on national productivity. Read More

07.12.24- Fed to End Inflation Fight Before Job is Done
MN Gordon

Go way back, and further still.

To Florence, Italy.  In 1397.  To the establishment of the Medici Bank by Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici.

There you will find the early framework for interlinking banking, business, and politics to consolidate wealth and power. Read More

07.11.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Clinton-Harris Ticket
Martin Armstrong

Polls are already asking voters whether they would support Hillary Clinton as president. Even international news outlets are posting this information. When did Hillary suddenly enter the race?

Democratic firm Bendixen & Amandi conducted a poll to see how the public would respond to a Clinton presidency. Of the 86% of respondents who watched the disastrous Trump-Biden debate, only 29% believe Biden is mentally fit to serve a second term. Read More

07.10.24- The Great Monetary Pivot Of 2024
Nick Giambruno

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed brought interest rates to roughly 0% and held them there for years.

Then, in late 2015, they started a rate-hiking cycle that lasted until the repo market turmoil in late 2019. Read More

07.09.24- Goldman Sachs Failed Major Test
David Haggith

Other banks are falling in behind.

Today brought some interesting news in the banking sector. To start off with, Goldman Sachs failed its stress test last week. In addition to GS, the Fed’s Dodd-Frank stress test revealed problems in other banks as well. The Fed noted that its staff do try to work with the banks to make adjustments to the test. So, I would add, if a bank can’t even pass the adjusted test, it must be in poor shape, should times become stressful. Read More

07.08.24- Why the Federal Reserve is Running Out of Monetary Oxygen
David Stockman

What passes for central banking today is really a perverse form of Wall Street-pleasing monetary manipulation. It employs the vocabulary of central banking, but in practice it fundamentally undermines main street prosperity, even as it showers the 1% (the top wealthiest people) with unspeakable financial windfalls.

Stated differently, virtually everything the Fed does for the alleged benefit of the American economy is both unnecessary and a ruse. Read More

07.06.24- Central Banks Added More Gold to Reserves in May
Mike Maharrey

Central banks continued to buy gold in May, but the pace slowed moderately with China at least temporarily out of the picture.

Central banks added a net 10 tons of gold in May, according to the latest data compiled by the World Gold Council. Central banks bought 23 tons of gold, offset by 13 tons in gross sales.

The National Bank of Poland was the biggest gold purchaser in May, adding 10 tons of gold to its reserves. Read More

07.05.24- The Byzantine Blueprint: A Guide for America’s Monetary Revival
Sean Ring

The doom and gloom surrounding the Presidential race is both undeniable and justified.

America seems tapped out. It’s out of money. It has lost the moral high ground. It resorts to coercion to keep its allies – or rather, vassal states – in line. It prints money to cover its lies. Read More

07.04.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: A Debate That Exposed Political Collapse
Garlan Nixon

From Stem to Stern, This Debacle Exposed the Rot of a Political System in Rapid and Irreversible Decline

A debate between a man who has little, if any, understanding of complex geopolitical issues and a brain dead warmonger who was never the sharpest knife in the drawer has exposed the irreversible decline of the US empire. Read More

07.03.24- Central Banks Diversify from USD-Assets to Other Currencies and to Gold
Wolf Richter

Long, slow erosion of the US dollar’s dominance. China’s renminbi keeps losing ground, many other currencies gain, as does gold.

The US dollar is still by far the most dominant global reserve currency, among many reserve currencies held by central banks, but its share has been eroding for years, as central banks have been diversifying to other reserve currencies, and also to gold. But the process is slow and uneven. Read More

07.02.24- US dollar dips as Fed's Powell's dovish comments offset upbeat jobs data
Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK/MILAN, July 2 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped on Tuesday in choppy trading after Federal Chair Jerome Powell struck a slightly dovish tone in his comments, suggesting that the U.S. central bank is more than likely to start its easing cycle later this year. Read More

07.01.24- The Coming US Budget Disaster Will Impoverish Americans
Daniel Lacalle

Deficit spending is not a growth tool. It is the recipe for stagnation.

The latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) budget and economic outlook estimates show the extent of the challenges of the United States fiscal nightmare.

The CBO expects a budget deficit of $1.9 trillion in 2024, a year of alleged robust economic growth and record tax receipts. They expect revenues to reach $4.9 trillion, or 17.2 percent of GDP, in 2024, which will rise to 18.0 percent by 2027 and remain at that level until 2034. Read More

06.29.24- What Happens When Rate Cuts Come Too Soon
Peter Reagan

Back in September 2021, as the inflation “train” was picking up speed, Jim Rickards was concerned about that momentum and predicted it was only getting started.

Keep in mind that Federal Reserve Chairman Powell kept downplaying inflation as “transitory” in 2021, but also ended up wildly wrong (almost negligent)  Read More

06.28.24- Federal Reserve Floats Weaker Version of Planned Bank-Capital Overhaul
Katanga Johnson

06.27.24- You Can't Taper A Ponzi Scheme
Nick Giambruno

A Ponzi scheme is an unsustainable scam that relies on a continuous influx of new money to keep it going. The scheme collapses if the flow of new money slows down or tapers.

Many believe the Federal Reserve is running what amounts to a giant Ponzi scheme.

That’s because the US government’s obscene spending and skyrocketing debt have reached an inflection point where the whole system will collapse unless the Fed pumps an ever-increasing amount of new fake money into the system. Read More

06.26.24- Who Needs The Fed?
Greg Guenthner

Send in the National Guard! Tech stocks are red! 

The tech sector plummeted nearly 2.5% on Monday following weeks of melt-up action. And the main culprits were some of the same stocks responsible for dragging the averages higher this year, specifically the semiconductors.

The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) continues to fill those gaps, dropping more than 3.4% yesterday — its third straight decline. It’s now fallen nearly 8% from last week’s highs. Read More

06.25.24- Who Needs The Fed?
The Mises Wire - Mises Institute

Perhaps nothing in financial news receives more attention than an announcement from the Federal Reserve. About eight times per year, the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meets to formally decide and announce its plans for monetary policy. Every announcement has the potential to cause a rally, or a rout, in financial markets. Read More

06.22.24- The Federal Reserve’s Cure May Actually Be Worse Than the Disease
Peter Reagan

Inflation has persisted so long now I’m forced to consider whether the Fed is really as concerned with it as Powell lets on. Maybe they realize the cure could kill the patient?

Like I explained in my last article, the miraculous Bidenomic economy has been dominated by first historic and now merely persistent inflation. Since his swearing in, our purchasing power has officially declined about 19%.  Read More

06.22.24- The Federal Reserve’s Cure May Actually Be Worse Than the Disease
Peter Reagan

Inflation has persisted so long now I’m forced to consider whether the Fed is really as concerned with it as Powell lets on. Maybe they realize the cure could kill the patient?

Like I explained in my last article, the miraculous Bidenomic economy has been dominated by first historic and now merely persistent inflation. Since his swearing in, our purchasing power has officially declined about 19%.  Read More

06.15.24- The Fed’s Whipped Inflation!
Brian Maher

Touch off the rockets! Light the sparklers! Raise a joyous toast!

That is because May’s inflation data came issuing this morning. And it disappointed expectations — or rather exceeded expectations.

A Dow Jones survey of economists had divined a 3.4% inflation rate. Yet the United States Department of Labor reported a mere 3.3% inflation rate. Read More

06.14.24- The Fed's next decision will likely mean Americans are going to wait a lot longer for any interest rate cuts
Ayelet Sheffey and Madison Hoff

Americans shouldn't expect interest rate cuts to head their way anytime soon.

The Federal Open Market Committee is set to announce its next interest-rate decision on Wednesday, and following a hot jobs report, there's a strong chance rates will once again remain steady. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, which estimates the likelihood the Federal Reserve will change interest rates based on market predictions, there's a 99.4% chance rates will stay where they are as of Monday. Read More

06.13.24- Gold prices steady around $2,300 with Fed rate decision, CPI on tap
Ambar Warrick

Gold prices moved little in Asian trade on Wednesday, hovering around a key support level as traders hunkered down before more definitive cues on U.S. rates from a Federal Reserve meeting and inflation data. 

The yellow metal was nursing a sharp decline in recent sessions as traders priced out expectations of U.S. rate cuts in the face of sticky inflation and a robust labor market. The dollar shot up to one-month highs, pressuring metal prices, while Treasury yields also rose. Read More

06.12.24- Shrinking Fed rate cut expectations to keep US Treasury yields elevated
Sarupya Ganguly

BENGALURU, June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields will plateau over the coming three months and then only fall modestly by year-end amid receding expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, according to a Reuters poll of bond strategists. After peaking at 5.02% in October, the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield plummeted over 120 basis points (bps) as traders priced in as much as 150 bps of Fed rate cuts this year. Read More

06.11.24- The Entire System Is Crumbling! Major Red Flags Are Popping Up For Banks, Small Businesses And Retailers
Michael Snyder

If the economy is fine, why are so many signs of trouble erupting all around us?  Those that keep insisting that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction conveniently ignore the very troubling facts and figures that I regularly share with my readers.  When you take an honest look at the cold, hard numbers that the economy keeps producing, there is only one logical conclusion.  Our entire system is crumbling, and it appears that conditions will soon get significantly worse.

Just look at what is happening to our banks. Read More

06.10.24- Why is Keynesian Economics Collapsing?
Martin Armstrong

John Maynard Keynes in his 1936 book, ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” argued aggregate demand was too volatile to be stable and would lead to inflation or recessions. His theory honed in on spending as a means of price control. Low aggregate demand, Keynes argues, would lead to high unemployment and stagflation. Government could intervene through fiscal policies to increase aggregate demand, as an example, increased government spending could tame inflation. Interest rates, according to Keynes, could also be modified to encourage spending and stimulate demand. So why are these theories failing miserably today? Read More

06.08.24- It's The Fed That's A Risk
To Financial Stability
Alex J. Pollock

Central bankers whistle ‘Dixie’ as mark-to-market losses dramatically shrink the banking system’s economic capital.

Whistling a happy tune, the Federal Reserve vice chairman for supervision, Michael Barr, recently testified to Congress that “overall, the banking system remains sound and resilient.”

A more candid view of the risks would be less sanguine.Read More

06.07.24- How People Can
Better Fight Inflation
Mark Thornton

People can’t stop the Federal Reserve from inflating the money supply, nor can we prevent them from adding more fuel to their fire.

We can only fight the fire started by the arsonists at the Fed from spreading further into our lives.

In this article, I want to review the ways that people fight the Fed’s fire—higher prices everywhere and the reasons why everyone should be actively fighting against inflation. Read More

06.06.24- Up in Smoke
David Haggith

As we slide into recession, will we burn up due to inflation first or war?

A few small things settled in a direction that could give Powell a chill that causes him to shift from battling inflation to driving it back up nice and hot, just as stock investors and bond investors are back to hoping he will do. Changes in the labor market make it appear labor may FINALLY be reaching that point where new jobs are not coming fast enough and old jobs ending more quickly to where the changes couldstart to push unemployment up. Still, I’ve pointed out a few head fakes along the way, and this could easily be another one. More data coming in on Friday could clarify the employment picture. Read More

06.05.24- Central bank gold buying picks up in April
Krishan Gopaul

The rapid rise in the gold price during March raised  several questions. One of these was whether central banks – whose demand has been posited as a key reason for the recent rally – would change their gold buying behaviour in response.

We now have the benefit of a more complete picture for March, as well as initial data for April, to help inform our perspective. Latest figures – reported via the IMF and publicly available sources – show that global gold reserves rose by a net 33t in April, similar to levels seen in February (27t).1 Although gross purchases dipped to 36t, from 39t in March, gross sales saw a more pronounced m/m drop from 36t to just 3t in April. Read More

06.04.24- Is the Fed Driving Us Into Recession?
Chris Casey

View Video

06.03.24- US firms grow more pessimistic on economic outlook, Fed survey shows
Lindsay Dunsmuir

May 29 (Reuters) - U.S. economic activity continued to expand from early April through mid-May but firms grew more downbeat about the future amid weakening consumer demand while inflation continued to increase at a modest pace, a U.S. Federal Reserve survey showed on Wednesday, as central bankers mull how long they will need to keep interest rates at current levels.

The U.S. central bank's latest temperature check on the health of the economy also showed that the jobs market continues to more normalized levels. Read More

06.01.24- Interest Rates: What Are They and What Do They Actually Do?
Birch Gold

Interest rates are an embedded part of the economy at both the global and the household level – but what impact does the Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR) actually have on the economy, and why?

Interest rates are an embedded part of the economy at both the global and the household level – but what impact does the Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR) actually have on the economy, and why? In simple terms, the EFFR is the target rate set by the Federal Open Market Committee of the  U.S. Federal Reserve (also known as the Fed), which meets eight times a year to determine it.  Read More

05.31.24- Think Inflation Is Done?
Think Again!
Alasdair Macleod

A lethal combination of budget deficits and trade sanctions are going to be reflected in increasing price inflation for the US. And where the US goes, the rest of us follow.

In this article I focus on two reasons why inflation will rise leading to higher, not lower, interest rates and bond yields. The first is the destruction of credit’s value through its non-productive expansion, mainly by governments running budget deficits. The second has had almost no attention but is at least as serious: the consequences of the repatriation of supply chains being accelerated by trade tariffs and sanctions. I shall briefly comment on the first before turning my attention to the second. Read More

05.30.24- No, Corporate Greed Is Not The Cause Of Inflation.
Lance Roberts

Corporate greed is not causing inflation, despite the claims of many on the political left who failed to understand the very basics of economic supply and demand.

“If you take a look at what people have, they have the money to spend. It angers them and angers me that you have to spend more. It’s like 20% less for the same price. That’s corporate greed. That’s corporate greed. And we have got to deal with it. And that’s what I’m working on.” – President Biden via CNN

Yes, prices have certainly gone up due to inflation. However, that wasn’t the fault of corporations. Read More

05.29.24- Time Is Running Out For Gold Stocks
Mike Maharrey

Are the central bankers at the Federal Reserve just winging it?

It sure seems that way if you step back and take a long view of their decision-making.

Fed officials project this aura of authority. You might imagine them as hyper-intelligent experts in the field of economics and finance making carefully calculated monetary policy decisions based on a thorough understanding of all the dynamics in the economy. After all, they must have risen to these important positions at the Fed based on their economic acumen? Read More

05.28.24- Is Hyper-Inflation that Destroys a Currency a "Solution"?
Charles Hugh Smith

Is the train leaving the station?

When predicting the future, we're best served by following "what benefits the wealthy and powerful," as that is the likeliest outcome. 

This contrarian sees a strong consensus around the notion that hyper-inflation is the inevitable end-game of nation-states / central banks issuing fiat currencies, i.e. currencies that are not restrained by being pegged to tangible assets such as gold reserves. The temptation to issue (via "printing" or borrowing new currency into existence by selling sovereign bonds) more currency becomes irresistible to politicians and central bankers alike. Read More

05.27.24- MASSIVE: Election Spending, Government Debt, No Buyers...
Taylor Kennedy

View Video

05.25.24- Continual Rise in the Cost of Living… And Why the Fed Has No Shame
David Stockman

Jay Powell did it again assuring the 1% that he has their back.

Markets recovered their poise over the last 24 hours, as investors were relieved after Fed Chair Powell stuck to his recent views on the economic outlook. In his remarks yesterday, he said that recent data didn’t “materially change the overall picture” and that on inflation “it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump.” In addition, he reiterated that if “the economy evolves broadly as we expect, most FOMC participants see it as likely to be appropriate to begin lowering the policy rate at some point this year.” So that all helped to validate market pricing, which still expects 71 bps of rate cuts from the Fed by the December meeting. Read More

05.24.24- The Mirage Of "Lower Inflation"
Is Fooling Nobody
Peter Reagan

Inflation continues to consume our purchasing power, month after month. Here’s why just about everyone, including the Federal Reserve, is concerned…

Every time the rate of inflation has been released each month over the last few months, the Biden Administration and some media outlets appear to claim economic victory. Read More

05.23.24- The Fed is already insolvent. Here’s how we think this plays out
James Hickman

On Tuesday, September 15, 1992, the two most powerful financial officials in the British government held an urgent meeting that night to review their plan for when the markets opened the next morning.

The tone of the meeting must have felt frantic… even desperate… because the value of the British pound had been falling for weeks. Read More

05.22.24- Fed's Barr: Inflation data 'disappointing,' policy needs more time
Howard Schneider

AMELIA ISLAND, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. inflation data through the first months of 2024 has been "disappointing," Fed vice chair for supervision Michael Barr said on Monday, leaving the central bank short of the evidence it needs to ease monetary policy.

"Inflation readings in the first quarter of this year were disappointing. These results did not provide me with the increased confidence that I was hoping to find to support easing monetary policy," Barr said in remarks prepared for delivery at an Atlanta Federal Reserve conference on financial markets. Read More

05.21.24- CPI's Little Head Fake
David Haggith

It won't give Powell the confidence he needs in order to believe this year's rising inflation is transitory, but it was all crazed markets needed to get high.

I started off this weekend’s Deeper Dive with the following summary of stock-and-bond-market lunacy: Read More

05.20.24- When Ideological Bubbles Trump Economic Thinking
Paul Mueller

Sometimes smart people make remarkably naïve or deeply problematic comments because their view of the world has been molded by narrow ideology, reinforced by significant consensus in their social circles. 

Recently Esther Duflo, a Nobel prize winning economist, revealed herself to be such a person. In a Financial Times interview with Simon Mundy, she said the West owed a “moral debt” of about $500 billion annually to the global south due to its contribution to climate change and the resulting harm. Read More

11.18.23- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Entire Financial System
On Knife's Edge
Dave Smith

View Video

05.16.24- Will High Inflation Ease Up Soon? You Won't Like the Answer
Peter Reagan

Inflation has been over the Fed’s target for OVER THREE YEARS now – so why is Powell telling us to be patient? Because inflation has some unlikely allies, and the Fed can’t fight them directly…

If you were hoping that the official inflation rate would ease, especially on the necessary goods and services you need to buy, then you might have to be patient. Read More

05.15.24- Trump’s Secret Plan to End Currency Wars
Jame Rickards

There has been a lot reported in recent days about the return of currency wars. This story arises in the context of a likely Trump election victory in the November presidential elections.

Trump badly bungled his transition after first being elected president in 2016. He wasn’t ready with a long list of loyal appointees. Read More

05.14.24- Will the Fed Lose Control?
Ron Paul

According to new reports from the Social Security and Medicare trustees, Social Security and a Medicare fund that pays for hospital expenses will both begin running deficits in 2035 and 2036. Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, Congress was too preoccupied spending billions more on military aid for foreign countries and banning TikTok to pay attention to the looming bankruptcy of the two largest federal entitlement programs Read More

05.13.24- And Now, for Somthing Entirely Different: Can a Country as Far Gone as America Recover?
Paul Craig Roberts

The Epoch Times has acquired official documents that reveal that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2021 had definite evidence that Covid-19 mRNA “vaccines” caused multiple deaths. Despite the conclusive evidence in CDC’s hands, the “health agency” continued to lie for the next two years that there were no adverse effects from the emergency use “vaccines” that were for tens of millions of Americans illegally and unconstitutionally mandated as a condition of employment. Read More

05.11.24- How Do People’s Experiences
of Inflation Differ?
Alberto Cavallo

The Issue:

Inflation rates are among the most closely watched economic statistics, but, as with many statistics that attempt to capture what is happening throughout the economy, aggregate measures mask important particulars. Measuring inflation requires simplifying assumptions about the basket of goods that a typical consumer purchases in a given month as well as eliding demographic differences and distinctions within product categories. Looking closely at prices within disaggregated product groups and using high-frequency online price data helps to reveal the nuances underneath monthly inflation numbers and how the experience of rising prices differs across groups of people. Read More

05.10.24- The Consequences of Interest Rate Suppression
Alasdair Macleod

Decades of interest rate suppression have resulted in debt traps in both public and private sectors which will destroy faith in fiat currencies. This leads to higher, far higher interest rates and the escape into gold is only just starting.

Throughout European history, there has been a dislike of interest rates. For the last two millennia this was reflected in Christian (and Muslim) bans on usury. But interest is charged by a lender for good reason. A lender is ceding possession of money or credit to another, losing the facility to turn them into goods for his or her own consumption. Read More

05.09.24- Does Powell's Plan End
in Fire or Ice?
David Haggith

Would you believe ... BOTH!

One major investor and one major economist, both of whom predicted the Great Recession crash, give the Fed an “F” for its inflation fight and an “F” for where it is taking the economy.

Fed is a failed inflation fighter Read More

05.08.24- Forward Guidance: The Fed Sounds Like A Wizard Reading Chicken Bones
Mike Shedlock

Stanley Druckenmiller says the Fed should get rid of forward guidance and just do their job.

I totally endorse a view by Stan Druckenmiller, the Fed Should Stop Forward Guidance. Read More

05.07.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Catalyst for a Banking Renaissance
Nick Giambruno

Every day, there are over 2,000,000,000 consumer transactions around the world.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and other large companies process many of these payments.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, does not have anywhere near the capacity to handle this kind of volume. Read More

05.06.24- Our Deer In The Headlights Moment: The “Worst Market Crash Since 1929” Is Rapidly Approaching And The Fed Doesn’t Know Which Way To Go
Michael Snyder

The Federal Reserve is stuck between a rock and a hard place.  If the Fed pushes rates higher, interest payments on our 34 trillion dollar national debt could spin wildly out of control and bank balance sheets will be in even worse condition than they are now.  First Republic just bit the dust, and literally thousands of other small and mid-size banks and in serious jeopardy.  So it would be suicidal to hike rates at this point.  Read More

05.05.24- And Now, for Somthing Entirely Different: Insect Biodiversity Plummeting As Global Food Supply Teeters Toward Collapse
Ethan Huff

Buried beneath headlines about congressional treason and wars and rumors of war is a disturbing new report from the World Entomology Body (WEB) showing that the world’s insect populations are plummeting.

This is really bad news for the food supply, which relies on precious pollinators like bees to keep the life cycle going. Without these vital critters, there will be no more food available for anyone, including the sinister who think they are going to somehow escape the horrors they are unleashing. Read More

05.04.24- Fed Cornered – There’s No Way Out!
Peter Reagan

The latest information from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) shows that the Federal Reserve is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Just before their latest meeting, CNBC reported that not much would change, and summarized the “feeling in the room” regarding Fed rates: Read More

05.03.24- Expect Higher Interest Rates Through the End of 2024. Fed Blames ‘Lack of Progress’ on Inflation
Peter Reagan

You'll likely pay more to borrow until at least 2025, but now may be the time to lock in higher savings rates.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had some sobering words for those anxiously anticipating rate cuts in 2024: “The path forward is uncertain.”Read More

05.02.24- Governments Could Stop Inflating If They Wanted. But They Won’t
Daniel Lacalle

Price inflation is no coincidence. It is a policy. Governments, along with their so-called experts, attempt to persuade you that price inflation stems from anything other than the consistent, albeit slower, rise in aggregate prices year after year. Issuing more currency than the private sector demands, thus eroding its purchasing power and creating a constant annual transfer of wealth from real wages and deposit savings to the government. Read More

05.01.24- Unification Of CBDCs? Global Banks Are Telling Us the End Of the Dollar System is Near
Brandon Smith

World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation. Read More

03.18.24- Blame the Fed for ‘Shrinkflation’
Dr Ron Paul

President Biden may have recently made history as the first president to discuss snack chips in the State of the Union message. He used snack chips to illustrate the phenomenon of shrinkflation. Shrinkflation occurs when businesses reduce the amount of goods sold in order to avoid raising prices. President Biden pointed out that businesses hope that, since both the price and the size of the package remain the same, most consumers will not notice they are getting fewer chips, cookies, or whatever other product has been affected by shrinkflation. Read More

03.16.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Feds Gave Banks Tools To Shut Down Your Accounts
If You Buy Guns Or Bibles
Joy Pullmann

Federal agencies gave banks automated censorship tools to flag as possible domestic terrorists any Americans who buy Bibles or support the enforcement of immigration law, says testimony today before a House committee.

“Federal agencies are funding tools for the financial sector similar to those social media is using to target misinformation and hate speech,” says written testimony from Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the nonprofit First Amendment law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). “Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.” Read More

03.15.24- Why economists are warning of another US banking crisis
Ru Xie

March 2024 is making investors nervous. A major scheme to prop up the US banking system is ending, while a second may be winding down. Some economic commentators fear another banking crisis. So how worried should we be?

The red letter day is March 11, when US central bank the Federal Reserve will end the bank term funding program (BTFP), a year after it began in response to the failures of regional banks Signature, Silvergate and Silicon Valley. Read More

03.14.24- Layoffs could be coming as debt-laden firms navigate the pain
of higher rates, economists say
Jennifer Sor

A wave of layoffs could be coming as companies deal with the reality of higher interest rates, economists say. 

While the job market still looks strong on paper, hiring conditions are set for a slowdown later this year, according to David Rosenberg, economist and the founder of Rosenberg Research. That's because the economy — and what's been touted as a surprisingly strong job market — are actually weaker than they appear, he told Business Insider, predicting that unemployment could jump to 5% by the end of the year. Read More

03.13.24- No Such Thing As A Neutral Fed
David Brady Jr

If one follows news relating to the economy, they surely have come across certain mainstream rhetoric in support of the Federal Reserve System.

Everyone is familiar with the typical claims that the Federal Reserve strives for maximized employment and low inflation, and that the Fed is the regulator of the banking industry. But king of them all is of the supposed political neutrality of the Federal Reserve. Read More

03.12.24- Gold Is The Canary In The Economic Coal-Mine
Peter Schiff

This weekend, Todd Sachs interviewed Peter on the state of the economy. They discuss the parallels between now and the 2007-2008 housing crisis, the role of economic sentiment in voters’ opinions, and why foreign central banks are losing faith in the dollar.

Peter opens with the fact that the United States is probably in a recession already, even though the government statistics say otherwise: Read More

03.11.24- South Dakota's Anti-Central Bank Digital Currency Bill
Joseph P. Farrell

If you’re following the development of pushback in the individual American states against the lunatic plans of Mr. Globalooney for central bank digital currencies, or for that matter, if you’ve been following the several American states initiating state bullion depositories and passing bullion-as-money laws, then you’ll want to pay very close attention to what just happened in my home state of South Dakota, and to what was just signed into law by its Governor, Mrs. Kristi Noem. Read More

03.09.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The End of Ideology?
Jeffrey Tucker

In 1960, Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell published a book called The End of Ideology. It argued that it was time to put aside all our ridiculous arguments of the past — socialism, fascism, liberalism, anarchism, technocracy, etc. — and just recognize that elites like him have it all under control.

They’d already established the building blocks of the administrative state so that real experts could be in charge and rule society with a steady hand. Read More

03.08.24- Powell Says
"There WILL be bank failures"
David Haggith

“Today just feels different,” one JPMorgan trader warned in a note to his clients this morning. “Fundamental longterm money is selling. I can’t help but sense that we’re at the apex of some unknown pivot point in the market. I can’t shake it.” Read More

03.07.24- A Circus of Errors
Jonathan Newman

When Nvidia reported high fourth quarter earnings for 2023 in February 2024, it sparked a general rally in stock markets. Stock markets in the United States, Japan, and Europe jumped to all-time highs after a few days of slight declines.

It seems strange for one company’s earnings call to have such a widespread effect, but many are saying that this is all a part of a technological revolution, in which real productivity will increase dramatically due to artificial intelligence powered by chips and hardware developed and produced by companies like Nvidia. Read More

03.06.24- Key Indicator Signals ‘Recession Ahead’ – Fed Faces Pressure to Cut Rates
Stefan Gleason

The mainstream financial media is reporting that inflation is coming down.

It’s not coming down to the Federal Reserve’s supposed 2% target – let alone low enough to cease being a persistent problem for millions of families. Nor is it even clear that the rate of price level increases is on a path lower in 2024. Read More

03.05.24- One Bank Asks "Could A Central Bank Somewhere Be Buying Crypto Assets?"
Benjamin Picton

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday evening following news that OPEC+ and Russia will extend production cuts through to June of this year. Brent closed 2% higher at $83.55/bbl, which means that prices have now risen by more than $6/bbl since the start of the year. Gold also caught a bid on Friday night to close the week at $2,082/ounce. This followed weaker than expected ISM survey data out on the United States that saw 2-year yields fall 9bps to 4.53% and the S&P500 hit fresh all-time-highs. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin surge continues apace after prices for ‘digital gold’ finished the week slightly above $62,500 Read More

03.05.24- Questions About Gold The CFTC And Fed Won’t Answer
Dave Kranzler

The gold “held” in custody by the Federal Reserve on behalf of the U.S. Treasury Taxpayer has not been formally and independently audited since President Eisenhower was in the White House. Anyone who has studied this issue, particularly GATA, does not take the official published numbers seriously. Many of us question if the gold is still there, having likely been leased to bullion banks in the official effort to keep the price suppressed. Read More

03.02.24- Inflation Soars,
Powell's Plane Dives
David Haggith

Or, at least, the hopes of a soft landing are going down as prices rise.

If inflation screams and no one hears it, does an airplane fall in the forest? That’s a good question for today. Inflation ripped upward, and the stock market shrugged it off as if it heard nothing, while a good part of the media reported satisfactory results … but not everyone because some saw it as horrible. So, let’s start with the really bad news that almost everyone ignored and then end at the really mundane and predictable news that almost everyone on Wall Street focused on. Read More

03.01.24- Fed's Bowman says she will stay 'cautious' on monetary policy
Ann Saphir

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman on Tuesday signaled she is in no rush to cut U.S. interest rates, particularly given upside risks to inflation that could stall progress or even cause price pressures to resurge. Read More

02.29.24- Real Wages Turn Negative Again as Price Inflation Refuses To Go Away
Ryan McMaken

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in January accelerated, and price inflation hasn't proven nearly as transitory as the regime's economists have long predicted. 

According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.1 percent year over year during January, after seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-fifth month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target. Read More

02.28.24- Don’t Be Surprised If The Fed Raises Interest Rates
Rick Mills

The question of whether the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates at its next meeting in March, raises them or continues “the pause”, will be on everyone’s minds when Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation data comes out this Thursday.

I’ve been right in my prediction that we will get a soft landing with no recession, with the important proviso that the Fed pauses its rate-hiking cycle, which it has already done. Read More

02.27.24- Hubris Runs Rampant at the Fed
Doug French

Prices will always increase, some small banks will fail, and the Fed was asleep at the switch when the run on Silicon Valley Bank occurred. Fed chair Jerome Powell admitted those three things in response to Scott Pelley’s questions on 60 Minutes.

“But the overall price level doesn’t come down. It will fluctuate. And some . . . goods and services will go up, others will go down. But overall, in aggregate, the price level doesn’t tend to go down except in extreme circumstances”. Read More

02.26.24- Oil ends lower, posts weekly decline as US rate cut hopes dim
Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 3% lower on Friday and posted a weekly decline after a U.S. central bank policymaker indicated interest rate cuts could be delayed by at least two more months.

Brent crude futures settled down $2.05, or 2.5%, at $81.62 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) were down $2.12, or 2.7%, to $76.49 Read More

02.24.24- The Federal Reserve Enables and Grows Big Government
Mike Maharrey

The Federal Reserve is the engine that powers one of the biggest, most powerful governments in history. 

In this episode of the Money Metals' Midweek Memo, host Mike Maharrey explains how and why the Fed enables an ever-growing federal government. 

Mike opens the podcast using an analogy drawn from the TV show "My 600-Pound Life," explaining how when somebody is engaged in destructive behavior, there is almost always an enabler. Read More

02.23.24- Federal Reserve records massive losses, makes up fictitious value called ‘deferred assets’ to compensate
Jack Hellner

Maybe the problem with all of the government can be summarized by what the Federal Reserve is doing.

The Federal Reserve lost $114.3 billion in 2023 and doesn’t seem to care. Maybe that is why the federal government has run up $34 trillion in debt, while they pretend government programs are paid for. They don’t care. They can always print more money. Read More

02.22.24- Fed officials expressed caution about lowering rates too quickly at last meeting,
minutes show
Jeff Cox

• The discussion came as policymakers not only decided to leave their key overnight borrowing rate unchanged but also altered the post-meeting statement to indicate that no cuts would be coming until the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee held "greater confidence" that inflation was receding. Read More

02.21.24- Massive Money Printing Will Accelerate as Debt Soars
Daniel Lacalle

The U.S. federal government published a December deficit of $129 billion, up 52% from the previous year. The private sector recession is clear as expenses continue to rise while tax receipts decline. If we look at the period between October and December 2023, the deficit ballooned to a staggering $510 billion.

You may remember that the Biden administration expected a significant deficit reduction from its tax increases and the expected benefits of its Inflation Reduction Act. Read More

02.20.24- Interest on the Debt will exceed defense budget this year
James Hickman

The ink was barely dry on the Treaty of Paris in the year 1763 when the financial panic set in. Government ministers across Europe began taking stock of their disastrous finances… and the picture was gruesome.

The world had been at war with itself for nearly a decade. And though the conflict became officially known as the Seven Years War, it might as well have been called ‘World War Zero’ because it involved just about every major power on the planet. Read More

02.19.24- Fed Bank Bailout Program
Ends in March... Then What?
Mike Maharrey

The bank bailout program established by the Federal Reserve in the wake of last spring's banking crisis is scheduled to shut down on March 11.

Then what?

There are a lot more questions than answers.

For instance, will the Fed blink? Read More

02.17.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Dissecting Stupidity
TL Davis

While the Fani Willis testimony inspired this post, it’s not the only case to be made for the fact that Americans might be too stupid today to fix anything. This is not a condemnation of the human being so much as it’s a condemnation of a federally-run public school system. One cannot rely on education to solve the problems; it takes common sense, logic and the application of both to overcome the irrational and illogical narratives that seem to create this sort of civil psychosis, the outcome of which is societal suicide. Read More

02.16.24- Puzzled
David Haggith

(Not me, but the drunken stock market seems to have pieced things together rather strangely.)

The good news is (or it would be in normal times when markets were not hoping for Fed rate cuts as they most recently were) that jobless claims continued to decline today. Of course, strong jobs strip the Fed-pivot hopes down to nothing, as the labor market continues to leave the Fed with no excuse for going to lazier interest policies. As Zero Hedge comments today, noting some of the peculiarities: Read More

02.15.24- Lingering Inflation Risks Keep Fed Officials in Wait-and-See Mode
on Rate Cuts
Craig Torres

The Federal Reserve entered 2024 within spitting distance of its inflation goal. But that’s not quite close enough for policymakers.

The risk that inflation could remain stuck above their 2% target is guiding Fed officials’ preference to keep interest rates where they are for now, even as investors have clamored for cuts. Read More

02.14.24- Inflation Won’t Die
James Rickards

The January inflation numbers came out this morning, and they weren’t good for Wall Street.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.1% in January. That’s a decrease from December’s 3.4%, but it exceeded consensus estimates of 2.9%.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 3.9% on an annualized basis, which is unchanged from December. But the consensus estimate was 3.7%. Core inflation also rose at its highest rate since April 2023. Read More

02.13.24- Inflation: Consumer prices rise 3.1% in January, defying forecasts for
a faster slowdown
Alexandra Canal

US consumer prices rose more than expected in January, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday morning.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.3% over the previous month and 3.1% over the prior year in January, slightly higher than December's 0.2% month-over-month increase but a deceleration from December's 3.4% annual gain. Read More

02.12.24- Jerome Powell Begs Washington to Save the American Economy
Peter Reagan

We called the surging accumulation of government debt “unsustainable” back in August 2023 (and reported on the worsening debt trend many times before that).

Since August, total debt has piled on more than $1 trillion in only a few months, establishing another record total of $34 trillion. Read More

02.10.24- The Fed asks America to fill in the blanks
James Hickman

It’s interesting to see how so many mainstream voices are starting to express concern about the gargantuan size of the US national debt.

For most of the past decade, even as the debt spiraled out of control and passed $20 trillion, $25 trillion, $30 trillion, etc., hardly anyone in the media said a word about it. If anything, they would insist that the ‘debt doesn’t matter.’ Read More

02.09.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Global Economic War – Where the Dollar Stands in the Chaos
Brandon Smith

In a recent statement posted to social media, Tucker Carlson explained succinctly his many reasons for traveling to Russia to interview President Vladimir Putin. His decision, mired in an avalanche of outrage from leftist media talking heads and a multitude of western politicians, was inspired by Carlson’s concern that Americans have been misdirected by corporate media propaganda, leaving the public completely uneducated on the war in Ukraine. Read More

02.08.24- Stocks and Bonds in Jeopardy as Powell's Punch Hits Home
David Haggith

Markets finally take the blow. The Dow fell about 300 points intraday and closed down more than 250 points as the investors began to let the seriousness of Powell’s blow hit home (it appears, but who knows with this lunatic market?) Last week the market fell after Powell popped investors on the nose right after the Fed’s FOMC meeting, but then it stumbled to its feet again anyway in its usual delirium. Over the weekend, a one-two punch of Powell on “60 Minutes” and a little additional Fed speak from one of the reserve bank presidents seemed to hammer the message back home. It took those extra blows all because Powell had left the tiniest hint of hope for investors to rise on. Read More

02.07.24- Here’s When the Fed Will Cut
James Rickards

When will the Fed cut rates? Before giving you the answer, let’s back up.

Before last week’s Federal Reserve meeting, I offered readers the following forecast of what would happen at that meeting:

On Wednesday, the Fed will leave its target rate for fed funds unchanged. That decision will keep the federal funds target at 5.50% as set at the July 26, 2023 meeting. Over the course of fifteen FOMC meetings beginning March 16, 2022, I’ve been correct in all my forecasts including the “skipped” rate hikes at the June, September, November, and December 2023 meetings. Read More

02.06.24- The Fed Cannot Cut Rates As Fast As Markets Want
Daniel Lacalle

Market participants started the year with aggressive expectations of rapid and large rate cuts. However, after the latest inflation, growth, and job figures, the probability of a rate cut in March has fallen from 80 to 19%. 

Unfortunately for many, headline figures will support a hawkish Federal Reserve, and the latest comments from Jerome Powell suggest rate cuts may not come as fast as bond investors would like. Read More

02.05.24- How Will The Fed React To The Supply-Driven Inflation Shock In Goods
Alex Kotliarskyi

Double or Nothing?

US non-farm payrolls put the final nail in the coffin of a March rate cut on Friday by printing at almost double the consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Payrolls rose by 353,000 in January versus an expected gain of 185,000, and the December figure (already a beat) was revised higher by 117,000. Even the most bullish forecaster on the survey under-clubbed the number to the tune of 53,000 jobs (more than 1 standard deviation). Average hourly earnings also beat expectations to print at 0.6% m-o-m, which took the year-on-year figure back up to 4.5%. Read More

02.03.24- The numbers may be fake, but they have plunged a dagger into the back of the Powell pivot fantasy
David Haggith

A scorching-hot jobs report finally woke up a few bond vigilantes today to recognize they have priced bonds on the wrong side of history. With so many jobs supposedlyadded to the economy, the odds of a Fed pivot on interest rates in March got skewered. With no visible signs of any slack appearing in the labor market and Powell claiming the economy is strong and resilient, what possible reason could he have to lower rates when inflation is still up? Read More

02.02.24- Powell Pummels Lunatic Market Mania
David Haggith

He finally put stock investors in the stockade

Powell drop-kicked the “Fed pivot in March” mantra to the floor today, driving the Dow down more than 300 points (-0.82%), the S&P down 79 points (-1.61%) and the topsy-tech NASDAQ down a major 345 points (-2.23%). Asked about the March mania, Powell said,

“I don’t think it’s likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting to identify March is the time to do that…. The major averages hit their session lows shortly after the comments. Read More

02.01.24- The US Is Living
on Borrowed Time
Matthew Piepenburg

In late December, I published a final report on the themes of 2023 while looking ahead at their implications for the year to come.

I repeated my claim that debt markets and debt levels made the future of Fed policies, currency moves, rate markets and gold’s endgame fairly clear to see.

Of course, as facts change, opinions change as well. Read More

01.31.24- Inflation has slowed. Now the Federal Reserve faces expectations
for rate cuts
Christopher Rugaber

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell will enter this week’s Federal Reserve meeting in a much more desirable position than he likely ever expected: Inflation is getting close to the Fed’s target rate, the economy is still growing at a healthy pace, consumers keep spending and the unemployment rate is near a half-century low. Read More

01.30.24- Inside the Darién Gap; Agenda 2030 Mass Migration Plan Exposed
Muckraker Report

View Video

01.29.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Let’s Pray That Texas
Doesn’t Blink
Eric Sammons

The years-long showdown between Texas and the Federal Government over the Texas-Mexico border took a dramatic—and potentially dangerous—turn this week. The Supreme Court (with Amy Coney Barrett as the deciding vote) ruled that Texas could not prevent the Federal Government from taking down the barbed wire fence that Texas installed along part of the border. In turn, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to defend the barbed wire fence (and thus the border), saying that it was a matter of the state’s self-defense that supersedes the Supreme Court ruling. Read More

01.27.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: The Left Had Better Watch Its Fani
John Green

I was going to avoid commenting on the Fani Willis comedy routine playing in Atlanta.  But after the last week’s events, I’m busting at the seams with snark.  So here goes.

The Atlanta district attorney, Fani Willis, decided to play superhero in her own performance art production to rescue the Dems from their disastrous decision to let gropey Joe lead the party.  She figured she could clear the field for Joe by indicting Donald Trump, and 18 others, on federal racketeering charges.  It seems that the Donald did the same thing that every losing Democrat since Al Gore has done: he questioned the vote-counting.  That’s considered “protecting our democracy” when a Democrat does it, but according to Fani, it’s criminal conspiracy when a Republican does it. Read More

01.26.24- The Fed Lost Billions and You're Going to Pay for It!
Mike Maharrey

The Federal Reserve recorded a record loss of $114.3 billion in 2023, and you (the American taxpayer) are on the hook.

The last time the Fed ran a net operating loss was 1915.

The loss was a direct result of the Fed’s interest rate hikes to fight price inflation. Read More

01.25.24- The Chaos of Conflict Spreads and Burns the Hopes of Central Bankers
David Haggith

The demise of China's economy and the rise of war in the Middle East is spreading globally as economic damage. Central bankers are now warning that it is making their inflation fight much harder.

The Dow ended another doggy day down as the S&P eked a tiny speck upward while bond yields continued to rise as the market continued to price Fed rate cuts out further as prospects for inflation become more heated. Read More

01.24.24- Inflation Gives Fed the Finger
James Rickards

Is inflation over? Actually, no. And it may be getting worse.

Let’s begin the analysis with the latest data. Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index, CPI, on a year-over-year basis) was 3.4%.

That’s practically the Federal Reserve’s worst nightmare. Read More

01.23.24- Don’t Tax the Rich. End the Fed!
Dr Ron Paul

Select politicians, government officials, economic elites, and experts arriving at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland were greeted with an open letter signed by more than 250 billionaires and millionaires. The signers request their respective governments raise their taxes. Read More

01.22.24- Federal Reserve Payments to Banks Trigger Largest Ever Operating Loss
John Carney

The Federal Reserve quietly lost a fortune in 2023 as interest it pays out to banks swamped the interest it earns on its bond portfolio, data released by the central bank Friday showed.

The Fed said it lost roughly $114.3 billion in 2023, its largest-ever annual loss. Read More

01.20.24- This is a Blueprint for How the Dollar Goes Kaput
Simon Black

That infernal clanging you might have heard outside your bedroom window this morning was the sound of the proverbial can being kicked down the road, yet again.

With no agreement on spending anywhere on the horizon for the current fiscal year, the US Congress passed yesterday a ‘Continuing Resolution’ to keep the government temporarily funded for another six weeks. Read More

01.19.24- Fed’s Balance Sheet QT, Liabilities: RRPs -$1.78 trillion from Peak, to $590 Billion, but Reserves Rise to $3.6 Trillion as Liquidity Drains and Shifts
Wolf Richter

RRPs heading to their normal level of zero. And it’s time to talk about the revived Standing Repo Facility.

As the Fed’s Quantitative Tightening hums along on autopilot, its assets have fallen by nearly $1.3 trillion as of its weekly balance sheet released on Thursday, and its liabilities have fallen in equal amounts. The dropping liabilities are a result of QT. Here we’ll discuss two of the Fed’s big four liabilities: ON RRPs and Reserves. Read More

01.18.24- How many times the Fed will cut interest rates is a hot topic in Davos
Brian Sozzi

Climate change, deadly wars, and the proliferation of potentially job-ruining artificial intelligence are several of the biggest topics being chatted about at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

But they aren't necessarily the hottest topics — that could be reserved for what the Federal Reserve may or may not do with interest rates in 2024. Why, you ask? Read More

01.17.24- Will the Fed Sabotage Trump?
James Rickards

It’s an election year. Interest rates are high relative to current inflation rates and are the highest they’ve been since 2006.

Do those two conditions have anything to do with each other? The Federal Reserve would say no but history would say yes. Read More

01.16.24- Congratulations, Fed!
Charles Hugh Smith

One of the most extraordinary economic marvels of the past decade is the astounding 50% leap in corporate profits, from $2.4 trillion (pre-tax) pre-pandemic lockdown to $3.6 trillion (pre-tax) in the years since the lockdown ended.

Strangely, few seem to ask the source of this astounding 50% leap. Wall Street has certainly cheered this vast increase, but few analysts ponder the source, or ask if the source is a net plus for the economy and nation. Read More

01.15.24- Futures Dip As Doubts Emerge About March Rate Cut,
US Markets Closed For Holiday
Tyler Durden

US equity futures were steady on Monday as investors were displeased by hawkish comments from ECB's Holzmann , who said there may not be any rate cuts this year which pushed European stocks to session lows, while also bracing for more earnings later this week. With cash stock markets closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and global liquidity especially thin, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 0.1% and unchanged, respectively, as 8:00 a.m. ET, after both underlying benchmarks gained last week as the earnings season kicked off. Read More

01.13.24- And Now. for Something Entirely Different: Washington Escalates
the Middle East Conflict
Paul Craig Roberts

As I expected, Washington is moving the conflict toward Iran.

Washington chose this moment to escalate in order to direct the news away from Israel’s trial in the International Court of Justice. Regardless, Washington’s neoconservatives intended escalation from the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war. Read More

01.12.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: Political Man vs.
Technological Man
Brian Maher

We hazard the future hinges upon a monumental race.

It is a contest between two mighty men — political man — and technological man.

At stake is the destiny of everyman, presently in the siege of political man.

Under political man the nation has taken aboard $34 trillion of debt. Read More

01.11.24- What Happens
When The Banks Go Bust?
Todd "Bubba" Horwitz

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01.10.24- And Now, for Somethin Entirely Different: Out of Africa and Into America: Parallels & Warnings for the US
from South Africa
Alex Newman

Is South Africa predicting the future of the United States? And if so, can it be stopped?

There are shocking similarities between South Africa and the United States of America, explained Simon Roche, the director of foreign affairs for Suidlanders, an Afrikaner preparedness organization, in an episode of Conversations That Matter . Read More

01.09.24- Mission Accomplished: Yellen Says Fed's Battle is Over!
David Haggith

Who wouldn't trust a sweet ol' gramma?

Janet Yellen coos that the Fed has landed so softly we didn’t even feel the wheels touch the tarmac. It’s “mission accomplished,” according to Jesse Felder’s take on Yellen’s praise for the Powell landing. Apparently inflation has been tamed now with no significant damage to labor and no recession. Read More

01.08.24- What the Fed Accomplished: Distorted the Economy, Enriched the Rich and Crushed the Middle Class
Charles Hugh Smith

The mainstream holds the Fed is busy planning a return to the glory days of zero interest rates, but ZIRP is on the downside of the S-Curve; it’s done, gone, history.

Let’s summarize what the Federal Reserve accomplished since embarking on its massive interventions to control volatility, risk, bond yields, interest rates, the mortgage market, bank subsidies and liquidity, all of which can be summed up as the cost of credit-capital, that is, capital that is borrowed into existence based on some form of collateral or income stream. Read More

01.06.24- Zero Hedge Admits it Was Wrong about Fed Pivot
Davis Haggith

It is funny how Zero Hedge admitted it was wrong. They did it by admitting everyone else was wrong who got tied up in the latest mess of pivot mania without mentioning that they were caught up in it themselves. In fact, they were practically championing the mania, rather than criticizing it as they should have been. Read More

01.05.24- Corrupt Money, Corrupt World
Claudio Grass

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01.04.24- 2024 Could Be Horrible For The Dollar
Peter Schiff 

Peter Schiff left a stark warning in his recent podcast: “2024 could be a horrible year for the dollar.” 

Here are 3 big reasons why Peter thinks inflation might rise even higher this year.

1. The Fed wants to boost Biden’s reelection Read More

01.03.24- The Fed Will Lose Control In 2024
Mario Innecco

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01.02.24- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: 2024 Will Be A Year Of Historic Natural Disasters
Michael Snyder

We didn’t even make it through an entire day in 2024 before our planet sent us some enormous reminders that it is becoming increasingly unstable.  Unfortunately, the earthquakes that we just witnessed in California and Japan are just the beginning.  2024 will be a year of historic natural disasters, and in many cases there won’t be any warning at all.  In Japan, people were preparing for an ordinary New Year’s Day when all of a sudden the shaking began. Read More

01.01.24- New York Fed: Inflows to reverse repo facility surge, hitting $1.018 trillion
Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Friday it accepted $1.018 trillion at its overnight reverse repo facility, as inflows to the central bank liquidity facility surged on the final trading day of the year.

Friday's inflows were expected to jump and were well above the $829.6 billion seen on Thursday. Friday's inflows were the first time above $1 trillion since Nov. 13. Read More