Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC

Finance, Politics, Motocross. Retweet is not an endorsement/Tweets are not financial advice

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

Terrifying and economically insane.

[Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 @Tablesalt13]

JUST IN - EU President Ursula von der Leyen says that people's savings accounts are a problem

and that she must put this money "to the service of European companies"

says her plan to "securitize them" and "supervise them"

They're coming for your savings, Europe.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

This

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

I’m glad the conversation has shifted in this direction…and I am glad others are beginning to understand it. But all this started back in 2008 with QE and “abundant reserve” monetary policy. Both Warsh, and the WSJ, supported this overreaction in monetary policy. It wasn’t actually needed. And counterfactual proof that it worked is nonsense. Before QE, there was an active market for short-term interest rates and banks all had Federal Funds Trading Desks (FFTD). The Fed could influence the rate by adding or subtracting reserves, but banks traded billions of dollars of overnight money every day. After QE, banks are flooded with reserves and all those FFTD’s are gone. There is no longer a market for federal funds. So, where does the funds rate come from? Well, the Fed just makes it up. In short, it is “price fixing”. The Fed literally makes up the cost of money in the short-term. They claim there are market signals, but this signals are distorted by heavy-handed capital and liquidity rules and regulations. So, while the market may influence long-term rates, it has no say in short-term rates. The only way to fix this is do QT until there are no excess reserves anymore and banks start trading federal funds again. We are a long way from that. There are massive losses on both bank books and the Fed’s balance sheet, more losses than the subprime market had in 2008. We have had 40-year highs in inflation. The Treasury funded trillions of dollars of government growth at artificially low rates (basically 0%) The market waits for the Fed to tell it what short-term rates are and has no input itself. This entire QE experiment has been a failure.

[Douglas A. Boneparth @dougboneparth]

I've watched so many people save up millions for retirement only to let poor health stop them from enjoying it.

One of the best things you can do in all of personal finance is take care of yourself.

Health is literally wealth!

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

Christopher Waller, Fed Governor, said Fed may need to raise rates to fight inflation. Question for Waller: We had 0% rate for 7-years under Bernanke and tame inflation. What makes you think interest rates have anything to do with inflation? Isn’t it money supply growth?

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

Corporations cannot create inflation. Inflation only comes from government.

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

JUST IN: AOC says Congress should break up Apple, $AAPL, amid looming price hikes for MacBooks and iPhones

[Peter Schiff @PeterSchiff]

@SenWarren But both inflation and interest rates are rising as a result of excessive regulation and deficit spending that you have spent your entire career voting for.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@wesbury Wow

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

“My concern is legal attacks on the Fed, which threaten our ability to conduct monetary policy without considering political factors,” Powell said.

My concern is QE, which increases inequality and affects politics and the Fed financing deficits at artificially low rates, which drives spending higher than it should be, which also affects politics. The Fed got into politics, not the other way around.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@StephenMoore The focus should be on allowing real estate asset prices to naturally adjust downward. Not on artificially lowering rates further.

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

This Fed, and Powell, are resisting and flexing in the only way they know how. “Let’s say we will raise rates…that will make it even more difficult for Warsh to cut.” This is about politics. This Fed cut rates in 2024 when inflation was higher than it is today.

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

I do not know Blackrock’s Rick Rieder, the apparent front-runner for Fed Chair. Evidently he supports reform. I hope that includes dramatically shrinking the Feds balance sheet, reducing staff, and significantly altering the system of regional Fed banks.
My worries:
1) BlackRock is deeply involved in the World Economic Forum…Larry Fink CEO of BlackRock, and Rieder’s current boss, is co-chair of the WEF. This is not conspiracy theory stuff, but every important central bank is involved with the WEF and they all decided QE and abundant reserves are good policy.
2) I doubt many at BlackRock, the WEF, or world central banks think QE is Modern Monetary Theory, but it is. We should not be doing it.
3) BlackRock oversees a great deal of the government’s retirement accounts. This revolving door stuff needs to come to an end.

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

The House just passed a 3-year extension of COVID-era, emergency and temporary, subsidies for Obamacare. The House doesn’t care about the deficit. There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@steve_hanke Maybe it’s not shocking that the Fed has been on the wrong side of virtually all major monetary policy decisions the past two decades.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@wesbury Awesome, and great job today in Des Moines. Always love when you come through Iowa!

[Douglas A. Boneparth @dougboneparth]

I stopped watching the market and put on a serial killer documentary to relax.

[Douglas A. Boneparth @dougboneparth]

Today is a very good day to hug your kids and tell them how much you love them.

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@Jason66Thomas “Nemics ….”🤣 $nvda

[Blake A. Smith, CFP®️, AIF®️, BPC @blakesmithiowa]

@Jason66Thomas Peak bubble

[Adam Cianciarulo @AdamCianciarulo]

My all-time favorite stat.

[Douglas A. Boneparth @dougboneparth]

I have announced the following tariffs:

Wife: 50%
Kid 1: 30%
Kid 2: 25%
Mother-in-law: 100%
Dog: 0%