Sunday Talks, View of Cleveland Fed Reserve Bank President Shows Massive Economic Disconnect in Causation


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 19, 2022 | Sundance

Loretta Mester is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and appeared on CBS Face the Nation to give her opinion/analysis of the US. economic condition.  The disconnect in her viewpoint is alarming and should signal to everyone how the Federal Reserve Board, just like every institution of government, has become a political agency.

In her mind Ms. Mester appears to believe what she is saying, but the disconnect between her view of our status and the reality on Main Street is alarming.  In this interview Mester says emphatically that current inflation is being driven by consumer demand that is outpacing supply.  Not only is this view of inflation origination wrong, and has been wrong for well over a year, it is dangerous.

Inflation has been driven by spending (dollar devaluation & artificial stimulus), and by massive input changes in the supply side which are predominately being caused by energy policy.  Our U.S. inflation is a self-inflicted supply side wound.  Inflation was not caused by demand side pressure, other than from the injection of COVID cash into consumer spending – which hid the natural contraction that was going to take place in Q2, Q3 and Q4 2021.  WATCH:

Ms. Mester says the Fed will watch the month-to-month inflation change, to determine monetary policy success.  Given the nature of the Biden energy policy, that type of success definition is inherently political.  It’s akin to saying, as the victim’s bones and muscles get used to the constant blows during the beating, the severity of the pain will be less than the initial shock… therefore, the continued beating is less damaging to the victim.   Madness.

Fauci & Secret Payments


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Jun 19, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The History of Juneteenth


Aemstrong Economics Blog/North America Re-Posted Jun 19, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Powell: “Rapid changes are taking place in the global monetary system that may affect the international role of the dollar”


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 18, 2022 | Sundance

The sanctions against Russia have essentially been futile.  The Russian economy continues growing, oil sales continue taking place, imports and exports continue unabated, albeit with some inconveniences for the people inside Russia – but without impact on the Russian government.  However, what the western sanctions against Russia were successful in speeding up, was an alternative global trading system for 70 percent of the world economies who continue trading with Russia.

That’s the background for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to state yesterday, “rapid changes are taking place in the global monetary system that may affect the international role of the dollar.”  Additionally, as the proverbial ‘west’ follows the corporate instructions from the World Economic Forum, Powell now expands his points to note the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is also being reviewed.  WATCH:

This is not some grand conspiracy, ‘out there‘ deep geopolitical possibility, or foreboding likelihood as an outcome of short-sighted western emotion.  No, this is just a predictable outcome from western created events that pushed specific countries to a natural conclusion based on their best interests.

You can debate the motives of the western leaders who structured the sanctions against Russia, and whether they knew the outcome would happen as a consequence of their effort, but the outcome was never really in doubt.  Personally, I believe this outcome is what the west intended. The people inside the World Economic Forum are not stupid – ideological, yes, but not stupid. They knew this would happen.

Think of “The Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” or climate change, as examples of WEF instructions.

The NATO and western government response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was a quickly assembled system of financial sanctions intended to cripple the Russian economy.  However, Russia responded to those actions with countermoves on the trade front, beginning to establish the first ever non-Euro and non-dollar-based trade system.  In essence, a financial trading system created by the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Therefore, if we think about the current status of geopolitics and international finance, the NATO/Western response now involves a priority of controlling and protecting the previously established financial structures of global trade.  A NATO effort to avoid the cleaving is now underway as an outcome of the sanctions against Russia.

[Left to Right] Xi Jinping (China), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Narendra Modi (India) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), the BRICS group.

The finance ministers of the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) decided to create their own financial mechanisms to continue trade between nations of similar disposition.  Once the internal issues inside the BRICS alliance are resolved, and once the mechanisms are created, then other nations will be able to decide to join or not.  The great global cleaving will commence.

(Reuters – April 2022) – Russia, hit by Western sanctions, has called on the BRICS group of emerging economies to extend the use of national currencies and integrate payment systems, the finance ministry said on Saturday.

[…] On Friday, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a ministerial meeting with BRICS, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, that the global economic situation had worsened substantially due to the sanctions, the ministry’s statement said.

The new sanctions also destroy the foundation of the existing international monetary and financial system based on the U.S. dollar, Siluanov said.

“This pushes us to the need to speed up work in the following areas: the use of national currencies for export-import operations, the integration of payment systems and cards, our own financial messaging system and the creation of an independent BRICS rating agency,” Siluanov said.

International payment cards Visa and MasterCard suspended operations in Russia in early March and Russia’s biggest banks have lost access to the SWIFT global banking messaging system.

Russia set up its own banking messaging system, known as SPFS, as an alternative to SWIFT. Its own card payment system MIR began operating in 2015.

[…] They were part of Moscow’s efforts to develop homegrown financial tools to mirror Western ones, to protect the country in case penalties against Moscow were broadened.

The finance ministry said BRICS ministers have confirmed the importance of cooperation in efforts to stabilise the current economic situation.

“The current crisis is man-made, and the BRICS countries have all necessary tools to mitigate its consequences for their economies and the global economy as a whole,” Siluanov said. (link)

For a deep dive on BRICS, as predicted by CTH, {SEE HERE}.  The bottom line is – the 2022 punitive economic and financial sanctions by the western nations’ alliance against Russia was exactly the reason why BRICS assembled in the first place.

The multinational corporate control of government is exactly what the BRICS group foresaw when they first assembled during the Obama administration.  When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem.

In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government. BRICS leaders want their government running their government; and yes, that means whatever form of government that exists in their nation, even if it is communist.

BRICS leaders are aligned as anti-corporatist.  That doesn’t necessarily make those government leaders better stewards, it simply means they want to make the decisions, and they do not want multinational corporations to become more powerful than they are.  As a result, if you really boil it down to the common denominator, what you find is the BRICS group are the opposing element to the World Economic Forum assembly.

The ‘western’ countries run by multinational corporations are in Yellow, the countries who have not yet chosen a side are in GREY:

The BRICS team intended to create an alternative option for all the other nations. An alternative to the current western trade and financial platforms operated on the use of the dollar as a currency.  Perhaps many nations will use both financial mechanisms depending on their need.

The objective of the BRICS group remains simply to present an alternative trade mechanism that permits them to conduct business regardless of the opinion of the multinational corporations in the ‘western alliance.’  The recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, are accepted against this backdrop.  The financial contest is now between two sets of competing forces.

It’s not so much a “great reset,” it’s more akin to a global cleaving.

In hindsight the inflection point was COVID and all of the western government allies following the same economic lockdown and massive govt spending program demanded by the WEF assembly.  The western group planned to exit their spending crisis through the “Build Back Better” agenda, a new world economic structure based on renewable energy.

The people behind Joe Biden are collapsing the U.S. economy in the ongoing drive to attain this new economic transformation.  The American people are suffering through the consequences with massive increases in energy costs which are driving the costs of everything else, including food.

Biden Falls Off Bicycle in Delaware


Posted originally on the conservative tree house June 18, 2022 | Sundance 

The installed occupant of the White House, Joe Biden (79), fell off his bicycle during ride near his Rehoboth Beach home in Delaware Saturday morning. Biden and his wife Jill are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary this weekend as the U.S. economy collapses around us.

Joe Biden was not injured and did not need medical attention according to the White House. {Daily Mail Article Here} The fall of Biden is an ironic metaphor for the current state of politics. “I’m good,” the president told the onlookers who watched his slow-motion tumble. WATCH:

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SpaceX Fires Woke Worker Activists Who Attacked SpaceX Boss, Elon Musk


Posted originally on the conservative tree house onJune 17, 2022 | Sundance

A bunch of SpaceX workers previously penned the open letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk and the company while identify themselves as “employees across the spectra of gender, ethnicity, seniority, and technical roles.

SpaceX fired them, lol.

New York Post – […] SpaceX president and Musk ally Gwynne Shotwell said in a memo that the firm had “terminated a number of employees involved” in crafting the letter – noting the workers in question had “upset many” with an “unsolicited request” to add their signatures.

“The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views,” Shotwell said in the memo, which was obtained by The Verge.

Shotwell referred to the open letter campaign within the company as “unacceptable” and said the workers were fired after an investigation into their actions. The number of employees terminated wasn’t immediately clear.  “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism,” Shotwell added. (read more)

We need more of this.

UK Agrees to Extradite Julian Assange to U.S. After Assurances He Will Be Imprisoned in Australia


Posted originally on the conservative tee house on June 17, 2022 | Sundance

Apparently, the U.K. courts were sympathetic to the claims by Julian Assange lawyers that U.S. government assassins would kill him.  However, after the DOJ assured the Brits that Assange would be imprisoned in Australia, not the U.S. after trial, the U.K. are ok with extraditing him.   However, Assange still has six appeals and three courts left who will hear his appeals, so don’t expect anything to actually happen soon.

LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) – The wife of Julian Assange vowed to fight using every possible legal avenue after British Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday approved the WikiLeaks’ founder’s extradition to the United States to face criminal charges.

Assange is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, relating to WikiLeaks’ release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which Washington said had put lives in danger.

His wife Stella said Assange would appeal after the Home Office said his extradition had been approved as British courts had concluded it would not be unjust or an abuse of process.

[…]  Originally, a British judge ruled Assange, 50, should not be deported, saying his mental health meant he would be at risk of suicide if convicted and held in a maximum security prison.

But this was overturned on an appeal after the United States gave a package of assurances, including a pledge he could be transferred to Australia to serve any sentence. (read more)

White House Solution to Gas Prices, Send Taxpayer Funded Gas Cards to Taxpayers Who Cannot Afford Gas


Posted originally on the conservative tree house June 17, 2022 | Sundance

Y’all saw this coming months ago.  The Biden administration is now considering sending taxpayer funded “gas cards” to taxpayers who cannot afford the gasoline prices created by the Biden administration energy policy.  Yes, murica’ it’s a circle of stupid.

WASHINGTON – […] Biden officials are taking a second look at whether the federal government could send rebate cards out to millions of American drivers to help them pay at gas stations — an idea they examined months ago before ruling it out. Aides had found that shortages in the U.S. chip industry would make it hard to produce enough rebate cards, two people familiar with the matter said. White House officials also fear there would be no way to prevent consumers from using them for purchases other than gasoline, according to another person familiar with the discussions.

[…] Biden aides have also looked in recent days at invoking the Defense Production Act to move diesel and other refined products should localized shortages materialize, two people familiar with the matter said.

[…] The revived brainstorming reflects how higher fuel costs have emerged as one of the Biden administration’s chief political threats and a serious hurdle for the economy overall. (read more)

Speeding Ticket – Just Blame Putin


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Jun 16, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Man Blames Putin for Speeding Ticket

The Federal Reserve Cannot Combat Inflation Alone


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted Jun 17, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was notably frustrated when pressured about the Fed’s role in inflation. During his Q&A session this Wednesday, Powell plainly stated that the Federal Reserve alone could not combat inflation. It is far more complex than simply raising rates and hoping for the best. The Federal Reserve cannot increase the supply to meet demand. They have no say over clogged ports and closed factories. The Federal Reserve cannot reverse Biden’s policies that have made America energy-dependent, nor can it reserve sanctions against countries that hold essential supplies. As an independent entity, the Federal Reserve has no control over tariffs or diplomatic relations with regard to trade. Notably, the Federal Reserve cannot combat excessive government spending.

The US just sent another billion to Ukraine and plans to continue funding another endless war that does not support any domestic policy objectives. Jerome Powell has no control over the promises politicians make on the campaign trail to distribute free money to the public in exchange for votes. At any moment, lawmakers can implement policies that completely throw the entire economy off track. They had no say in the lockdowns or restrictions that crippled the economy in 2020.

The Federal Reserve miscalculated the situation by artificially lowering rates for a long time. They failed to look at other clear examples, such as Japan, and realize what has and has not worked historically. Powell admitted long ago that he misjudged the severity of inflation and was wrong to call it “transitory.” Unfortunately, when people in power make mistakes, the repercussions cause global shockwaves. Although separate entities, the White House needs to help the Federal Reserve tame inflation by re-evaluating its policies that are directly causing prices to rise.