In this week’s Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and John Rubino discuss:
- Deconstructing the Fed’s new Not-QE program
- What would life under negative US interest rates look like?
- How the rich are using hard assets to protect their wealth
- Life strategies for a low-energy future
So much ground to cover… John Rubino returns this week to discuss the recent Not-QE program announced by the Fed. What exactly will it be? And why is the Fed implementing it now?
Towards the end of 2018, stocks just absolutely tanked and forced the Fed to agree to stop raising interest rates. Then later this year they had to cut rates a couple of times.
Having just announced Not-QE, Powell is saying, “Don’t think of it as a rate increase. Think of it as a recalibration or an insurance cut — something like that.” He’s trying to avoid the sense that we’ve just got the pedal to the metal again.
We’re going back to massive QE. He’s pumping huge amounts of money into the banking system, but the Fed refuses to call it quantitative easing even though what they’re doing is buying securities in return for newly-created cash, which is pretty much the definition of quantitative easing.
The important thing is that this is just the beginning. They’re doing baby steps in the direction of aggressive easing again, but they aren’t going to be able to stop there.
by karenf