Like The Dance Band On The Titanic, The Band Plays On

As The Ship Goes Down 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. 

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, and added to inflation. Rather than using the bully pulpit and warnings of higher interest rates to keep government spending in check, the Fed has acted as an enabler to the crowd in Congress that loves nothing better than to sending taxpayer money back home claiming 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.”

Money Supply Growth Indicates A Problem

It appears that Biden simply doesn't get it. Rather than aligning himself with the American worker, he is part of a larger coalition made up of the poor, the deep state, and the globalist elites. All these groups have one thing in common, and that is they are willing to sacrifice our future for more money and power today. 

This is evident in a number of policies rubber-stamped by this coalition that constantly favor big businesses such as Amazon over the far smaller companies that made American famous. Giving people money to stay at home and order online is devastating the brick and mortar stores that line the streets of our communities. These are the companies that pay taxes and provide jobs for our friends and families. The major labor shortage and a fall in productivity will have long lasting implications and become evident in the form of stagflation.

Amazon is the poster child of a failing America. In an ever changing economic environment, the government has aided Amazon in destroying America. Things like the USPS slating the company for special services and pricing. Approving Amazon to participate in delivering home grocery delivery on the SNAP program, and locking people in their homes while forcing many small businesses to close during the pandemic have all played to Amazon's advantage.

Not only have small companies lost sales, but they also cannot afford to automate and replace workers with robots like their giant competitor Amazon. Small companies don't have access to the cheap money flowing from Wall Street. This means small companies cannot compete and often cannot pay the same wages as large companies. Instead, small companies across America are forced to cut hours or even close at times because they cannot get employees. When customers find them closed they tend to develop the habit of looking somewhere else to buy things.

Adding to the woes of many smaller businesses are the expensive and ever-changing mandates being placed upon them by those in power. After the ship goes down, do not expect things to be pretty. Already, statistics show that 1-in-4 Americans primarily live on government support. The idea of simply giving these people more money in the hope it will boost consumption is unsustainable because the numbers don't work. 

As the band plays on and water laps at our feet, most Americans ignore the signs we are in real trouble. Do not be surprised when we enter what will likely be a more protracted, deeper, and more damaging recession than what we saw in 2008. We would already be there if it were not for the crazy deficit spending going on in Washington. In fact, expect a depression, defaults and bankruptcies are only in the very early stages. The Fed has added a tremendous amount of liquidity to the system in order to repair credit spreads and mask over the flaws in the financial system but this will only delay the ugliness ahead.

Because so much is going on, current events have been drowning out reality making it hard to stay focused on the crux of financial and economic issues. That music coming from the dance band is a distraction that is difficult to ignore. There is no playbook for what is about to unfold when the ship goes down or anyone to turn to that has all the answers. Each of us must be aware of the risk and manage our finances accordingly. 

The one thing we do know is that in such a situation, the poor have little to lose, the rich often have ways to skirt much of the pain or, a reservation in the lifeboat. It is the so-called middle class that will be cast into the cold icy water to die when reality finally hits. An economy based on consumption and huge deficits is unsustainable. We need an economy where people produce and that appears to be slipping away.  

 

 (Republishing of this article welcomed with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog)