Fed Chair Jerome Powell tells 60 Minutes that it’s “urgent” the US address its “Unsustainable Fiscal Path” I list 15 key takeaways from the interview.
“The Overall Price Level Doesn’t Come Down“:”
Powell Transcript
Please consider Jerome Powell: Full 2024 60 Minutes Interview Transcript
Here are some highlights I selected, emphasis added, with my comments interspersed.
PELLEY 60 Minutes: Why is your target rate 2%?
POWELL: So over, really over the course of the last few decades, central banks around the world have adopted – advanced economy central banks have adopted a 2% target. Why isn’t it zero, I guess, is the question. And the reason is 2% is if interest rates always include an estimate of future inflation.
If that estimate is 2%, that means you’ll have 2% more that you can cut in interest rates. The central bank will have more ammunition, more power to fight a downturn if rates are a little bit higher. In any case, that’s become the global norm. And it’s a pretty stable equilibrium and it seems to serve the public well.
Mish: The Fed has a 2% target and cannot explain why other than to say its become the global norm and it leaves them room to cut. This is ridiculous group-think at best.
PELLEY: So what is your best forecast for inflation right now?
POWELL: I think the base case, the main expectation I would have, is that inflation will continue to move down in the first six months of this year, we expect. So, we look at inflation over a 12-month basis. That’s our target. And the first five months of last year were fairly high readings.
PELLEY: Inflation is one thing. Prices are another. And I wonder if there’s any reason to believe that people will see the prices of things decline?
POWELL: So, the prices of some things will decline. Others will go up. But we don’t expect to see a decline in the overall price level. That doesn’t tend to happen in economies, except in very negative circumstances. What you will see, though, is inflation coming down.
People are experiencing high prices. If you think about the basic necessities, things like, you know, bread and milk and eggs and meats of various kinds, if you look back, prices are substantially higher than they were before the pandemic. And so, we think that’s a big reason why people are, have been relatively dissatisfied with what is otherwise a pretty good economy.
PELLEY: But those prices will not soften short of something like a recession?
POWELL: Some of them will. In particular, things that are affected by commodity prices, like, for example, gasoline prices have come way down. Some food prices that incorporate the price of commodities, grains and things like that, those can come down.
But the overall price level doesn’t come down. It will fluctuate. And some goods will, 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 fairly extreme circumstances.
PELLEY: The next meeting around this table that will decide the direction of interest rates is in this coming March. Knowing what you know now, is a rate cut more likely or less likely at that time?
POWELL: So, the broader situation is that the economy is strong, the labor market is strong, and inflation is coming down. And my colleagues and I are trying to pick the right point at which to begin to dial back our restrictive policy stance.
That time is coming. We’ve said that we want to be more confident that inflation is moving down to 2%. And I would say, and I did say yesterday, that I think it’s not likely that this committee will reach that level of confidence in time for the March meeting, which is in seven weeks.
PELLEY: This past December in your quarterly report, the Fed predicted rate cuts this year down to about 4.6%. Still likely?
POWELL: Those forecasts were made in December. And those are individual forecasts made by participants. It’s not a committee plan. We don’t update those at every meeting. We’ll update them at the March meeting. I will say, though, nothing has happened in the meantime that would lead me to think that people would dramatically change their forecasts.
PELLEY: So something around a 4.6% interest rate is likely?
POWELL: I would say it this way. It’s really going to depend on the data. The data will drive these decisions. And we can’t do any better than to look at the data and ask ourselves, “How is this affecting the outlook and the balance of risks?” That’s what we’ll be doing. So, what we actually do will depend on how the economy evolves.
PELLEY: Your decisions inevitably are going to have a bearing on this year’s election. And I wonder, to what degree does politics determine your timing?
POWELL: We do not consider politics in our decisions. We never do. And we never will. And I think the record — fortunately, the historical record really backs that up. People have gone back and looked. This is my fourth presidential election in the Fed, and it just doesn’t come into our thinking, and I’ll tell you why.
Two reasons. One, we are a non-political organization that serves all Americans. It would be wrong for us to start taking politics into account. Secondly, though, it’s not easy to get the economics of this right in the first place. These are complicated, you know, risk-balancing decisions.
PELLEY: There are people watching this interview who are skeptical about that.
POWELL: You know, I would just say this. Integrity is priceless. And at the end, that’s all you have. And we in, we plan on keeping ours.
PELLEY: I’m curious. Do you, Mr. Chairman, have a favorite metric that you look at to keep your finger on the pulse of the economy?
POWELL: A single metric?
PELLEY: Just one thing that you look at and you think, “That really tells me something.”
POWELL: I might be able to limit myself to 20 metrics. I could not identify a single one. I would say, you know, with the labor market there’s so much. The labor market is the place where we have lots and lots of data, and better-quality data than a lot of places. And so all of us follow many things.
PELLEY: There was a stupendous amount of government spending. To support the economy.
POWELL: Well, there was. You know, we had a situation where the CARES Act was passed unanimously by the House and Senate. I wonder if, when the last time that happened or the next time will be. Extraordinarily unusual. And it was because the pandemic really was so unique and the range of possible outcomes was broad, and not in a good way.
We didn’t know how quickly there would be vaccines, for example. It could’ve been years. We didn’t know how lethal the pandemic would be. So, people were very concerned about the economy.
Congress really stepped up, and we really stepped up, and you know, inflation came in March of 2021. And so that, that’s really what happened. But it was a lot of different factors, some of which are just attributable to the shutting and reopening of the economy.
Mish: The Fed not only “stepped up” it refused to see inflation that was obvious to the world. Simultaneously the Fed kept up QE while inflation soared the most in decades.
PELLEY: Was the Fed too slow to recognize inflation in 2021?
POWELL: So in hindsight, it would’ve been better to have tightened policy earlier. I’m happy to say that. Really, it was this. We saw what we thought was that this inflation, which seemed to be mostly limited to the goods sector and to the supply chain story. We thought that the economy was so dynamic that it would fix itself fairly quickly. And we thought that inflation would go away fairly quickly without an intervention by us.
Mish: Powell was happy to duck the question. He refused to admit the Fed was too slow. If you cannot admit an obvious mistake, what credibility do you have?
PELLEY: Those sharp and repeated increases in interest rates were absolutely mandatory in your view?
POWELL: In my view, they were, yes.
PELLEY: Despite the pain they caused?
POWELL: Well, interesting, you know, we were being honest, and I was being honest in saying that we thought there would be pain. And we thought that the pain would likely come, as it has in so many past cycles, in the form of higher unemployment. That hasn’t happened.
PELLEY: A really good thing and a really curious thing. Most any economist would’ve told you that you’d have to have a recession to bring the rates down. And that didn’t happen. And I wonder why?
POWELL: Yeah, it’s historically unusual. And I think we’ll be able to say much more definitively when we’re looking back years from now what, why it is. But I’ll tell you why I think it is. And that is that it was these pandemic-related distortions, both of demand and supply.
So with demand, we had people spending money so much on goods and not so much on services. And supply, if you look at the cars — cars are a great example. You need lots and lots of semiconductors to build cars these days. I have to admit I wasn’t actually that aware of that.
But there was a semiconductor shortage because so many people were buying goods that, that involve a lot of semiconductors. So, while demand for cars was spiking because people didn’t want to ride public transportation, for example, and they’re moving to the suburbs, while that’s happening you can’t get semiconductors, you can’t make cars.
PELLEY: So, this is not evidence that the American economy has changed in some fundamental and enduring way.
POWELL: As a result of the pandemic? I don’t think we know that. I think a couple things. One is just work from home. That is a change. We do see that that looks like it’ll be a persistent thing. And the jury is out on how frequent that will be or how prevalent that will be.
But that’s a new thing, I think, that’s different. And there will be other things that come out of the pandemic. We’re much better now at communicating from home and from other places. Remote communication just suddenly was available and including with video. Suddenly we were making all of our calls on video. It was a new thing.
PELLEY: I have spoken to many young couples recently who have said they can’t imagine how they could afford a mortgage today. What do you say to them?
POWELL: Well, Congress has given us the job of providing maximum employment and price stability. And that means when inflation comes, when high inflation really threatens to become persistent, we use our tools to bring down inflation. It’s very important for that young couple — and particularly for younger couples starting out who may not have great financial means, that we succeed in this effort.
And we will. We will do so. But what that means is that interest-sensitive spending like mortgages and buying, you know, durable goods and things like that, that’s going to be expensive for a while. That’s going to slow the economy down. But this is all part of getting back to a place of price stability when interest rates can be low again on a sustainable basis.
Mish: Unless and until housing prices drop or pay rises to match mortgages, housing will be weak. The Fed never factors asset bubbles into its definition of inflation. Many millennials and Zoomers are very bitter over this and rightfully so.
PELLEY: You’re asking the American people for patience?
POWELL: Yes. And I think people have been patient and have been through a pretty difficult time. And I think now we’re coming through that time and starting to feel a little bit better about things.
PELLEY: Well, the housing market is falling. Hiring is also slowing at this moment. And I wonder if these are yellow flashing lights for a recession?
POWELL: So, we’re watching really carefully. And I would say there’s always a possibility of a recession at any given time. But I wouldn’t say that that possibility of a recession isn’t all elevated right now, and I’ll tell you why.
We just finished a year in which the economy grew 3.1%. That’s a really healthy growth rate. The fourth quarter growth rate was actually a little better than that. So, growth is fine. You’re right — the net hiring by businesses and nonprofits, the number is coming down.
But it’s coming down from very, very high, unsustainably high levels. It’s been gradually coming down. It’s still at a very, very healthy level. I think 165,000 new jobs per month over the last quarter. That’s a good number for an economy our size.
PELLEY: How do you assess the national debt?
POWELL: We mostly try very hard not to comment on fiscal policy and instruct Congress on how to do their job when actually they have oversight over us. So, the national debt doesn’t play a big role in our thinking. Doesn’t play any role, actually, in our thinking. When Congress does deficit spending, that can be stimulative, that goes into our models. But we don’t — it’s not our role at all to be a judge of fiscal policy in any way.
PELLEY: But is the national debt a danger to the economy in your review? You are this country’s central banker.
POWELL: So, it, I would say this. In the long run, the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path. The U.S. federal government’s on an unsustainable fiscal path. And that just means that the debt is growing faster than the economy. So, it is unsustainable. I don’t think that’s at all controversial. And I think we know that we have to get back on a sustainable fiscal path. And I think you’re starting to hear now from people in the elected branches who can make that happen. It’s time that we got back to that focus.
PELLEY: I have the sense this worries you very much.
POWELL: Over the long run, of course it does. You know, we’re effectively — we’re borrowing from future generations. And every generation really should pay for the things that it, that it needs. It can cause the federal government to buy the things that it needs for it, but it really should pay for those things and not hand the bills to our children and grandchildren.
I think this is, again, not controversial. But it’s difficult from a political standpoint. It’s not our business, really. But I do think it’s pretty widely understood that it’s time for us to get back to putting a priority on fiscal sustainability. And sooner’s better than later.
Mish Short Synopsis – Fifteen Key Points
- Powell said the fiscal path is unsustainable and that it was urgent to fix it. Everyone knows the path is unsustainable, but getting the Fed to say the need to address the problem is “urgent” was extraordinary.
- No question by 60 Minutes on asset bubbles
- No solid explanation by Powell for a 2 percent inflation target
- Powell did not admit blame for stirring up inflation.
- Powell said inflation will moderate while noting “people are experiencing high prices” and the overall price level will not come down.
- Powell praised “defending democracy” abroad, failing to see that constant US meddling everywhere is one of the key reasons the US is on an “unstainable fiscal path”.
- Powell denied the Fed plays politics and won’t because it would ruin the Fed’s credibility.
- Powell minimalized the impact of a slowdown in China.
- Powell still does not seem to grasp the true nature of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, blaming it on “uninsured deposits”. I note the true problem, allowing banks to speculate on interest rates.
- Powell tried not to comment on immigration, then did, saying the “country needed the workers”
- Powell said geopolitical risk are greatest threat to the world economy
- Powell acknowledged people are struggling to get mortgages and housing is not affordable. He fails to admit (most likely even notice), Fed policy is the reason.
- Powell downplays the commercial real estate problem as manageable.
- Powell said last bits of normalization are probably gonna take a couple of years but this isn’t big stuff.
- Powell does not foresee a recession. Happy days are ahead.
Major Point of Agreement
On one point I wholeheartedly agree with Powell and its worth repeating: “We have this dynamic, innovative, flexible, adaptable economy. More so than other countries. And this is the big reason why our economy has come through so well.“
The US has the largest, most free capital market in the world. This is why Apple. Microsoft, NVDIA, Amazon, Intel, Facebook, Tesla, and other companies are US companies.
The EU would have broken them all up before they ever got big.
2024 Inflation Outlook: How Much Inflation Is Baked in the Cake?
Regarding inflation, I think the Powell downplays the risk, but in the interview, he at least notes the risk.
For discussion, please see 2024 Inflation Outlook: How Much Inflation Is Baked in the Cake?
I also think Powell is very wrong about the strength of the jobs market.
For discussion, please see Jobs Soar but Full Time Employment Is Barely Changed Since May 2022
60 Minutes did not ask about Tariffs. Since that is fiscal policy, Powell may not have responded.
For my take, please see Help for the Heartland? Trump Tariffs Failed the Mission
Tariff policy is highly inflationary at the levels supported by Trump and Biden but there was no discussion of tariffs in the interview.
“PELLEY: A really good thing and a really curious thing. Most any economist would’ve told you that you’d have to have a recession to bring the rates down. And that didn’t happen. And I wonder why?”
Would it be because the Government is spending like a drunken sailor and thus keeping the economy humming along among other things like money left from earlier spending and wage increases
“The US has the largest, most free capital market in the world. This is why Apple. Microsoft, NVDIA, Amazon, Intel, Facebook, Tesla, and other companies are US companies.” What goes unsaid is that these big companies also crush competitors that may further add to our society.
Of course, during the Plandemic, 10 Trillion dollars went from the lower and middle classes to the top 1%. That alone lowers the standard of living and creates inflation. The Billionaires rule the world through The Great Reset,.
Why did Powell advocate for ‘work at home’. This explains the Fed’s blindness to consumer inflation. Remote work accounts for the failure of SF Fed President Mary Daly, and her staff, to monitor the delinquent activities of SVB.
My opinion is the elephant in the room is being ignored. How will AI’s replacement of employed people not have a significant impact on any model of economy? Goods produced will be cheaper, but how many people will be able to buy those goods? Do those people become a part of the welfare class? Seems like the failed responses to Covid, whether by design or not it destroyed many in the middle class. Was it a plan? People on welfare are ill equipped to resist a controlling government/powerful, rich elite. Does AI allow the wealthy elite to get richer at the expense of almost everyone else?
Fiscal path is unsustainable? Why can he say this to Pelly but not before congress?
you know how I counter act inflation = late fees on rents not paid on time
I routinely charge hundreds of fiat $dollars in late fees – they hate it but know they didn’t pay on time
today was make a deal on rent day – had 1 who paid this months rent in full but was $1k for past months – said $400 in 2 week
another is $10k behind because I charge $500 month late fee for past year
cut $3k and said make bi-weekly payments or see yah in eviction court
I told you 4.5% last week… that’s what the credit markets are saying clearly.
Price rises do not equal inflation, there is no inflation. Price rises are due to synthetic scarcity. To have inflation, you need credit expansion, and we have contraction. QED.
No one files bankruptcy because they are losing money. They file bankruptcy because they have run out of cash. The USA is bankrupt, but it will never run out of cash. The bond vigilantes need to demand higher rate treasury bonds that are asset backed
Asking ‘are you political’ is a stupid way to ask the question. Instead, Powell should be grilled on the facts: 8 years of Obama, 3 years of Trump (covid response wasn’t optional given the closing of much of the economy), and 3 years of Biden.
From memory, Obama had nearly 7 years of zero percent interest and when rates were finally raised it was just once until Trump was elected. Until Covid the Fed raised rates on Trump multiple times, topping out 2.75 I believe. Biden come to town and the Fed ignores inflation for 9 months before moving just a quarter point (proximity to the election also ‘inconvenient’).
Of course, the media has a hand in this too. Trump might have said the same things Biden said about inflation but instead of applauding the media would have called Trump a liar. They would say ‘prove it’. Rates would have gone up in the summer of 21 instead of late winter of 22.
Powell tipped his hand at the beginning of the interview when he was asked about the 2% target rate:
“If that estimate is 2%, that means you’ll have 2% more that you can cut in interest rates. The central bank will have more ammunition, more power to fight a downturn if rates are a little bit higher.”
If 2% is good then 5.5% must be so much better!!!
Sounds like you are wrongly comparing inflation rate with interest rate.
I don’t know what market commentary Powell listens to but it clearly ain’t Mish:
POWELL: “The labor market is the place we have lots and lots of data and better quality data than a lot of places”.
What does that say about all the other data if Powell thinks labor market data is of better quality.
Powell’s comment on needing more workers is not based on an imbalance of work and labor, but that more immigrants mean more borrowing to keep the debt system going.
A mob of bond vigilantes needs to storm the ramparts.
POWELL: “You know, I would just say this. Integrity is priceless. And at the end, that’s all you have. And we in, we plan on keeping ours.”
I don’t see integrity. In August 2014, as the market was dumping, Bullard said that QE shouldn’t end, to goose the stock market. Months later he said his August remark was misunderstood, when QE ended and he approved of it. Sorry, but that is not the way integrity works.
POWELL: “So, the prices of some things will decline. Others will go up. But we don’t expect to see a decline in the overall price level. That doesn’t tend to happen in economies, except in very negative circumstances.”
We are in very negative circumstances. The WEF rich and powerful are talking of a Great Reset. Maybe that term should be in all caps, just for emphasis.
“Fed Chair Jerome Powell tells 60 Minutes that it’s “urgent” the US address its “Unsustainable Fiscal Path””
Casandra always warns and is ignored. A parabolic move always completes itself. Human nature follows a predictable path. Glass Steagall was instituted so it couldn’t happen again, then was dismantled when it became inconvenient.
Financial bubble after bubble after bubble, instead of quitting before an inexorable Great Reset. WW1 could have ended on Christmas Day 1914, but the rich and powerful didn’t want that. The war in Ukraine began in 2014. The rich and powerful just voted for more, as U.S. Senate voted 60 billion for Ukraine. Groundhog Day all over again, just like the Bill Murray movie.
Powell: “So, the national debt doesn’t play a big role in our thinking.”
Money didn’t either.
He is a smooth, calming spokesman for the reset.
Thanks for posting this transcript Mish!
Most of us don’t see this on TV or in the news.
Decades ago i watched 60 Minutes all the time. Not anymore. They did a segment on the failed Swine Flu vaccine. I presume they haven’t done a story on the failed Covid shot. Media is so corrupt now.
Really? You can DVR stuff and watch it later.
A point Powell made that I find astonishing and that didn’t make it into Mish’s 15 points list is, Powell doesn’t even consider debt and deficit spending in their planning. But all economic crises are caused by debt and debt deflation. It’s sort of like a fish failing to recognize water. The fish maybe oblivious to it, but, it is absolutely critical to the fish.
The Austrians are correct in defining inflation as an increase in the money supply. Overall price inflation can’t occur without an increase in the money supply. That plus the Cantillon effect explains everything that has been happening the past 20 years. Asset bubbles are inflation. It’s the Fed that blew the bubbles and made home unaffordable. Of course all participants love asset bubbles. It’s credit card prosperity! Greenspan was a hero, until he wasn’t.
Perhaps Powell is so entrenched to his model of the economy and how it works that he fails to recognize the obvious. He certainly seems to segment off his thinking, like the comment about not recognizing the Federal debt. But isn’t that the problem with all central planning: the pretense of knowledge.
I should have also added that government debt and deficit spending is the sole purpose for a central bank. If deficit spending was not desired, governments would not have bothered to create central banks. They are especially handy in times of war when governments engage in excessive reckless spending.
I’ve busted my ass for many years, generated wealth and had success. I’ve also been knocked down at times and struggled and learned a lot from those experiences.
Here’s my advice after about 50 trips around the sun:
Most of the time, the best thing you can do, is take a trip to a dispensary and treat yourself with something good. Stop and grab a tall boy as well. Go home to your recliner, twist one up like the old days, wash it down with your tall boy and have a good playlist jamming in the background.
That’s true American freedom. Look at it this way: you’re not slaving away in a Chinese factory, worrying about getting attacked in the Middle East, or foraging food in Africa.
Enjoy it!
Sorry you’re out of date. It was a $10 Trillion economy in the early 2000s. It’s now a $23 Trillion economy. That what inflation and QE accomplished.
Powell sits on a throne of LIES. He’s a smug, corrupt, gangster who only serves the Markets and his political overlords.
POWELL: We do not consider politics in our decisions. We never do. And we never will. And I think the record — fortunately, the historical record really backs that up. People have gone back and looked. This is my fourth presidential election in the Fed, and it just doesn’t come into our thinking, and I’ll tell you why.
Two reasons. One, we are a non-political organization that serves all Americans. It would be wrong for us to start taking politics into account. Secondly, though, it’s not easy to get the economics of this right in the first place. These are complicated, you know, risk-balancing decisions.
Let’s not forget one key thing: PAYING ZERO INTEREST on savings is telling us that our cash is worth NOTHING to Banks, while they have that liability, they use our money to charge Credit Card users 21 fcuking percent.
Yes, I am angry about Interest, our LYING ECON agents (the agencies who report this false BS about inflation only being 4% or whatever — look at shadowstats for the real numbers). The HEADLINES are lying to us and that makes me continuously irritable with them. So, I try to relax and deal with getting .01% on $100,000 balances with several banks. Thus, this push to drop Int rates back to the ZERO LOWER bound is CRIMINAL.
YOU MUST TAKE RISK because your money is WORTHLESS TO BANKS. THEY GIVE YOU NOTHING in return to parking your money. Chase is still only paying a NOMINAL amount on my Checking account there. HATE THOSE MOFO’s but I use a Sapphire credit card for the lounge access.
I get 5.2% in a Wells Fargo MMF. I keep the minimum I need in a checking account. Why should a bank pay interest on a checking account? They are safe-guarding your money. Providing you with convenient mechanisms for settling transactions. You should be paying them. The bank doesn’t lend out your money to make money. The bank just uses your money as a reserve to meet the fed’s reserve requirements.
It amazes me, always, that the FED guarantees, and clearly wants and GETS, a 2% inflation support level EVERY YEAR. This means that in a person’s average lifetime, and let’s round DOWN to 80 years of lifespan, the FED’S target is inflation of 160%. BUT, MISH – – – you tell us – – – DOES INFLATION COMPOUND? In the 54 years that I have been Driving an auto, Unleaded fuel has jumped from 15 cents a gallon to over $4.75 (Cal and Oregon) and that is an incredible burden to consumers. Rents jumped from $45 per person per month (ROOMIES) to over $1000 per person per month with ROOMIES.
A six pack of Lucky Lager, in Palo Alto (SF) where I went to college, was 69 cents. A round steak was 19 cents a pound (I made Bell Pepper Steak with a sack of white rice that costed me $2.25 for 10 pounds of rice)….it was CHEAP to eat in.
Thus, the GOAL of inflation is maddeningly VICIOUS and CRUEL and that fuckenwad sits in front of viewers and acts like nothing has happened. What a pompous ass.
What was your annual income 54 years ago?
I’ve always wanted to know does the FED really meet? I firmly believe they do not. I would have asked him can we see a video, not audio, just the video of the FED actually meeting? If not why?
Also, why do we have to wait a month for data? This stuff is being captured by the sec meaning we really don’t need reports by the FED. Why can’t people have access to it daily to stop all the speculation and flashy headlines.
Agree. This is more like a Scandinavian idea. A lot of people would be out of work so it will never happen in America.
They us ZOOM and it is none of our business. There you go! (Sarc)..
“Also, why do we have to wait a month for data?”
Because that delay allows the Fed and those to whom they desire to inform the time they need to front run the markets and profit heavily from that knowledge.
When it comes to government statistics, I think they should institute a 3 month average, which would give everyone a truer picture of the data.
What was really interesting on 60 Minutes was the segment on all the Chinese busting the border to come into the USA. This is insane to allow this. Border agents should start shooting!
I knew exactly what Powell would say, so had no need to watch the interview. It still doesn’t make sense to raise interest rates purportedly to reduce economic growth in order to tamp down on inflation and now that inflation hasn’t yet even reached the standard 2% target level and growth in the economy and stock market indexes is strong, to suddenly cut rates, which would likely send inflation back up.
If anything, interest rates should be higher as growth is still too strong.
When he says the economy is growing at a 3.1% annual rate he is lying or he is incorrigibly stupid. You can buy a Princeton degree but you cannot think with it.
“They think they can buy their votes, and Biden will hand these people citizenship. All of this is to rig the 2024 election. Biden may step down before the Democratic Convention. This sets Biden up to take all the arrows, and Michelle Obama arrives.
link to armstrongeconomics.com?
Wait! What? Biden’s still President? BS! I was specifically told that his handlers were going to get him elected and then remove him right away so that Kamala would be President! Was I being lied to? Next thing you know, I’ll find out that Obama didn’t actually take everyone’s guns! But we know that can’t be true. Dirty commie!
This reminds me of the childhood story about the emperor who had no clothes. Somebody needs to tel Biden, Trump, and Congress that the party is over and either taxes have to be raised or spending cut. Sadly they won’t do anything but hope nothing blows up on their watch. Our leaders have become a bunch of can kickers
This is why Apple. Microsoft, NVDIA, Amazon, Intel, Facebook, Tesla, and other companies are US companies.
—
Anyone who thinks these companies are simply US companies doesn’t understand how these companies actually operate on a global scale around the world and round the clock.The US is the world and not just the US. Anyone holding these companies in their portfolios is holding the globally international company stock.
Great transcript … made a pdf for later reading and before the copyright gang tells you to remove it (IANAL, I’m an economist …. so the opposite of Jay Powell 🙂 )
I couldn’t stomach listening to him bloviate especially the group-think: “That it would be transitory. And that was very widely held. Not unanimously, very widely held view of economists around the world.”
How about a diversity hire (namely, fiscal conservative) for the fed: Charles Payne
link to foxbusiness.com
Delusions of grandeur but let me know when the rest of the world starts using US accounting practices or any accounting practices. Do you trust the books of the BRICS as much ? The whole accounting profession is a joke imo. Let’s just stop all the US bashing which has become very popular. If the US followed accounting practices of countries who don’t even have audited books, no one would really care.
Powells legacy as a weakass charlatan that serves Wall Street will be all the homeless tent cities across the nation under his watch. He is an EPIC FAILURE
This didn’t start under Powell. It started long before that.
The disturbing part is that Mr.Mish has been cheer leading the inflation cause as a product of the poor and working class having to spend more to survive and maintain, instead of analyzing the trillions of dollars that have been printed into thin air.
Seriously? No he hasn’t, he’s been very clear of the deleterious impact of the Fed and would end it if he could however he also fears a drunken Congress is a million times worse. He’s a free market/free trade guy through and through. He’s authored the Fed Uncertainty Principle and made countless observations to the bubble blowing nature of printed money. You must not be a longtime reader but I’ve been reading him for like 20 years and you couldn’t be more wrong about his stance. Had to sicken him to listen to Powell and the leftist Pelley hand him agenda-driven softball questions mollycoddling the fed waiting too long or that we need illegal immigration for workers (rather than codifying a procedural way to getting vetted immigrants here, if that was the need), etc. Pelly let Powell off the hook about the price of housing. If housing and stock markets do not go down, and wage push inflation is reinforced, this just gets worse by the day and the pain we face is gonna be massive and abrupt because we refused to take pain for a decade instead.
But Mish is fully aware of the source of inflation and he comments on it frequently by defining his view of it which includes actual housing and asset values by valuing credit marked-to-market. Surely you can read past articles and conclude differently.
Tell us something we didn’t already know, Uncle Jay.