Shutdown Or Not, The Fed Abides

Here’s an additional reason to be thankful for the independence of the Federal Reserve. Since the Fed does not receive funding through the congressional budgetary process and is largely self-funded through the interest on its massive government securities portfolio, plus its many other activities, we don’t have to worry that this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting will fall victim to the partial government shutdown.

But how much will actually happen at the meeting that can be expected to move the financial markets?

One thing we do know is that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference after the meeting ends at 2:00 EST. Last summer Powell announced that he will hold a presser at the end of each of the Fed’s 10 scheduled meetings, not just every three months.

But it’s unlikely that the Fed will raise interest rates at the meeting, after Powell largely put the kibosh on that idea late last year, when under extraordinary pressure from President Trump and just about everyone investor within reach of a microphone he and his Fed colleagues surrendered and said “no mas” to any more monetary tightening for a while. Continue reading "Shutdown Or Not, The Fed Abides"

Washington's dirty little secret they don't want you to know about

Have you filled up the gas tank lately?

If you have then you know it is a pain at the pump for everybody in America. But the real pain is something most middle Americans don't even know about, and I'm not even talking about the 47% of the country that does not pay taxes. No, I'm talking about the people who do pay taxes and work their butts off to make a living.

Like a lot of Americans, I am not a happy camper and I am not happy with the incredible misdirection this country is going in with its spend, spend, spend policies. I'm not sure what its like in your house, but in mine if we can afford something, we can afford something, but we don't have the luxury of printing money by the truckload to spend beyond our means. The main problem is, these spending policies are only going to further weaken our economy.

This afternoon Pres. Obama is to make a speech explaining how we're supposed to get out of this mess - or how it is often described by this current White House - "potential financial Armageddon." In my opinion if there are not significant spending cuts, we're going to see a lot of pressure on the market. Unfortunately I think this speech will probably be long on rhetoric and short on details. That seems to be the style in Washington these days.

Okay I promised you the dirty little secret that Washington doesn't want you to know about and here goes... Continue reading "Washington's dirty little secret they don't want you to know about"