My original thought for a writing was the hilarious action following yesterday's Fed meeting and to comment on last night's debate. Something far more "real" has arisen in the last 24 hours of far more importance, before getting to that, let's look at the Fed's "hawkish" statement first.
Janet Yellen and crew would have you believe they "will"... "might" raise interest rates in December. They say this because the Fed (as all central banks have) has lost credibility and are forced to jawbone as this is their only "policy option" left. They absolutely CANNOT raise interest rates as the rest of the world is easing in futile attempts to reflate declining economic activity. The U.S. economy is in reality declining, John Crudele does a great job of picking the latest GDP report apart. I cannot believe the e-mails I've recently received on this topic with people petrified the Fed can raise rates ...which will supposedly hurt gold?
PEOPLE! If the Fed were to raise rates from here, our already declining economy will be flushed! A strong dollar has already put more than a pinch on our exports ...but the real killer will be the financial system itself. Derivatives will blow up all around the world with a dollar rate hike, this will make the real economy a moot point as the banks will close their doors. In case anyone forgot, it was as recent as Monday we were hearing trial balloons from Fed mouthpieces regarding NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES!!! How credible is it to go from talking about negative rates to raising rates ...in the same week? Please understand this, there is now NO POLICY option that can fix the position we are in. The only thing that remains is how a re set is accomplished and how severe it is. Fed "policy" is a mirage at this point, their only goal now is to prolong the use dollars. Their policy is just as fake as the product they aim to protect.
Another topic illustrating just how fake our lives are, were the debates last night. Fed cheerleaders from CNBC absolutely disgraced themselves with the questions they asked and how they conducted themselves. The questioning was asinine only to be followed by disrespectfully interrupting answers and talking over responses. CNBC "journalists" pulled their pants down and showed they do have an agenda and are not "above" anything ...including reporting impossible economic numbers with a straight face. Surprisingly (to the idiots at CNBC), none of the candidates took the bait to attack each other, instead they turned on the moderators. Can you imagine ANY of these questions being asked at a Democratic "love fest" debate?
For the most part, the Republicans at least told the truth that we as a people really do have big problems. Several heartfelt responses received applause, then Ted Cruz mentioned a gold standard ...and Rand Paul spoke of auditing the Fed to an eerie silence of nothing but crickets. Many of the proposals last night were quite good, unfortunately they will not prevent the coming re set. I believe much of what we heard can and should be implemented once the system liquidates and reopens, nothing will prevent the liquidation phase.
Before getting to the "reality", let me say something so there are no misconceptions of who I am. I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I am fiscally conservative and have a few social issues I could be considered left leaning. When I vote (it no longer matters who you vote for, only "who" counts the votes), I vote for the person and their ideas, not "the party". In fact, when all is said and done on a grand scale, Republicans and Democrats are "owned" by the same powers and their policies seem to reach the same end though from slightly different roads.
U.S. politics is nothing more than a circus for the entertainment of the population. We are two years past an election where the people threw the bums out and replaced them with Republicans who promised to roll back many bad programs and even defund Obamacare. NOTHING has been done even though both houses are Republican majority. They flat out lied.
As for Democrats/liberals, how can anyone even have a conversation with them? I can't, I don't even try anymore. Typically past conversations with liberals end up with me being screamed at and called all sorts of names. All you need to do is say president Obama has ridiculous policies, broken logic and lies when his mouth is moving ...and you are automatically called a racist. If you switch gears to show you are not a racist and praise the logic, demeanor and patriotism of Ben Carson ...you are then a right wing Christian extremist.
Before finishing this little section on "liberals", let's talk about their banner cause ...FREE SPEECH. Have you ever noticed they always support someone's right to an opinion (or religion or lifestyle) the more shocking it is? If you are patriotic and espouse or defend The Constitution you are considered a nutcase right wing Christian extremist. I would ask, is this such a bad thing? What exactly is wrong with the Constitution? Is it "unfair" or something? Or, what is wrong with being a Christian? Have you ever seen a Christian chop off the head of a Muslim because they don't believe in Jesus? Even if you are not religious at all, would you not agree the world would be a far better place if everyone walked the Earth and tried to emulate the "man" they called Jesus? As for Muslims, Europe is getting a first hand look at their loving ways. By the way, Mr. Putin commented that Muslims in Russia would have to follow Russian laws and customs ...or LEAVE. What a novel idea, why didn't we think of this?!!! OK, I'll stop here because I can already hear the screaming and name calling!
Two pieces of news that really do matter relates to Russia. First, Mr. Putin declared settlement for domestic oil will be in roubles, the use of dollars AND euros for settlement are now banned. A second piece of news were Russian bomber planes buzzing the USS Ronald Reagan in international waters off of South Korea. This is not highly unusual but it does increase the odds of "an accident" happening.
What is not an accident are Russian bombing sorties in efforts to help Syria's Assad. Can you guess the latest possible policy response by the Obama administration? "Boots on the ground" in Syria! Who thought this one up? It is thought to be a good idea to place U.S. soldier where Russian planes are dropping bombs? It was also thought to be a good idea to send a naval vessel slowly past the Chinese South Sea islands. Was there an upside to this? Especially after being warned by China not to do this? What could possibly go wrong?
Do you see where this is headed and why? The United States is financially (and morally) broke. The Chinese and Russians know this. THIS is what really matters! Our way of life is about to change forever yet what is put forth for internal public consumption are topics of political correctness. Will being politically correct even matter while this country is forced to rebuild everything from the financial system to infrastructure to something as simple as a work ethic ...for AT LEAST ONE FULL GENERATION?!!! ...And this assumes the crazies in Washington don't decide to just kick the table over and start pushing every red button they can find.
I am sorry if I have hurt anyone's feelings with this missive (not really). It is what it is and unfortunately we have lazied away all previously built up capital (not just financial) left to us by our ancestors. We have done everything they warned us not to. Like little kids we found the easy way out and our parents were just old fashioned prudes who knew not what they were talking about. Please do not write me and ask "why can't they just keep the façade going forever"? If you do ask it means you took the wrong colored pill and washed it down with Kool Aid to integrate and become part of the problem!
