Tag: Money

Ep. 539 – Jobless Claims Keep Rising
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 539 - Jobless Claims Keep Rising
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The markets were expecting initial jobless claims to come in around 773,000 for the week ending 13 February. However, reality bites as the Department of Labor reported a figure of 861,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. To add insult to injury, last week’s figure was revised upward by 55,000 taking the total from 793,000 to 848,000. We are nearing the one year anniversary of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions and these figures remain well above the claims that were recorded during the depths of the GFC. This is a travesty. With respect to all unemployment insurance programs, some 18.3 million Americans continue to claim some form of benefit. This gives us a de facto unemployment rate near 13 percent. The official unemployment rate is at 6.3 percent. As we near the mid-point of Q1, we should be mindful that benefit and moratorium extensions are set to expire at the end of March. If Congress does not pass further measures, then serious ramifications will transpire. If further spending is passed, then serious ramifications will transpire. The Kapital News does not want Congress and/or the Federal Reserve to spend, borrow, or print more money and throw it into the system. There is no easy solution. But continuing with the same policies that brought us to this current environment is only asking for trouble.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet expanded by more than $100 billion week-over-week and now sits at an all-time high at $7.55 trillion. The Fed has stated on numerous occasions that they remain ready to continue to support the economy and markets for as long as necessary. The Fed remains committed to their quantitative easing (QE), program whereby they will expand their balance sheet by $120 billion per month. They will do so by purchasing US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. This alone will take the balance sheet to around $8.5 trillion. If Congress should pass more spending measures, then this figure could very well surpass $10 trillion by the end of 2021. For context, this will be about 50 percent of US GDP! Can you say banana republic? Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Inflation #Jobs #Gold #Silver #Commodities #USA #Liberty #Recession #Depression #Leadership #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #Revolution #Bailouts #Fraud #Pandemic #FireCongress

Ep. 535 – Weekly Wrap Up
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 535 - Weekly Wrap Up
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A busy week with the second impeachment trial of former President, Donald J. Trump, announcements made by the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve in support of further fiscal measures that amount to trillions in additional spending, initial jobless claims that remain stubbornly high even as we near the one year anniversary of lockdowns and restrictions, and monetary measures hitting or nearing all-time highs. Also learned from the Congressional Budget Office that this fiscal year will incur a budget deficit of $2.3 trillion, and this is without any additional spending measures. The CBO also projected that 1.4 million jobs will be lost if the minimum wage is increased to $15 per hour. And lastly, another $14 billion may be making its way to the airline industry if the $1.9 trillion spending bill is passed. This will serve as yet another bailout to the airline industry that has already received tens of billions of dollars throughout 2020. Happy Valentine’s Day! Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Markets #Debt #Inflation #USA #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Bailouts #EndTheFed #Recession #Depression #bananarepublic #Protests

Ep. 534 – Economic Match Made In Hell
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 534 - Economic Match Made In Hell
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It is highly evident that the sunlight between the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve no longer exists. The merger has been underway for years and is nearing its completion. Talk about the United States turning into a banana republic, well here it is. If you thought last year was a wild ride with respect to fiscal and monetary support, buckle up, because you ain’t seen anything yet. We know that Congress (Democrats), the Treasury Secretary, and Fed Chairman, are all hand-in-hand when it comes to the $1.9 trillion spending bill proposed by the Democrats and Biden administration. The argument is all about returning to full employment and how the passage of this bill will help to secure that goal. Furthermore, the Fed is completely behind it and willing to finance the deal (because we do not have the money), also arguing that full employment is their goal as well and how the Fed will remain accommodative until that end is met. Recall that one of the mandates of the Fed is to achieve and maintain full employment. The other is to achieve and maintain price stability.

This is just the opening salvo for what is going to be fiscal and monetary authorities gone wild. The $1.9 trillion is more about transfer payments, unemployment benefits, assistance to state finances, Covid-19 programs, and perhaps increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour than anything else. This means that the Democrats will likely continue onward with the spending spree and attempt to tackle healthcare, the environment, and infrastructure. Some of these measures will likely pass and the cost is unknown, but it will be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions in aggregate by the time the dust settles. The Congressional Budget Office is already predicting a national deficit north of $2 trillion for this fiscal year alone and this figure does not take into consideration any of the above spending measures.

Speaking of jobs, for the week ending 6 February, 793,000 Americans filed an initial jobless claim, which was above market expectations. The prior week’s figure was revised upward by 33,000 to rest at 812,000. For all programs, for the week ending 23 January, 20.4 million Americans continue to receive some form of unemployment insurance. This is a week-over-week increase of nearly 2.6 million. This would give us an unemployment rate closer to 14.3 percent as opposed to the official rate of 6.3 percent. We are nearly one year into the lockdowns and restrictions, and we continue to witness this type of carnage in the jobs market. This is after several trillions of dollars were flushed into the system. So what makes $1.9 trillion so magical if several trillion dollars could not stop the damage?

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet hit a new all-time high at $7.44 trillion dollars. Some $30 billion above its previous high. With respect to M1 and M2 money stock, both of these measures are near their respective all-time highs, which were hit within the last few weeks. These numbers will continue higher as fiscal and monetary policies continue their expansion. This is by definition inflation and will prove utterly destructive to the financial system, and more importantly to the real economy. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Debt #Markets #Fraud #Fake #FireCongress #Liberty #USA #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Jobs #Bailouts #Spending #Recession #Depression #Protests #bananarepublic #EndTheFed

Ep. 533 – Fake Unemployment!
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 533 - Fake Unemployment!
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Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, made some comments this afternoon, and one in particular pertained to stating that the “real” unemployment rate is closer to 10 percent. The BLS just released the jobs report last Friday and informed us that the official unemployment rate is 6.3 percent. This is quite the discrepancy. So what gives? The Kapital News believes this is the first of many one-two punches to be thrown by Treasury Secretary, Janet “Dingbat” Yellen, and Jay Powell. Recall that Yellen was the former Chair of the Fed. This past weekend, Yellen made comments supporting the $1.9 trillion spending package being proposed by the Biden administration, arguing that its passage will help return the US economy to full employment. This is hogwash. Nevertheless, we now have Mr. Powell arguing with official government statistics, which is highly uncommon, and also arguing that monetary policy will remain accommodative until we once again reach full employment. Clearly, something is afoot. Especially when one considers how important the “independence” of the Fed is in the eyes of Fed officials. They always note how important it is for the government to stay out of the business of the Fed. So why is the Fed so concerned with the policies of the government? Wouldn’t this invite political interference into their decision-making?

The Kapital News believes that the Federal Reserve along with the Treasury Secretary, know that they are trapped. They know that their fiscal and monetary policies have run their course and are at their end. But they also do not want to take any responsibility for their actions since the GFC and so they would simply rather continue with the same policies as opposed to admit their mistakes and change course. This pride or perhaps complete ignorance and incompetence has proven to be and will continue to be extremely expensive and destructive to the economy. The inflation that has thus been generated will continue to make its way throughout the global economy. The first to be affected has been and remains financial assets, but inflation has also been hitting healthcare costs, commodities, and food. It is in these latter groups where the most destruction will occur. Most people do not own financial assets, but everyone needs food and energy. Even with respect to financial assets, as prices go higher for equities and housing, it prices much of the population out of these markets because they cannot afford them. It is one thing to be in a position where one cannot afford equities and/or housing. It is a completely different situation when they cannot afford their utilities, transportation, medical care, and food. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Fraud #FakeMarkets #Fake #Bailouts #FireCongress #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #Recession #Depression #Inflation #Gold #Silver #USA #Liberty

Ep. 532 – No Savings, No Problem?
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 532 - No Savings, No Problem?
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The financial situation for many Americans and their families were in dire straits even prior to Covid-19 and all of the subsequent ill-effects. However, we must note that the broader economy was weakening before the pandemic arrived. So, with the reality of restrictions and lockdowns, this has placed further strains on household finances. Although, it must also be noted that in a typical recession or economic downturn, it is common for incomes to decline. Yet, due to the passage of the Nobody CARES Act and other fiscal and monetary measures, incomes in aggregate actually increased. It must be stressed that this was not the result of productive economic measures, but rather due to inflationary policies – printing money and throwing it into the system in various ways. This is not free and it will prove to be extremely expensive. It will come at the cost of suffering the affects of inflation and with it the loss of savings and purchasing power.

In today’s podcast we highlight a survey that was conducted in the late summer of 2020 that focused on savings in the US. This survey can serve as a timely benchmark as it was conducted during the ongoing pandemic restrictions, but also overlaps some of the fiscal and monetary policies that were implemented. We refer you to the link above to read the article that discusses the findings, yet we will mention a few key points. The median savings balance is $3,500 and the average is $26,619 according to the 2,000 survey respondents. The article also notes that 39 percent of Americans do not have enough money saved to cover a $400 emergency. Further, with respect to retirement, nearly 50 percent of families do not have anything saved for retirement. In what is supposed to be the wealthiest and most prosperous nation on Earth, it sure looks more like a tale of two cities.

It is such inequality that has driven us to economic, political, and social decay and decline. This reality exists due to the flawed and fraudulent fiscal and monetary policies that have been enacted for decades and continue to be implemented on an even larger scale. No proactive measures have been taken nor proper reactive measures. Therefore, the net result will be that the system continues onward on its faulty path until exhaustion. This will end in blood and tears around the globe. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Savings #Markets #Liberty #USA #Gold #Silver #Inflation #Recession #Depression #Recession #Depression #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #FireCongress

Ep. 517 – Farewell President Trump
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 517 - Farewell President Trump
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President Trump gave his farewell address to the nation this afternoon, via a videotaped speech. It was more or less a Trump campaign speech, with a much better tone and delivery. He highlighted what he believed to be the achievements of his administration, thanking his staff, and wishing well the incoming administration. As The Kapital News has stated for months, had President Trump carried himself as he did today, and maintained such composure over the last four years, he very well would be the one being sworn into office tomorrow, and not Joe Biden.

In today’s discussion, we note how the Trump administration did not embark upon a policy pathway much different than any other Republican president. He and his team attempted and/or did the following: tax cuts, regulation cuts, trade deals, build up of the military, international agreements, various social reforms, saber rattling with various countries, and undoing what Democrats had previously implemented. Now while people will disagree with certain policies, this is more about politics than anything else. There was not anything major and structurally reformed. There was no draining of the swamp. It was a continuation of the status quo. A military-industrial complex that received more money than ever before; an out of control Federal Reserve, trillion dollar deficits, and several trillion added to the national debt; a national security state that is still alive and well; no structural reforms to Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security; continuation of the two-tiered justice system; and no major investment to the nation’s infrastructure. And yes, the President’s rhetoric, style, and behavior were often unorthodox and proved to be counterproductive, and served to further divide the country. But it must be understood and understood well that people tolerated these actions because of their distrust and frustrations with the status quo. And that says something as to where we are as a people and as a nation…

The incoming Biden-Harris administration are not going to fix or solve any of these structural issues and failures. In fact, they are all but guaranteed to make them worse. The same people who were a part of previous governments and administrations are now prominent members of this team. A classic case of, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” The Kapital News highly suggests that the people leave the two-party system and change your voter registration to Libertarian, Independent, unaffiliated, et cetera. The point is to send a message that the people no longer support the status quo – and this is a peaceful step in that direction. Farewell President Trump and Godspeed to you and yours. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Trump #Biden #USA #Vote #Liberty #Revolution #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Economy #Peace #Recession #Depression #Protests #FireCongress

Ep. 490 – Yellen + Screamin’
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 490 - Yellen + Screamin'
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So here we have it! It’s vaccine Monday once again and right on cue, AstraZeneca comes out and announced the results of their vaccine’s efficacy. This is now three Mondays in a row – Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, respectively. However, today’s news was further bolstered by the announcement that former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, is getting the nod to become the next Treasury Secretary. Of course she will need to be confirmed by the Senate, but since she has been confirmed before, there’s really no reason to think why she won’t be confirmed again. Now, The Kapital News can come up with trillions of reasons as to why she should not be confirmed, but you get the point.

The stock market loved this news and why wouldn’t that be the case? Equities rose considerably under the Yellen-Obama tenure. This is thanks to record low interest rates, and quantitative easing being the norm for the past decade plus. This monstrosity of a policy continues and now with a one-two punch at Treasury and the Fed – what could possibly go wrong? Again, The Kapital News can provide a trillion scenarios, but you get the point in that the addicts on Wall Street will continue to get their hit and in larger doses. This is destroying, if it hasn’t already killed the patient, with the patient being that of the US economy. For that matter, it’s really the global economy since these actions are being undertaken in an orchestrated manner.

What’s so sad of course, is the fact that tens of millions of Americans are still going to food banks, collecting unemployment insurance, facing eviction(s), and massive uncertainties ahead, yet global equities continue reaching new heights. This is massive fraud and contributing greatly to wealth and income inequality. This is a recipe for political, social, and economic disaster because this is not the result of production, productivity gains, and prudent valuations. No, this is at the hand of easy credit and trillion dollar liquidity injections. In short, this is a first world banana republic and the funny money is inflating financial assets into the stratosphere. Just wait until this is reflected in commodity prices and general consumer prices. The inflation is already here – now await it’s truly destructive force and the coming stagflation and potential hyperinflation. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Inflation #Gold #Debt #Silver #Recession #Liberty #Revolution #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Depression #Bailouts #USA

Ep. 489 – Jobless Claims Back Up
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 489 - Jobless Claims Back Up
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For the week ending 14 November, jobless claims came in at 742,000, which is an unfortunate increase from the prior week’s figure of 711,000. However, the total of all persons claiming UI benefits decreased week-over-week by nearly 841,000 to stand at 20,319,615 – this would be for week ending 31 October. Nonetheless, with the massive interventionist fiscal and monetary policies, there still remains distortionary effects that makes it difficult to truly gauge the jobs market. Furthermore, with the winter months in front of us, in conjunction with rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations – what measures will state and city governments adopt to slow the spread? We’re already witnessing several states and major cities implement another round of restrictions, lockdowns, and/or curfews in attempt to bring the cases down. However, will such actions make things even worse economically? Could this be why week-over-week claims are up and could this be the start of another trend higher? Let us hope not, but let us also not be surprised if that comes to fruition. These measures in conjunction with fiscal and monetary policies are not healthy, beneficial, or sustainable in the long-run. In fact, they are quite detrimental to future growth and prosperity.

Also out this morning were the updates to the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet and M2 money stock. Both of these figures made new all-time highs. The Fed’s balance sheet is now at a record high of $7.243 trillion! The Kapital News believes this is just the beginning of another major leg higher. With respect to M2 money stock, we now stand at nearly $19.1 trillion, which is an increase of over $170 billion from the prior week! The markets are getting drunk on these monetary actions. But parties don’t last forever, and this kind of “partying” usually comes with some major negative side effects. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Bailouts #Debt #Inflation #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 485 – The Myth of Economic Recovery
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 485 - The Myth of Economic Recovery
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Another week and another initial jobless claims report. For the week ending 7 November, 709,000 Americans filed an initial claim. While this may be the lowest number we have witnessed in months, this is still 3.5 times the average of what was “normal,” prior to the lockdowns, restrictions, and recession. This is still a stubbornly high number despite the fact that several trillion dollars have been thrown at and into the system. Continuing claims continue to decline, but this is a function of people returning to work and/or finding new jobs, but it’s also a function of state unemployment benefits being exhausted. This leaves those who remain unemployed and without regular state assistance to file for extended benefits if they’re available and qualified, or to apply to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs. Both of these programs are the children of the Nobody CARES Act and both have been trending higher in recent weeks. These programs can also assist “gig” workers and the self-employed. The fact that these numbers are increasing is disconcerting and evidence that a lot of stress remains throughout the economy.

This is also in agreement with the recent October jobs report where we continue to see about 3.7 million permanent job losers, high levels of part-time workers, and an increase in the long-term unemployed. Not to mention a lot of distortionary effects are still in the system as a result of fiscal and monetary measures. Some of which are near exhaustion and/or expiration, while others are continuing. Creating trillions of dollars and throwing them into the system will get you so far and even with that we still have 21.1 million Americans claiming some form of unemployment insurance. This is not an economic recovery – this is smoke and mirrors from our government and central bank – and will carry with it a very hefty price tag. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #USA #Bailouts #Debt #Recession #Depression #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 469 – Election Interference
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 469 - Election Interference
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No one holds a candle to the type of election interference that the US engages in, but nevertheless, we heard from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and Director of the FBI this evening about interference campaigns being run by Iran and Russia. Apparently, Iran is sending out emails to Americans with threatening statements to vote for a certain candidate. The Kapital News is sure that there are many other attacks and attempts underway, but this is what we are being informed of as of this evening – with only two weeks to go until election day.

We have discussed in previous podcasts the dangers of social media platforms and their effectiveness with respect to spreading misinformation and disinformation. With some deep pockets and/or a very creative mind, individuals, teams, campaigns, political groups, and yes, foreign actors, can shape political opinions, and with it, potentially drive election outcomes. This social media Pandora’s box has been opened, and the contents are not going back in anytime soon – if ever. And don’t forget, this is all going on while President Trump claims that it’s a rigged election if he should lose, but evidently everything is fine if should he win – this is outrageous and only goes to further divide, confuse, and frustrate the American people.

In other news, President Obama was on the campaign trail this evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – a battleground state. Attempting to be the “closer” for the Biden-Harris campaign. The Democrats are looking to regain Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the “blue wall.” If this should happen, then odds have it that Joe Biden will become the next President. Current polling would indicate that Biden has a lead in all three states, but so did Clinton in 2016 – this race is far from over. We shall see if President Obama’s message was enough to turn PA blue once again for the Democrats. Early vote counts are currently north of 44 million, representing about 32 percent of 2016 total voter turnout. It’s nearly 3-to-1 in the breakdown between mail ballots and in-person votes at this juncture. With more votes taking place in these early rounds, it increases the likelihood that we’ll know the winner within a day or two of the election. However, should there be some tight races in key battleground states, then it could take weeks or months to determine the winner of the White House. And buckle up – tomorrow evening is the second and final debate between President Trump and VP Joe Biden – anything can happen. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Elections2020 #Debates2020 #Economy #USA #Russia #Iran #China #Vote #Gold #Silver #Inflation #Debt #Bailouts #Jobs #Liberty #Revolution