Facts Vs. Fed-Speak: A Comical History with Tragic Consequences
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Matthew Piepenburg
Piepenburg looks at simple facts in the context of complex markets to underscore the dangerous direction of Fed-speak and Fed policy.
Up for discussion: Keep it simple, stupid; the simple and the stupid; the inflation narrative—form over substance; the war on inflation is a policy that actually adds to inflation; the real solution to inflation—scorched earth; meanwhile, the rate hikes keep blowing things up; see the paradox; save the system or the currency; a long history of stupid; bad options, fluffy words; markets are prepping; in gold we trust; self-inflicted geopolitical risks; and myths are stubborn things.
The case for gold as insurance against a backdrop of debt, financial fragility and openly dying currencies is plain to see.
Few realize this better than Ronni Stoeferle, whose most recent “In Gold We Trust Report” has just been released. This annual publication has become the seminal report in the precious metal space. Stoeferle unpacks the consequences of a Fed that has raised rates too high, too fast and too late.
Hiking rates into an economic setting already historically “debt fragile” tends to break things (from Treasuries to regional banks) and portends more pain ahead, as both history and math confirm.
In a debt-soaked world addicted to years of instant liquidity, Fed Chair Powell’s sudden (too late, too much) hiking policies will neither restrain market exuberance nor contain inflation without unleashing the mother of all recessions.