This article was written by Brandon Smith and originally published at Alt-Market.com
There is a very bizarre narrative being circulated in the mainstream economic media and it goes a little something like this:
“The Federal Reserve has capitulated on liquidity tightening yet the US economy is “stronger than ever”, isn't that weird?”
There are a couple things wrong with this statement. First, the Fed has not yet capitulated on its tightening policy. In fact, we have been hearing since last November from the mainstream media and some alternative media that the Fed was going to lower its Fed Funds Rate and end monthly balance sheet cuts at “any moment”, yet several months later it still has not happened. Just last month the Fed cut another $38 billion in assets from its balance sheet; a move that was barely discussed in the mainstream because it does not fit with the prevailing delusion that the Fed has “already capitulated”. When the Fed cuts rates back significantly and the asset dumps stop, then and only then can anyone say with any authority that the Fed has ended its tightening cycle.
Secondly, the US economy is not “stronger than ever”, it is at its weakest since just before the credit crash of 2008.
And here is where the disconnect begins in Fed policy versus public expectations and the behavior of the Trump Administration. Almost EVERYONE, including the Federal Reserve, Donald Trump and the media are talking about how the US economy is “booming”. So why all the fuss over the Fed's interest rates? The truth is it's just more theater for the masses.
The battle between Trump and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell over Fed policy is a farce and always has been. Consider the facts – Trump ran his election campaign partly by taking a stance against central bank stimulus measures and ultra low rates. He explicitly attacked the notion that the US economy and stock markets were strong under Barack Obama, warning that the markets were in a bubble created by the Fed's easing measures. Then, as soon as he entered the White House Trump flipped narratives and claimed the economy and the markets were strong, and that they were strong because of him.
Trump also said a little over a year ago that he wanted a strong US dollar, now he has reversed completely and says he wants a weaker dollar. In an indirect manner Trump has recently called for a monetary race to the bottom in competition with other nations. This display of bewildering policy gymnastics could be taken one of two ways – one, Trump is bipolar, or two, Trump is following the script that is given to him by the money elite day-to-day just like every president before him for at least the past hundred years. But what is the point of this absurd show?
As I have examined in depth in past articles, I believe the evidence shows that Trump is a pied piper for conservatives, and his attacks on the Fed are nothing more than world wrestling federation-style dramatics for the benefit of his base supporters. Does anyone else think it's rather strange that a supposedly fiscally conservative president is fighting for monetary easing while the Federal Reserve (the KING of easy money for the past decade) is fighting for liquidity tightening? This only makes sense when you look at Trump's background...
Trump's companies have faced at least four separate bankruptcy threats since the 1990's, yet he has been bailed out on more than one occasion by surprise investors. The most prominent of these investors was the Rothschild family through their agent Wilber Ross. Trump was saved from his vast debts tied to his Taj Mahal casino complex and three other major properties by the Rothschilds in the 1990's, and some of these properties would go on to face bankruptcy again in 2009. The Taj Mahal would later sell for 4 cents on the dollar, yet Trump would always come out financially unscathed from these events.
Trump's reputation and perhaps his entire current fortune is owed to the Rothschilds. This is probably the reason why, after becoming president, Trump loaded his cabinet with multiple globalists and banking elites, including Wilber Ross as his Commerce Secretary.
Trump is a perfect foil or catalyst to create the kind of chaos the banking elites need as cover for an event they sometimes refer to as “the global economic reset”. The economic reset is meant to cut a path to complete global centralization; meaning a one world monetary system controlled by the IMF, a one world currency, and ultimately a one world government. The Rothschilds (among many other elites) have publicly admitted to this plan numerous times, displaying their schemes in plain view in publications they own or control, like The Economist magazine.
Trump's sudden shift from harsh critic of the US economic situation to taking ownership of every facet of the economy as if he is the sole cause of its supposed ascension is entirely deliberate. Trump is MEANT to take ownership of the US economy because he is MEANT to take the blame for its inevitable crash. If we look at almost every fundamental indicator a crash is already taking place now.
We now see the housing market suffering from a 7.8% overall drop in sales and an 8.1% drop in prices. We see auto market sales at the slowest pace in four years as interest rates rise on auto loans. We see historic levels of consumer debt and corporate debt. We see massive retail closures (more than 7500 closures announced so far this year), a grinding halt to shipping and freight, seven year lows in Global manufacturing PMI, the weakest U.S. manufacturing PMI since 2009, and a three month running inversion in the treasury yield curve, etc.
You will not see the Federal Reserve, the mainstream media or Donald Trump mention much about these signals of decline. The media will pay lip service at times while also promoting the notion that employment, GDP and the stock market are sure signs that the economy is “strong”.
Trump no longer argues that these indicators are rigged, even though unemployment stats do not include over 96 million working age Americans that are unemployed and are not counted on the benefits rolls. Even though GDP is calculated to include most government spending as if it is the same a wealth creation rather than wealth confiscation. Even though the stock market is entirely manipulated by unprecedented corporate stock buybacks, as well as levitated by Chinese stimulus measures flooding the global liquidity pool and investor hope that the Fed is about to reintroduce QE “at any moment”.
The Fed continues to claim that the US economy is experiencing a "strong" recovery. The central bank's public statements and "Beige Book" reports consistently paint a picture of financial health. If the Fed was backing off of its tightening cycle, then why do they keep promoting the lie that the economy is stable and growing?
This is where we see the collusion between Trump and the media and the Fed. None of them will admit that the US economy is a fraudulent illusion. All of them are actively hiding the facts from the public. All of them are setting the American people up for an epic fall.
In terms of the fight over interest rates, Trump is playing his role as a bumbling villain; the guy who tried to meddle in economic affairs he did not fully comprehend and then bankrupted the country just like he bankrupted his own properties.
Many conservatives are eating up the propaganda that Trump is anti-fed, with endless stories on how Powell “had better watch out” or Trump will “have his head”. This sets up another false narrative that Trump is somehow in control of the Fed's behavior. He is not. Trump's own acting Chief of Staff staff has said “Trump knows he does not have the authority to fire Powell.” And, just last week Jerome Powell stated bluntly that if Trump tried to fire him he simply would not leave.Trump controls nothing when it comes to central bank policy. The Fed does whatever it wants to do.
I would point out that the Fed's ONLY warnings surrounding the US economy have been rooted in "concerns" over Donald Trump's policies, and more specifically the trade war. They are already injecting the idea into the public consciousness that "everything was fine in the US economy until Trump came along". The stage has been set for the controlled demolition of the US financial system and of conservative ideals of sovereignty.
The elites intend to use Trump as a parable, a warning to future generations. They will say - “You see, this is what happens when you allow populists and nationalists to take power. This is what happens when conservatives are allowed to propagate their crazy ideals. This is what happens when you try to interfere in the autonomy of central bankers who know better than you how to run the economy - You get a catastrophe.”
If the Fed actually does “capitulate” (one of these days), then history can blame Trump for putting political pressure on central bankers who are “supposed to be independent”. If the Fed does not capitulate and Trump continues his attacks on the institution history can still blame Trump for sowing the seeds of doubt and damaging faith in the US financial structure.
In the meantime, the Fed and other central banking institutions have created all the elements necessary to cause a devastating blow to the global economy and most of all the US economy. If Trump were a legitimate patriot and defender of US interests he would detach his administration from the stock markets and openly admit to all the factors that show our financial system is failing. But he will not do this. That is not his job. His job is to act chaotic, to confuse the public, to play shepherd to conservatives while leading them to the slaughterhouse, and to become a scapegoat for a crash the central bankers set in motion over 8 years before Trump became president.
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