Who Will Deliver The Bad News? Steiner!
Our political “elites,” having received their orders, have dutifully voted for more war and more debt. Now their major concern is how to continue gaslighting normal Americans, convince them that if leftist students stop protesting genocide we can all be at peace together. Or something like that. The narrative is getting more incoherent by the day.
But the American Empire’s war on the world is being fought financially and economically, not just militarily. From where I sit, it’s going very badly on all fronts. Doug Macgregor traces this trajectory of war and debt back to the Clinton years:
Washington DC has been hijacked since the early 90's and the Proxy Wars we congratulate ourselves about are beyond comprehension
That’s a defensible position, and I don’t have the expertise to dispute whether it may go back further. In any event, Macgregor is probably right that the Clinton years mark a sort of inflection point, a point of no return. Yes, things got worse, much worse, but that was point at which the ruling class set us on the trajectory that has now become clear. To be fair, there were always voices warning against this path.
I’m not an economist, nor any sort of financial expert. However, I’m told that what can’t go on forever won’t. This graph probably goes a long way to explaining what’s behind Jay Powell’s policy course. He frankly told Congress that he didn’t feel obliged to finance their crazy debt, but Congress takes their cues from Neocons. Powell can only use what tools he has to try to slow the craziness down, but it’s a thankless job—I mean, have you heard anyone thanking Powell? Thanks for your service, Jay? Me neither. When the bill comes due, which looks more and more likely to be sooner than expected, it won’t be pretty. It’s highly unlikely that This Time Is Different. The Next Time never is different than the previous time, but we tend not to learn.
When I see this chart, I see that Hitler movie meme in my head, with Hitler saying "As long as Central Banks keep growing UST holdings, the US fiscal situation will be fine", followed by his general nervously saying, "Uh, sir...global CB's stopped growing UST holdings in 2014."
George S Franklin @GeorgeSFrankl
thus indicating that we don't need foreign purchases to fund our deficits.
Luke Gromen @LukeGromen
...as long as the Fed's balance sheet rises by $6T like it did 2019-2022, ad infinitum
Neeraj Kathuria @EnablingNew
Then who is buying post 2014.
Luke Gromen @LukeGromen
US banks, MMF's, foreign tax shelters, & the Fed.
Who were the geniuses that did this to us? Who did they pay off? Paging Phil Gramm et alios.
"The narrative is getting more incoherent by the day." True. Trump seems to have joined The Club. The old certainties are going. It's hard to know which way to shoot.
Q: what happens when masses of people in the US stop spending money/debt, on things that are not needed and are fantasy based? Advertising already does not work as it used to…this will only grow…the US economy is largely based on things people don’t need for living and going into debt. What happens when this train grinds to a halt?