There are way more people on Main Street than members of Congress or the Fed, yet for inexplicable reasons these few have control, power, and decision-making ability over the lives of the many. Congress can legally tax and spend. The Fed can legally create US dollars and buy real assets at virtually no cost. These powers allow this very small group of individuals to affect the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, if not the entire planet, by engaging in activity that if done by anyone else would be called counterfeiting.
For example, the Wall Street Journal noted that Secretary Mnuchin is hopeful that between July 20 and the end of the month a new economic stimulus package will be unveiled:
Mr. Mnuchin said the administration supports a second round of so-called economic impact payments to households, an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits for furloughed workers, and a “much, much more targeted” version of the Paycheck Protection Program of forgivable loans for small businesses.
Mnuchin, a man who may still be unrecognizable to most who don’t follow the political theater, is estimated to have a net worth of around $400 million. His role as head of the Treasury and Trump’s top economic advisor seems to require that he “plan” for those on Main Street.
As for the next iteration of the Paycheck Protection Program, how much more “targeted” will it be? Well, that is up to those deciding our future without our consent. But like all of government’s best-laid plans, the program will only get larger in scope. Mnuchin mentioned just last month:
Before we rush back and spend more money, whether that’s a trillion dollars or whether that’s more, we want to make sure we’re careful in knowing how much more we need to spend.
It’s incredible that we live in a world where an unelected official has the power to decide where trillions of dollars are spent, with credit supplied by well-revered central banks and using economic calculations known only to the privileged few. While it’s easy to point to US central planners and their lack of proficiency in economics, this predicament is not restricted to the United States.
According to Forbes, the European Central Bank (ECB) is headed by the second most powerful woman in the world. Similar to Mnuchin, Christine Lagarde was not elected by the people, but she is charged with monetary policy over the entire continent. CNBC recently shared an interview in which Lagarde proclaimed:
“I want to explore every avenue available in order to combat climate change….This is something that I hold very strongly.”
Lagarde added that the bank “has to look at all the business lines and the operations in which we are engaged in order to tackle climate change, because at the end of the day, money talks.”
This same ECB is currently embarking on a €1.35 trillion asset program on top of its €20 billion per month bond-buying program!
If it’s any consolation, Mnuchin is not using his central bank to tackle climate change. Distressingly, if he wanted to, and the Treasury or Fed made a mandate, nothing could stop them.
When the rich and powerful seek to plan for those in a much lower socioeconomic standing than their own, as far as monetary policy is concerned, whether their intentions are to genuinely help those in need or purely to control the masses is actually irrelevant. We know the outcome. It starts with a crisis, involves government intervention, and ends with the Fed owning real assets. To no one’s surprise, the people meant to benefit most from intervention find that they benefit the least.
For those who recall, the Great Recession was the harbinger of Fed ownership of our mortgages. Now they own our bonds. In Europe central bankers are charged with fighting climate change. We’ve predicted this several times already and it bears repeating: one day, with this progression, they will officially own our very stock exchange. Some call it policy; we’ll call it what it is…theft!
