Recovery or Recession?

By Austrian Markets

Interesting commentary on important economic charts. Austrian Markets takes a look at the fading impact of artificially low interest rates & QE, and how those policies have merely hidden or delayed a necessary economic corrections. Brace yourself...


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Don't “Audit the Fed”, Abolish It

Antonius Aquinas

In recent remarks to the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen was her typical evasive and non committal self when the topic of interest rate hikes were broached. When the subject of potential oversight of the Fed came up, however, Ms. Yellen became quite forthright in her response.

When asked about a bill introduced by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul to “Audit the Fed,” Ms. Yellen declared: “I want to be completely clear: I strongly oppose ‘Audit the Fed.'”* Ms. Yellen defended her position on the grounds, which have been given by every previous Fed Chairman, that oversight would lead to politicized monetary decision making thus compromising the central bank’s “independence.”

Senate Banking Chairman, Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) countered the Chairwoman saying “there is an even greater need for additional oversight” of the Fed since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007.

The Federal Reserve Has Unleashed a ''Virus Of Radical Monetary Policy''

Mac Slavo

The Fed has no mandate outside the 50 states, but it unofficially determines foreign debt and currency markets across the globe in a big way anyway.

Now, chairwoman Janet Yellen has testified before Congress that the Federal Reserve is looking to increase interest rates, on the pretext of low inflation. The rate increase represents an enormous price fixing mechanism that will alter the course of investments for everyone.

The ground shakes when the Fed takes a step. Never mind if it should be this way:

100 Reasons Why Janet Yellen Should Be Freaking Out About ''Audit the Fed''

Michael Snyder

Janet Yellen is very alarmed that some members of Congress want to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve for the first time since it was created.  If the Fed is doing everything correctly, why should Yellen be alarmed?  What does she have to hide?

During testimony before Congress on Tuesday, she made “central bank independence” sound like it was the holy grail.  Even though every other government function is debated politically in this country, Yellen insists that what the Federal Reserve does is “too important” to be influenced by the American people.  Does any other government agency ever dare to make that claim?

But of course the Federal Reserve is not a government agency.  It is a private banking cartel that has far more power over our money and our economy than anyone else does.  And later on in this article I am going to share with you dozens of reasons why Congress should shut it down.

Report: It’s YOUR Fault: Fed Says Americans Who “Hoard Money” Are To Blame For Poor Economy

Mac Slavo

Despite arguments to the contrary from the Obama administration, mounting evidence suggests that the U.S. economy is rapidly falling back into negative growth territory. More Americans are out of the workforce than ever before, median household incomes are at levels not seen since 1967, and consumer spending is coming to a veritable standstill. The crisis is apparently so significant that a Federal Reserve governor recently said U.S. policymakers are crafting regulations that will force bank depositors to cover any losses should their financial institutions fail.

The question that many are asking is, how did this happen? How, after six years of recovery efforts and trillions of dollars printed, is it possible that the economy is not booming again?

This week the Federal Reserve published a report that claims to have figured it out and it turns out that the renewed economic downturn has nothing to do with foreign outsourcing, high taxation, increased health care costs for business or rising consumer prices for food and energy.

No, according to the Fed it is your fault.

Fed Vice Chairman Warns: Your Bank May Seize Your Money to Recapitalize Itself

Mac Slavo

At the height of the financial crisis in 2008 the U.S. government forced some of the countries largest banks to take “bailout” funds amounting to billions of dollars in order to keep them from going bankrupt. It was a move designed to not only keep too-big-to-fail financial institutions afloat, but one that would inspire confidence and keep American consumers spending. As a result, the last several years have seen stock markets reach record highs with Americans continuing to rack up personal debt for real estate, vehicles, education, and consumer goods as if the financial crisis never happened.

But the purported recovery may not be everything that government officials and influential financial leaders have made it out to be.

Recent comments delivered by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer suggest that not only are global and domestic economies still struggling, but the U.S. government itself is preparing financial contingency plans in anticipation of another widespread economic event.

However, this time around, according to Fischer, the government won’t be bailing out financial institutions in need of cash. Instead, failing banks will turn directly to their unsecured creditors when they need money. And within this context, that means you.

X22Report

Portugal is now showing all the signs of a bank confiscation. FED is pushing the idea that the economy is very close to recovery, and are targeting October to end the stimulus package. Obamacare has made firms raise premiums, deductibles and they have seen employment decrease. Police lobbies are putting pressure to keep the Pentagon 1033 program to get military assets. Ukraine, Nato and US are using propaganda that Russia invaded Ukraine. Most of the government officials are using fear mongering tactics to convince the US people that ISIS is ready to attack.  They are constantly out on corporate media pushing terror. This is in preparation for the a horrific false flag event, to get into Syria, Iran and then eventually drag Russia and China into the next World War.  Read more



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Whistleblower: Federal Reserve "Highly Alarmed" After Modeling Shows Bitcoin Conquering Dollar by 2021

Activist Post

The Federal Reserve is apparently very worried about bitcoin disrupting the monetary system.

According to an alleged whistleblower's post on Reddit, Fed governors were "highly alarmed" by internal economic modeling that showed Bitcoin has the potential to completely displace the dollar by as early as 2021 (which they called "worst case").

The whistleblower, who currently remains anonymous, claims to work for the Federal Reserve as a researcher who was tasked with doing "econometrics and related modeling" for Bitcoin.

He writes:

The Dirty: We were directed to upgrade our modeling of bitcoin from developing currency to a major currency. In addition to all of the common modeling and forecasting that task entails, we were instructed to do full simulations of money flows, interest rates, multi currency derivative baskets, risk metrics, and their effects on global macro monetary policy and trade agreements. What we found was shocking. Even with a mediocre adoption rate and variable growth rate, bitcoin severely disrupts how we model, forecast, and ultimately understand currency interactions to make monetary policy decisions. This is a huge technological, monetary, and policy disruption which leaves the Fed, the US govt, and other entities with much less control.

On The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever

Michael Snyder

December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy.  That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress.  Many members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was distracted with holiday preparations.  Now we have reached the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, and most Americans still don't know what it actually is or how it functions.  But understanding the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical, because the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems.  Since the Federal Reserve was created, there have been 18 recessions or depressions, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by 98 percent, and the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger.  This insidious debt-based financial system has literally made debt slaves out of all of us, and it is systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.  If nothing is done, we are inevitably heading for a massive amount of economic pain as a nation.  So please share this article with as many people as you can.  The following are 100 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down forever...

Expect Devastating Global Economic Changes In 2014

Brandon Smith

By any reasonable measure, I think it is safe to say that the last quarter of 2013 has been an insane game of economic Russian Roulette. Even more unsettling is the fact that most of the American population still has little to no clue that the U.S. was on the verge of a catastrophic catalyst event at least three times in the past three months alone, and that we face an even greater acceleration next year. 

The first near miss was the Federal Reserve's announcement of a possible “taper” of QE stimulus in early fall, which sent shivers through stock markets and proved what we have been saying all along – that the entire recovery is a facade built on an ever thinning balloon of fiat money. Today, markets function entirely on the expectation that the Fed will continue stimulus forever. If the Fed does cut QE in any way, the frail psychology of the markets will shatter, and the country will come crashing down with it.

The second near miss was the possible unilateral invasion of Syria demanded by the Obama Administration.

As we have discussed at Alt-Market for years, any invasion of Syria or Iran will bring detrimental consequences to the U.S. economy and energy markets, not to mention draw heavy opposition from Russia and China. Though the naïve shrug it off as a minor foreign policy bungle, Syria could have easily become WWIII, and I believe the only reason the establishment has not yet followed through with a strike in the region is because the alternative media has been so effective in warning the masses. The elites need a certain percentage of support from the general public and the military for any war action to be effective, which they did not receive. After all, no one wants to fight and die in support of CIA-funded Al Qaeda terrorist cells on the other side of the world. The establishment tried to hide who the rebels were, and failed. 

Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine

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Ten Reasons the United States Government Must Be Abolished

When freedom answers despotism...

"Abolish the United States government?  Are you insane?!"

Not at all.  Our government was originally created from the necessity of abolishing government.  This was spelled out clearly and concisely in the Declaration of Independence, whose date -- July 4, 1776 -- is still celebrated every July 4th.  If you are not familiar with this most vital document, if you have never read the words and fully understood them, I suggest you do so now.  I have quoted from the beginning of the Declaration of Independence below, so that you might understand that abolishing government is, at times, not only necessary, but proper.  

G. Edward Griffin ‒ The Capitalist Conspiracy

Youtube

G. Edward Griffin very clearly lays out who the powers that be are and how they got there.


Visit http://www.realityzone.com/

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Secret Memos with Summers and Geithner to Deregulate Banking

LipTV

1996 emails have just come to light between Larry Summers, Obama's current nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, and Tim Geithner detailing plans to deregulate international markets and effectively set the stage for the global financial collapse.


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The Men Who Stole $16 Trillion from America

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WesternJournalism.com

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Gold Gone? Germany Baffled as Fed Bars Access to Bullion

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During The Best Period Of Economic Growth In U.S. History There Was No Income Tax And No Federal Reserve

Dees Illustration

Michael Snyder

How would America ever survive without the central planners in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve?  What in the world would we do if there was no income tax and no IRS?  Could the U.S. economy possibly keep from collapsing under such circumstances?

The mainstream media would have us believe that unless we have someone "to pull the levers" our economy would descend into utter chaos, but the truth is that the best period of economic growth in U.S. history occurred during a time when there was no income tax and no Federal Reserve.

Between the Civil War and 1913, the U.S. economy experienced absolutely explosive growth.  The free market system thrived and the rest of the world looked at us with envy.  The federal government was very limited in size, there was no income tax for most of that time and there was no central bank.  To many Americans, it would be absolutely unthinkable to have such a society today, but it actually worked very, very well.  Without the inventions and innovations that came out of that period, the world would be a far different place today.

An Economic Nightmare Scenario

Michael Snyder

Most people have no idea that the U.S. financial system is on the brink of utter disaster. If interest rates continue to rise rapidly, the U.S. economy is going to be facing an economic crisis far greater than the one that erupted back in 2008. At this point, the economic paradigm that the Federal Reserve has constructed only works if interest rates remain super low. If they rise, everything falls apart.  Much higher interest rates would mean crippling interest payments on the national debt, much higher borrowing costs for state and local governments, trillions of dollars of losses for bond investors, another devastating real estate crash and the possibility of a multi-trillion dollar derivatives meltdown.

Everything depends on interest rates staying low. Unfortunately for the Fed, it only has a certain amount of control over long-term interest rates, and that control appears to be slipping.  The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries has soared in recent weeks.  So have mortgage rates.  Fortunately, rates have leveled off for the moment, but if they resume their upward march we could be dealing with a nightmare scenario very, very quickly.

The Federal Reserve Is Paying Banks NOT To Lend 1.8 Trillion Dollars To The American People

Michael Snyder

Did you know that U.S. banks have more than 1.8 trillion dollars parked at the Federal Reserve and that the Fed is actually paying them not to lend that money to us? We were always told that the goal of quantitative easing was to "help the economy", but the truth is that the vast majority of the money that the Fed has created through quantitative easing has not even gotten into the system.  Instead, most of it is sitting at the Fed slowly earning interest for the bankers.

Back in October 2008, just as the last financial crisis was starting, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve would start paying interest on the reserves that banks keep at the Fed.  This caused an absolute explosion in the size of these reserves.  Back in 2008, U.S. banks had less than 2 billion dollars of excess reserves parked at the Fed.  Today, they have more than 1.8 trillion.  In less than five years, the pile of excess reserves has gotten nearly 1,000 times larger.  This is utter insanity, and it will have very serious consequences down the road.

Posted below is a chart that shows the explosive growth of these excess reserves in recent years...

The Rational Market Myth

armageddon without nukes

Paul Craig Roberts

One of the myths of economics is that markets are rational. Theories are based on this assumption, and the belief that markets are rational fuels the argument against regulation. The market response to the Federal Reserve’s June 19 statement that it will taper off its bond purchases if its forecast comes true is unequivocal proof that markets are irrational.

The Federal Reserve’s statement that it “currently anticipates that it would be appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases [of bonds] later this year” depends on a very big if. The if is the correctness of the Fed’s forecast of moderate economic growth and employment gains.

The Fed has not stopped purchasing $85 billion of bonds each month. So nothing real has changed. Indeed, there was no new information in the Fed’s statement. It has been known for some time that, according to the Fed, its bond purchases will gradually cease.

In response to this repeat of old information, the stock and bond markets sold off in a major way on June 19-20. This market response to the Fed’s statement indicates that the Fed’s forecast is unlikely to come true. Low interest rates and a high stock market are totally dependent on the liquidity that the Fed is injecting by printing $1,000 billion per year. If this liquidity is not injected, what will sustain the markets? If the markets crash and interest rates rise, how can the Fed expect recovery?