I'm not nearly crooked enough for that gig. And I'm a terrible liar.
The Fed has two choices now. There is no third choice other than world war, which is too dangerous given nukes. So two: 1) Raise rates to where they are higher than real world inflation (now about 20% in the U.S. and rising), which would kill the stock market and real estate deader than Elvis, and plunge the country into a lasting depression. Or, 2) Pretend to give a shit, raise rates a token amount, and then "pivot" and start lowering again, all the while printing money like mad - which is what created the 20+% inflation in the first place.
The Fed will do Choice 2. Why? Because the U.S. couldn't afford to pay the interest on the national debt at anywhere over 4%, and even that would seriously interfere with its ability to wage constant war, which would mean a lot of elites and politicians would lose their annual fortunes from the MIC. So Choice 1 isn't really a choice.
A inquiring mind would then ask, well, so what happens as Choice 2 plays out? The answer is the U.S. becomes Argentina, where 20-30% annual inflation is the norm, and has been for decades. You will probably see a boom in the stock market when the Fed pivots, or hints at pivoting, because the market needs free money to boom. Bluntly, it can't survive without free or nearly free Fed largess, just as every major bank in the world is bankrupt without the Fed printing trillions and fire hosing it to them, as well as their cronies. And it will have to increase 20-30% annually just to keep up with inflation, minus fees and commissions and taxes. So in this scenario, like Venezuela’s market, you would expect to see stocks increase 35-40% per year just to deliver a tiny return above inflation. My point being that if stock market levels were any indicator of a nation’s prosperity or financial soundness, Venezuela is the most prosperous and sound nation in the world, which is obviously complete nonsense.
The dollar in the Choice 2 scenario is doomed, because nobody in their right mind will denominate a long term contract in a currency that will lose 20-30% of its buying power each year. It simply isn't useful as a reserve currency anymore. What will be presented will likely be SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), which have been around since the sixties, for international trade, or a global central bank digital currency that will enable the creators to control/approve/disapprove every transaction. Meaning no more financial privacy of any sort, and you can be switched off if you dare to think in dangerous or rebellious ways (think China social credit score gone global). I believe that is the ultimate goal of this entire exercise - a global currency controlled by the same elites that have controlled the world's central banks via the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, for generations - the same folks who brought you the income inequality, rampant inflation, and loss of quality of life under the dollar, who will present the option as necessary "so this never happens again."
These are the same folks who brought you "safe and effective" and "inflation is transitory" and "you will own nothing and be happy." They mean it. They want you to spend your life slaving away for their company scrip which they create at no cost to themselves, to be spent in their company stores, renting the items necessary for you to survive (ownership being something only they can be trusted with). Note the push to terms like "stakeholders" and "stewards/custodians" of the "public commons." Apparently these unelected dynastic interests have graciously undertaken to help humanity by directing and in effect owning everything while the serfs obey or are cut off - all for their own good, you understand. The masses can't be trusted with stewardship or self-determination, only billionaires and dynastic pecuniary interests can.
That is where this goes. I believe you're watching a controlled demolition of the first world economic systems, in concert, to bring this future about.
Whether you agree with that or not, what is certain is that prices are going to continue to skyrocket due to money printing - not supply and demand, necessarily, but increasing debt notes in circulation chasing limited goods and services, which is what inflation actually is: money printing. Price inflation is the effect of that money printing on goods and services.
To put it bluntly, the Fed knowingly created unsustainable inflation, which is the only possible outcome of hitting “print” on tens of trillions worldwide. And now the same folks are assuring the dim that they plan to battle that inflation by doing tiny, tiny increases in interest rates, which makes as much sense as starting a forest fire, and then taking out a tear dropper and flicking water at it. It cannot work, which they know. So it's all for show, so the masses don't figure out it was all intentional, with a goal of destroying the post-Enlightenment prosperity the West has enjoyed, and returning it to effective feudal dark ages, where only a tiny handful control the wealth, and everyone else is just a worker ant for their limited time on earth.
This is no time to give up drinking.
So practically speaking, in order for my family to get past this slow but certain train wreck, I will have to move all my investments (except for checking account money) out of dollar denominated assets. So I could invest in foreign stocks (i.e. Asia and maybe Africa / India) as well as buy gold and silver. I have been told by numerous peppers that the things we take for granted will have value once the SHTF. Stuff like toilet paper, paper towels, bullets, food (gardening is a must), water, etc. I agree with you that we are seeing the Great Reset unfold before our eyes. The elite knows that they cannot continue the charade with the Federal Reserve; the monetary systems in the world are in a slow collapse. I just feel so helpless in the midst of it all. What is worse is our generation is spoiled and we do not have the self-determination and spirit to make it through a Great Depression like 1929. Thanks Russell for speaking truth however hard it is to read and process it all!
Elvis is dead?