One Scammer After Another

Somewhere…perhaps in some dark corner of Hell…there’s a gold-toed boot waiting to kick them all in their fat derrieres. Yellen, Bessent, Bernanke, Trump, Biden, Powell — one scammer after another.

Each with his own ‘fix.’ Bernanke called it the ‘Great Moderation’ — when ultra-low interest rates were adding trillions to the national debt. Yellen presided over years of financial ‘repression’…when the Fed lent at rates below inflation. Trump’s BBBA will add $150 trillion to Americans’ debt burden by mid-century. Bessent, who thinks running the US Treasury is like running a giant hedge fund; the idea is to make money, for yourself and your friends. And Biden — the poor schlep — who went along with every crackpot scheme.

But now, their primary tool — the thing they used to pry open accounts all over the world — is getting wobbly. Sovereign (government) bond yields are rising…which means, the value of the feds’ IOUs is declining. Private investors as well as foreign countries are now replacing Treasury bonds with gold. The Jerusalem Post:

In a significant departure from traditional investment strategies, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Investment Officer, Mike Wilson, has introduced a bold 60/20/20 portfolio model, allocating 20% to gold and silver. This move reflects a broader institutional shift towards precious metals, emphasizing their role in enhancing portfolio resilience.

And the Wall Street Journal:

Central bank gold buying could continue for 3 to 5 more years.

Wall Street Journal columnist Greg Ip says the gold rally points to eroding faith in global central banks and their capacity to tackle inflation.

That’s right, they are selling government bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of powerful economies, as solemnly pledged by generations of statesmen and Treasury Secretaries, and buying something that is backed by no one. And while the yield on Treasury bonds rises, there is never any yield on gold.

Go figure.

Which is what we are going to do today.

We’ve been discussing how the ‘corruption cycle’ works. But the corruption cycle is not limited to petty acts of grift. As the Democracy-Big Man cycle evolves, the grifts get bigger and bigger. The whole system becomes corrupt. Money (and credit) are no longer ‘true’…in the sense that they are not determined by honest give and take. Instead, they are manipulated.

Trade, too, previously preceded by the adjective “free”, is now dragooned to serve specific interests…for specific reasons…and specific profits for specific people.

BBC last week:

Trump announces new tariffs on drugs, trucks and kitchen cabinets

Why target drugs? Or trucks? Or kitchen cabinets? We doubt that Donald Trump has the time to fully consider the ins and outs of the kitchen cabinet industry. And why should Americans be forced to pay more for their kitchen cabinets? Cui bono?

When the feds make a move — buying, selling, taxing, sanctioning, funding, ‘printing money,’ raising interest rates, or lowering them…

…somewhere, someone rejoices.

And here’s the Wall Street Journal, on rejoicing in one of the investment world’s most dangerous and most unpredictable sectors:

Shares in Trilogy Metals tripled, after the government said it will buy 10% of the miner and will approve road-building to connect the remote Alaskan district where it operates. The Trump administration has taken stakes in a series of mining companies.

How nice for the people who owned Trilogy…or, who knew the fix was in! A dollar’s worth of the stock last week — as determined by knowledgeable investors with ‘skin in the game’ — is now worth three dollars. The price is now boosted by know-nothing federales gambling with money that is not their own.

As in ‘communist’ China, the party — depending on which one is in power — plays a larger and larger role in the economy. And the ‘free’ enterprise system becomes less and less free.

This is consistent with the pattern. Decisions, formally made by individual citizens based on their own assessment, at their own risk, are now made…or heavily influence…by politicians. This provides much more scope for corruption. Who knew the feds would take a big piece of Trilology? Who knew they would raise tariffs on kitchen cabinets…or back the peso as if it were a strategic necessity?

What…they didn’t tell you? Someone always knows. Someone always profits. And not necessarily the shareholders or the public.

What this suggests, but does not prove, is that the major cycles — from boom to bubble to bust…from consensual democracy to Big Man rule…from a dynamic, growing empire to a fearful degenerate one — are well underway.

Stay tuned.