patrick.net

https://rudy.substack.com/p/a-profoundly-dovish-shift

“Inflation has been above our target for more than four years and remains a prominent concern for households and businesses…Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance….The past five years have been a painful reminder of the hardship that high inflation imposes, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of necessities.”

Quite a remarkable statement from Jay Powell at Jackson Hole.

To summarize:

1. Yes, we know we've abysmally failed our inflation mandate, and you're very worried about the cost of living.
2. We don't care.
3. To repeat, we are aware that inflation hurts almost all of you...but we still don't care. ...

“I have written repeatedly that the Fed is actually a political entity. They claimed to be politically independent, but the reason they did it [cut in 2024] was because it was seven weeks before the presidential elections, and we all knew that there was no love lost between Powell and Trump at the end of the Trump first term. So clearly he was not going to be re-nominated if Trump got reelected last November, but his chances were significantly better if Kamala Harris came to office. So I think it was a move which was done close to the elections. There was no indication that the economy urgently needed a 50 basis point cut, but he did it. I think there was a significant amount of political motivation, in addition to a wrong calculation about inflation. They were all related factors. I don't think the economy needs any cut at all at this time. And the reason for that is that inflation is edging up.”

Komal Sri-Kumar

As Joseph Wang pointed out last year: “Basically, every single person who donates who works at the Fed donates to Democratic Party." ...



"I now realized there was an entire industry, called consumer finance, that basically existed to rip people off.”
- Steve Eisman in The Big Short




Michael Kao on a “Reverse Marshall Plan”
“You've got a structural dynamic from China where they are exporting what is essentially hostile industrial policy that will hollow out any competitor that's that's pursuing a free market path. Because it's cheaper to just buy Chinese goods. Let's forget about manufacturing anything here. Let's just buy everything from China. Well, the problem is that China is our biggest geopolitical adversary. So that's how we got into this mess. Now we have to unwind it, and it it's a fraught path, but so far I like what I see.”

“I think it was Macron who was saying, "Well, you know, we obviously need to turn to China more." And I put out a lot of tweets back in April and May saying that would exactly be akin to inviting the fox right into the hen house.”

“For the EU to say that the solution is to align more closely with China, well, be my guest, because then you you will see your entire industrial sector get hollowed out.”

“It never made sense to me why we would necessarily have tariffs on what I call t-shirts and tchotchkes, because look, we don't care. We want to be able to have cheap Chinese goods in areas that are not vital to national security, but in critical path industries like chips, ship building, pharmaceuticals, defense, energy, right? These areas I think need to be targeted.” ...

I’m reminded of this passage, from Richard Evans in The Coming of the Third Reich:

"It was not least as a consequence of the inflation that Weimar culture developed its fascination with criminals, embezzlers, gamblers, manipulators, thieves & crooks of all kinds. Life seemed to be a game of chance, survival a matter of the arbitrary impact of incomprehensible economic forces.” ...

Grant Williams and Vic Sperandeo
“The debt to GDP ratio keeps rising, but they don’t care. There’s no constituency to make a change. So let me just say this. The endgame, 100% convinced, is hyperinflation.” - VS

“I think if the average person in the street understood the way the monetary system really works, there’d be mass crowds of people storming the Marriner Eccles building tomorrow.” ...

Jean-Claude Juncker:
"We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it."

“When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”

“Same guy, those two quotes, that’s all you need to know. That’s all you need to know.” - Grant Williams
Speaking of Juncker, here’s another gem from Juncker on the introduction of the Euro:

"We decide on something, leave it lying around and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back."

The Fed is not a court. See Article III.

The Fed is not an organ of Congress. See Article I.

Therefore, by simple process of elimination, the Fed must be part of the Article II Executive Branch. And that is even without making the obvious points that the Fed issues regulations. It administers federal banking laws. These are executive functions.

Or
@JamesSurowiecki
, has your archaeological dig discovered a previously unknown Article of the Constitution creating a fourth branch of government? Or did we all miss an amendment to the Constitution adopted at some point before 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed?

Without its own branch-enabling Article in the original Constitution or a constitutional amendment authorizing “an independent central bank,” your concept of an “independent central bank” branch as “its own thing” is farcical.
https://x.com/JeffClarkUS/status/1960679943387443348

https://x.com/j_fishback/status/1960505384709353782

https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1960672771001729407

https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1960457853082230803

https://x.com/mich_enjoyer/status/1962866902411227241

Jim Davidson
L5 News

In 1932 it cost $20 to buy one ounce of gold, and it had been the same price since 1792. Today it costs $3,543.90 to buy one ounce of gold. Put another way, since 1932 over 99.4% of the value of the dollar has been destroyed by the Feral Reserveless scammers and the politicians in the District of Corruption. Put yet another way, if someone in your family had six-tenths of a cent in 1932 they could buy the same amount of goods and services that today cost you a dollar.

However much you want to End the Fed you should want it more. However soon you want it ended, you should want it sooner.

Yes, we need to end the Fed. But make no mistake about what that would involve. It would be like the father in a spendthrift family taking away the credit cards. The nation would have to live on what it produces - no printing up dollars to buy foreign slave made products. Also, inflation would stop and houses would actually depreciate like any other asset since new houses would be cheaper to build. No more house piggybank. Another issue would be social welfare as without the Fed actual tax/tariff receipts would be the sole funding for Social Security, the dole, disability, and related expenses. Wars would be unaffordable as each war would require a new tax to pay for it. Houses would be much smaller as loans would be from actual saver deposits and not from a bank using the Fed. 20% down would be the norm with a 10-to-12-year term. Cars would be 20% down with a 3-year loan. We would be like Europe and Japan, with much smaller homes and more economical cars. Productivity increases would make many items cheaper over time, so merchants would need to be careful about overstocking. Also, without government shipping subsidies, the Amazon and Walmart next day delivery will end. We would get back to the days of shipping only when a pallet is full, so ordered merchandise would take a week to get to the store.

End the Fed means a more austere life for everyone as we live within our means. Also, what happens to the current $30 trillion or so of debt? It would have to be repudiated if we move to silver or other asset-based currency. Maybe something like exchanging one silver-based dollar for 1,000 paper dollars.

The price volatility of everything would skyrocket to such an extent that most systems would simply collapse.

Supposedly the Treasury Secretary and the Fed Chairman meet weekly.

Only twice in America's history have housing prices decreased substantially on a nationwide basis. The 1st was the Great Depression the Second was the Financial crisis. Now housing prices have decreased a small amount on a nationwide basis for a few months. The Treasury Secretary is stating in no uncertain terms to lower the interest rate right now by a lot.

If the Fed doesn't, they should expect to be treated as enemy combatants.

Misc says

"If the Fed doesn't, [lower the interest rates] they should expect to be treated as enemy combatants."

For at least the last 20 years the Fed deliberately created and maintained the housing bubble.
The only reasonable solution right now is to eliminate the Fed. They are less than useless.

Treasury Secretary Bessent calls for Review of Federal Reserve in WSJ Op-Ed

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday called for a review of the Federal Reserve, arguing that it has strayed from its original core missions by taking on banking regulation.

The Federal Reserve was created as the United States' central banking system in 1913, after a series of financial panics prompted government intervention. It consists of a panel of governors and 12 reserve banks located in major cities.

Bessent argued in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that the core missions of the banking system are promoting full employment, stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates and that it has been distracted from these missions.

“The Fed now regulates, lends to and sets the profitability calculus for the banks it oversees, an unavoidable conflict that blurs accountability and jeopardizes independence,” he wrote. “Looking ahead, the Fed must scale back the distortions it causes in the economy. Unconventional policies such as quantitative easing should be used only in true emergencies, in coordination with the rest of the federal government.

"There must also be anhonest, independent, nonpartisan review of the entire institution, including monetary policy, regulation, communications, staffing and research," he added.

The secretary also accused the Fed of misusing public funds and engaging in partisan politics.

The op-ed comes after the Fed faced backlash for not lowering interest rates despite stable inflation and strong jobs numbers.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/treasury-secretary-scott-bessent-calls-review-federal-reserve

https://rudy.substack.com/p/women-and-children-first

https://rudy.substack.com/p/boiling-the-frogs

From the editor’s foreward to the 1922 book, The Federal Reserve Monster.

WITH "charity toward all and malice toward none" we indite this volume of criticism of the Federal Reserve "Bunking" System as it is "practiced" in America. We are not posing as a modern David, nor do we underrate the size of the giant we have tackled herein by several damsights. And by the same token we are not depending on a single stone to deliver a knockout; on the contrary we are delivering a veritable volley of rocks at the object of our criticism and we hope that every chapter written here will raise bruises and welts on the back and belly of the critter.

We have no intention nor desire to kill. And we don't believe in reform. When a thing needs reforming it needs an axe. But what we are striving to do is to awaken public sentiment to the damnable ramifications of the Federal Reserve Octopus in the hope that the people will "come alive" and eventually force the Federal Reserve System to be born anew.

It is the abuse of the Federal Reserve System to which we object. Every little while some smart Alec mounts the bema and roars about the great good that the Federal Reserve System has accomplished. It is called the Savior of Credit and Industry. But it is misbranded. There's a vast difference between the picture on the tomato can and the contents of the can.

That was 103 years ago, and it's still valid.

The Federal Reserve should not exist. We should use only silver by weight, and promises of silver (debt) with explicit notification that the promises can default. And interest rates should be set by the market alone.

https://rudy.substack.com/p/the-sound-of-silence/comment/157795151

Jim Davidson
SpacePrivé News

In 1913 your family could buy an ounce of gold for $20. Today the same ounce of gold would sell for $3,682 on the spot market. Put another way, a millionaire in 1913 could buy 50,000 ounces of gold with a million dollars. Today that amount of gold sells for $184,100,000. So now you know why "millionaire" was a big deal. Put yet another way, over 99.5% of the value of your family's dollar's purchasing power has been deliberately destroyed by the evil men and women of the Feral Reserveless scam. However much you want to End the Fed you should want it much more.

Its hard to make comparison such as for a budget automobile in 1991 compared to 2025 especially optional features in 1991 are standard now such as cruise control. Also gas milage is a lot better.

Same goes with renting as in Florida panhandle in 1993 there were no "luxury apartments", now they are almost everywhere.

I like to examine what has not changed (for most part) like a Whopper or Big Mac large size meal. How much does it cost and how does it compare to the starting hourly wage at Burger King and McDonalds. Track that by year.

AD says

Same goes with renting as in Florida panhandle in 1993 there were no "luxury apartments", now they are almost everywhere.

As long as real estate exist from cave to today's building, every next new one is calling "luxury" due to new materials and technology to be sold at "luxury price".

Don't forget. Owning is part of the illusion, because they have arranged it so you don't own shit. We are always rentiers and short term possessors, evicted at the pleasure of the 'legal but not lawful' debt system.
Patrick says

https://rudy.substack.com/p/sauve-qui-peut

Cost of Living Is the Biggest Challenge Americans Face Note that every other category listed above is also affected by the cost of living, especially housing.

Meanwhile, the Fed actively sought to spike CPI, and now is seemingly satisfied that it has been well above their made-up 2% target for four and a half years.

Core PCE has now been above the Fed’s made-up “2% target” since April 2021, and above their actual mandate of “stable prices” since forever.

As Marc Faber said to Julia La Roche:

“Ordinary people are struggling, but ordinary people are never interviewed on CNBC, or on your program, or on Fox News. They have no voice, so the elite can tell the public, ‘Oh, the economy is doing well.’”

Under the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed is exempt from federal, state, and local taxation, except for real estate taxes.

This exemption applies to its income, capital stock, and surplus funds.

Nobody really know how much capital stock is or who are shareholders or how income distribution looks like.

https://rudy.substack.com/p/consumers-are-collapsing

Nomi Prins

“The Federal Reserve was created to help Wall Street…It wasn’t created to help individuals who couldn’t get their money out of banks in the panic of 1907 in New York City. It was for people like JP Morgan, who wanted to make sure that his literal friends who ran other banks and insurance companies had a source of help should another panic happen.”

https://rudy.substack.com/p/the-false-security-of-consensus

“This is the problem with central banks the world over: they are in the business of imposing prosperity through financial means, rather than by treating prosperity as a co-product of actual growth. Their intentions are the best but what they are doing is incalculable harm.”

Jim Grant, 2011

(Source: My notes from a now-deleted Bloomberg interview with Grant and Jim Rickards)

https://ground.news/article/former-fed-gov-kugler-violated-trading-rules-while-at-the-central-bank-ethics-report-found

Former Fed Gov. Kugler violated trading rules while at the central bank, ethics report found

Adriana Kugler resigned from the Federal Reserve after Jerome Powell denied her request for a waiver regarding her financial holdings that violated ethics rules, according to a Fed official.

Kugler faced an investigation by the Fed's internal watchdog concerning her financial disclosures before her resignation in August.

Kugler acknowledged that her spouse's purchases of Apple Inc. and Cava Group Inc. shares violated investment rules, stating, 'my spouse made the purchases without my knowledge.'

Kugler's resignation allowed President Donald Trump to appoint Stephen Miran to the Fed's board amidst his pressure for lower interest rates.