Jay Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, had another interview with 60 Minutes on CBS this weekend, and the conversation, unfortunately proved to be a waste of time. There were no difficult questions. It was basically a recap of the data that has been well published and discussed, combined with the Chairman’s rinse and repeat answers. We take the time during today’s podcast to discuss the interview and ask our own questions that we think should have been asked and answered. A sample of such questions pertains to which Americans are the Fed working for? Is there such a thing as a free lunch in the context of all this admitted money printing and fiscal spending? Are financial asset prices allowed to go down? This and many more provides some color for today’s discussion. Nonetheless, these are simple and basic questions to ask and 60 Minutes completely dropped the ball and did a major disservice for the American people.
Despite the Chairman mentioning data that is reminiscent of the Great Depression, he claims the US economy can bounce back by the end of the year. He also noted how he would like to see Congress “do more.” Whatever this means we are not entirely certain because the Federal government is broke. Powell continues with his claim that the Fed has much more ammunition and is ready to use it. And again there was no push back from 60 Minutes on highlighting any limitations to these policies. One key point that Powell mentioned was regarding the development of a vaccine as being one of the only solutions to solve this entire crisis. Well wouldn’t you know it, the very next day (today, Monday), there was a news headline that came out prior to market open in the US, from Moderna, a biotech company, announcing positive results with their vaccine. It was only a handful of people, but the markets do not care about the news – they just want the headlines. This is eerily similar to the Gilead Sciences headlines from only a couple of weeks ago where we witnessed comparable massive rallies on Wall Street – only later to reverse course. So there we have it, softball interviews and timely headlines to move markets higher – just another day in this financial world of Oz. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Bailouts #EndTheFed #Gold #Silver #USA #Congress #Recession #Depression #Debt #Protests