22 Comments
User's avatar
Kevin Wood's avatar

Clowns to the left of me!

Jokers to the right!

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Paul Murray's avatar

I remember that! Went hand in glove with "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." (Make the best of whatever that you can.) Best always. PM

Angry Icebergs's avatar

Trump never said "payout".

He told everyone it would be a "dividend"...

Which can be a lot of things...

Including a ticket to the circus...

Tom Langdon's avatar

He said divided checks. What does that mean to you, Angry?

Angry Icebergs's avatar

A dividend is not cash.

A dividend usually refers to a bonus which is tied to an existing asset already invested.

IMO this could be tax relief too...

There is no time frame.

And no minimum "check amount" noted....

If the "investment" from which the dividend allegedly derives...

(presumably is the U.S. economy) does not produce adequate dividends.

Would Trump then renege?

Of course!

He has nothing to lose politically at that point if the U.S. economy does not step up.

-

I think there's a reason Trump said "dividend" and not "money" or "credit".

Paul Murray's avatar

I agree. If that's so, then his statement presumes he has equity. The term I heard and read was characterized by the Man himself as a "Trump dividend". Other than a chuckle, I immediately went on with life, thinking nothing of it. The last president to use the term was Clinton with his "Peace Dividend" which he squandered on vote-buying, setting the military back umpteen steps. Enough with the "dividends", already. Best always. PM

James ( Jim) Marshall's avatar

We all know the Fed is OWNED by the big five banks and it IS NOT a branch of the government. Therefore I expect the best interests of the big banks will be served. "And the beat goes on"!

Jim Marshall

Attila Rebak's avatar

Perhaps the most interesting part of this story is that, so far, the cage fight has not really begun. We have words and stated intentions, but monetary policy will eventually tell us much more than rhetoric.

I would be particularly curious to see what happens after Warsh’s first one or two serious interest-rate decisions. If he proves as hawkish in practice as he sounds in principle, the tension Bill describes may become very real.

At the same time, an interesting paradox emerges. Trump spent years criticising Powell for keeping monetary policy too tight. It would be rather surprising if, after all that, he had chosen a successor who ultimately turns out to be even more hawkish than Powell.

Perhaps that is what makes the coming meetings so interesting. We will find out not only what Warsh really believes when belief has a price, but also how much monetary restraint the administration is actually prepared to tolerate when it begins to hurt.

James ( Jim) Marshall's avatar

An interesting observation.

Jim

Mackinac's avatar

I remember that my friend got 62,000 for keeping his employees working during covid and he said."I know who I'm voting for." But then as I've watched his has definitely moved back to his conservative opinions. So if he wasn't joking the buyout didn't last long on his "business oriented" mind.

Mackinac's avatar

Good laugh, Bill.

Paul Murray's avatar

This is no joke: when I first heard that Treasury Secretary Bessent had said, "I am the House now", I thought he meant that he were the HOUSE, as in the House of Representatives, you know something along the line of Louis XIV's alleged boast "l'etat c'est moi". No kidding. That's how ridiculous it's gotten. Besides, Bessent might as well be the House; we might get some action out of him. How's that different from my Uncle, who once proclaimed in a game of Monopoly, "I own the Bank!" ? Best always. PM

Tom Langdon's avatar

POTUS has the bully pulpit, and as such, he can say he is giving adult Americans 5000.00 dividend checks provided the republicans win both houses of congress. Not sure if that means cash but it would appear so. So the dems are really, really upset for two reasons. First, they did think of it themselves and secondly, Trump took a page out of their socialist play book. So Trump gets to look like a benevolent capitalist while surreptitiously implementing a socialist giveaway. Such a move would appear to be politically brilliant yet economically inflationary. Bill has done the math and he says that it will increase the deficit by 1.3 trillion. Is that a bad thing? It depends, maybe, just maybe, this is the first salvo into a gold reset either by an act of congress or an executive degree to change the statutory accounting price of gold. President Franklin did so in 1934 setting the precedent.

James ( Jim) Marshall's avatar

I truly like the idea of "mark to market" for our gold!

Jim

Paul Murray's avatar

Whatever and whoever gets us back to a gold standard will be doing the right thing. Will we survive the transition? Best always. PM

Jimm Roberts's avatar

Bill's remarks make me wonder how all this financial higgery jiggery will end.

An Ol' LSO's avatar

From where the US sits today - not going to end well. Fiat currency including the US$ will end up in the dustbowl of history like all those that went before. No government can continue to print money forever - eventually the math comes home to roost. Once again us peons will learn what the peons-before us have learned. Eventually its power fades. And, now that the US military power has shown it has limits - and, without feet on the ground, it isn't much. But even with feet on the ground in Vietnam and Korea - just can't get it done. Oh, sure.......the U.S. can defeat Venezuela and probably shortly Cuba again. But the World has seen its limits and the Hegemony will shortly be just one of many. But Trump and his masters, the Zionists, are going to continue to try until Israel is no more. Going to be horrific - especially for us peons and the rest of the World.

Jimm Roberts's avatar

Sad forecast.

Pity none of our presidents have ever embraced the simplest conquest tactic ever devised; that is, to let our flag follow trade

Paul Murray's avatar

Jimm, for some reason, and I don't know what it is (I have some guesses), the world thinks the USA is still useful. It will stop abruptly when the rest of the world can't or doesn't want to continue the charade. The catch? At that point, they are responsible for a working system with which to replace our madness. Gives one pause, before walking, right? Makes me angry to this extent: Bernanke was within 48 hours of being able to end it all and chickened out. Short-term he would have been a villain. Long-term he would have been seen as a hero. Best always. PM

Jimm Roberts's avatar

So frustrating to look back at what could have been.

We all do it individually but seldom as a nation

Our on-going World Police service is second only to slavery as a colossal error

Paul Murray's avatar

Like anything people/nations do, it got out of hand. And the US loves excess. The trend in history on which Mr. Bonner likes to rest (correctly so) is that excesses will be corrected. Again, the "when" as opposed to the "how". Best always. PM

Paul Murray's avatar

I'm more interested in "when" than "how", but that's likely what is called today a "me-problem." Remember the Clint Eastwood movie, "The Dead Pool"? Each day that goes by, I'm closer to getting out without having experienced the denouement. Best always. PM