In my experience of public policy discussions, one of the most frequent weasel words used as an intended trump (not Trump) card has been “fair.”
Like another commonly played political trump card, “need,” fairness does not have a clear meaning. That provides a great deal of wiggle room for equivocation, almost always used to justify forcing some Americans to pay for what someone else wants.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his open market committee left the only interest rate they control unchanged on November 1st. Everything is okey dokey, soft landing in process.
After the announcement and brief remarks by Mr. Powell the Q & A began with a room full of Fed following financial journalists, er leakers. Beyond the usual fluff questions, Jonnelle Marte from Bloomberg concluded her question with, “Also, do you think that those higher yields could affect banking stress?”
The eurozone economy is more than weak. It is in deep contraction, and the data is staggering.
The United States is borrowing its way to disguise recession.
The headline economic figures for the United States look robust. However, details show concerning weaknesses.
Real GDP growth surged to 4.9% in the third quarter, above the consensus estimate of 4.5%. However, some analysts, including Bloomberg, expected up to 5% growth based on the nowcast estimates.
Sovereign debt is eating the world. Lining up a financial crash that could make 2008 look like a picnic.
How did we get here?
In short, governments and central banks deluded themselves into thinking that unlimited deficit spending financed by unlimited money printing won’t do what they’ve done for literally millennia -- plunge the economy into stagflation.
They are, of course, wrong. And we’re seeing the catastrophe unfold before our eyes.
The impending decline of the dollar is apparently imposing a real Halloween scare on the American foreign policy establishment. An August 22, 2023, article on the Council on Foreign Relations website entitled “The Future of Dollar Hegemony” explained that
