Evidently one does not need a job in order to receive a paycheck in the new America. As stated by President Biden yesterday evening, Americans should not have to choose between a job or a paycheck. So presumably, one can go to work and earn a paycheck, or one can simply decide that they would prefer to just receive a paycheck by doing nothing. It would have to be assumed that the government will be sending out the checks. This is beyond ridiculous, but this is what was said. As The Kapital News has been stating for the last couple of years and especially last year, with all of the stimulus checks that were sent out, was how the American people were being conditioned to accept money from the government. This is a trial run at universal basic income or UBI, which is part of modern monetary theory, or MMT. The overall belief is that money grows on trees, deficits and debts do not matter, and if inflation should ever be of concern, just raise taxes. A terribly flawed idea and it should not even be considered an idea – that is how bad it is. Nonetheless, many Americans have grown accustomed to and fond of these checks from the government, not realizing the true cost that awaits them on the other side. This will take the form of much higher prices, higher taxes, lower living standards, and the loss of opportunities.
Initial jobless claims came in at 553,000 for the week ending 24 April. The prior week was revised upward by 19,000 to now stand at 566,000. While the regular state unemployment number is now below the figures we saw during the depths of the GFC, when taken together with the federal program of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, which came in at 122k, in aggregate still keeps us above those GFC figures for over a year. While trending lower, there is still along way to go as prior to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, claims were between 200-300k. In aggregate, some 16.6 million Americans continue to claim some form of unemployment insurance. This gives us a de facto unemployment rate of 11.9 percent, which is still about 2x as high as the official rate at 6.0 percent. Next Friday will be the release of the official jobs report for the month of April.
The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet retreated by $40 billion from last week’s all-time high and now stands at $7.78 trillion. The Fed remains committed to their QE policy of purchasing at least $120 billion per month of US Treasuries and mortgaged-backed securities. This will take their balance sheet to around $8.5 trillion by the end of the year and The Kapital News is projecting it may be closer to $10 trillion. For perspective, the balance sheet was just shy of $900 billion prior to the GFC. Monetary measures of M1 and M2 were also released. These figures used to be updated weekly, but are now refreshed on a monthly basis. M1 and M2 both hit new all-time highs, at $18.68 trillion and $19.89 trillion, respectively. These were month-over-month increases of $280 billion and $250 billion, respectively. The ultimate narrative that matters is this one that pertains to central bank actions and the injections of liquidity into the system. Should markets continue to buy into it, then markets likely continue grinding higher. But should they cease to buy into it, or the system hits exhaustion, or an endogenous or exogenous event occurs, they it is likely game, set, and match for this decade plus long bull market.
Lastly, several active military officials in France are warning of a civil war breaking out in the country. The rush of immigrants into the country over recent years is one such reason cited by the officials, along with other government policies that they believe are leading to the downfall of the country. The French government will be dealing with these individuals via military council, but their message has already been heard. With all of the actions and policies that have been implemented by governments and central banks around the world, the global system has been materially weakened. This type of rhetoric, along with the global protests, riots, revolutions, civil wars, conflicts, and coups will only pick up steam from here. The true costs of all of these policies have yet to be fully felt and once they are, global flare ups will be the norm in countries large and small, weak and powerful. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Inflation #FoodPrices #Debt #Spending #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Bailouts #Protests
