Like On The Titanic… The Band Plays On

It is said the dance band on the Titanic played on as the ship went down. This was all done as a grand effort to reassure the passengers and ease the panic in their hearts. Consider the possibility that behind all the noise we hear today a similar effort is being made to comfort us and take your attention off the hopeless feeling that comes when things sink away beneath your feet. For the last several months I have come to feel a similar story is playing out here. The Biden-Yellen-Powell economy is less than inspiring. 

As The Ship Goes Down The Band Plays On

Looking back, it is clear the Fed’s policies have hurt savers, It has caused savers to flee towards riskier investment in search of higher yields, driven speculation, increased equality, add added to inflation. Rather than using the bully pulpit and warnings of higher interest rates to keep government spending in check, the Fad has acted as an enabler to the crowd in Congress that loves nothing better than to sending taxpayer money back home calming it is a gift and proof they are “working hard for their district.”

With historically low-interest rates, rising inflation, and many consumers struggling to make ends meet. The economy is at a place where there is not much capability to increase consumption without throwing money from a helicopter and massively increasing the national debt. The problem with that is such stimulus programs are poorly focused. As we look about in this post-pandemic covid-lite era we see supply chains crumbling, stagflation mounting, and jobs being lost to automation. These are all immense problems even in the best of times.

With this in mind, the president has thrown his weight behind a huge infrastructure bill at the worst possible time. These type of bills coming out when employers are already having difficulty filling jobs because many workers have lost their motivation to work will only add to the labor shortage and cause inflation to soar. While he mumbles phrases such as “the buck stops here,” and “I take full responsibility,” Biden has a way of resorting to finger-pointing and leaping into the blame game at a second’s notice. 

President Biden on Monday blasted Republican lawmakers’ approach to raising the federal borrowing limit and warned about the dangers of failing to do so. “A meteor is headed to crash into our economy,” Biden said during a White House speech. “Democrats are willing to do all the work stopping it. Republicans just have to let us do our job — just get out of the way.”

More