“Well I don’t know why I came here tonight
I’ve got the feeling that something ain’t right
I’m so scared in case I fall off my chair
And I’m wondering how I’ll get down the stairs
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am stuck in the middle with you
Yes I’m stuck in the middle with you
And I’m wondering what it is I should do
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face
Losing control, yeah I’m all over the place”
~ Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
Powell and Yellen first declared inflation “transitory” back in 2021.
So far, the annual inflation rate is still not down to 2%. Even with the Federal Fund Rate at 5.5%, the Fed is having trouble getting 3% to stick.
Inflation looks to be rising once again.
And, if you were wondering what inflation might look like the in future…
Every time more liquidity is sent into the market from the Fed, there is about a 12 to 18 month wait before the real effects are felt.
When Quantitative Easing(QE) starts at the Fed, US money supply drastically increases. Then there’s a lag time before inflation is felt, then more printing.
By 2014, the Fed slowly reduced its amount of easing, leading to a gradual tapering of the money supply until 2019.
That’s when the Fed was concerned about market liquidity (not enough money in the economy).
Then came the COVID printing…
Now we have another liquidity crisis coming.
This chart from Tavi Costa, at Crescat Capital, shows a reliable pattern since QE started in 2008.
More inflation may be coming very soon. Even sooner if the Fed decides to lower interest rates.
What the Fed once thought was “transitory” is about become a long-term moment…
Like once you “transition” to QE in a fiat system, there’s no going back.
More monetary stimulus becomes the one solution packaged into different Fed “tools” (ie. the recently deceased Bank Term Funding Program, or the Reverse Repo moves, and now, to be tapped into the ring as an underdog, the Discount Window).
Yet, with all the Fed’s check and balances, tools, and consistent monitoring of markets, you can’t help but get the feeling they’re losing control.
Speaking of prolonged transitory moments…
While my home country of Canada banned “Conversion Therapy” in 2022, it’s now become a leading issue in the UK, which its proponents declare as “progress” that can’t be stopped.
The Argus reports:
Conversion therapy ban bill by Brighton MP blocked in parliament
“MPs who talked out a bill by a Brighton MP aimed at banning so-called LGBT conversion therapy practices “frustrated the will of the country”.Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, had proposed a bill to create new offences for a course of conduct whose “predetermined” purpose was to change a person’s sexual orientation or to change a person to or from being transgender.”
Gender dysphoria is seemingly everywhere as we are forced to put emotions before facts…
The idea of gender norms remains in a transitory state…
At least, for therapists, counsellors, and religious leaders hoping to maintain their position and practice.
Yet, that may not be the case forever.
More studies keep piling up for the case against solving gender dysphoria as the main issue of mental health problems.
New York Post reports:
A landmark Finnish study is changing how we approach transgender kids
“A major new study out of Finland found that providing cross-sex hormones and gender-transition surgeries to adolescents and young adults didn’t appear to have any significant effect on suicide deaths.
What’s more, gender distress severe enough to send young people to a gender clinic wasn’t independently linked to a higher suicide death rate either.
What was independently tied to a greater chance of suicide in young adults?
A high number of appointments with mental-health specialists; in other words, severe mental health challenges.”
As we watch the world spiral downward, it may be that the solution is not to suddenly “transition” to imaginary solutions to solve our problems, but to get to the root of the problem.
Whatever mental health, or monetary challenge that may be.
