Entering A Realm Beyond Our Comprehension...

There is a dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. Ladies and Gentlemen…this is Money Moves. February 17, 2022 [Turn on your images.]( Entering A Realm Beyond Our Comprehension… "There is a dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination.” Ladies and Gentlemen…this is Money Moves. Today’s installment will present you with three stories of intrigue and economics, profits and plots, mystery and monetary policy. First, an economy that by all accounts should be dead is living on, defying all expectations…and the laws of science. Next, the government agency tasked with regulating our economy meets to control the levers of power…so why didn’t they discuss the only thing that actually matters? Then, a daring idea points to proof of a vast and insidious conspiracy. Will the path towards a future of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital universes also place us in the chains of global control? --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [The Twilight Zone Economy Of 2022]( Shawn Ambrosino Any Twilight Zone fans out there? I came along a bit after the series had run its course, but as a fan of all things scary and weird, I was well aware of Rod Serling’s masterpiece of a thrill ride. “You are about to enter another dimension…a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone…” [Turn Your Images On] Those words and the iconic music that followed are part of the lexicon of American television, and the show's lasting legacy proves why it still holds weight with each generation that discovers it. As most of you know, each show took a ride into the fantastic. Sometimes the stories were scary, sometimes slightly humorous, but all were thought-provoking–and each and every one of them was a departure from the reality we know. My favorite episode was the one with Burgess Meredith, entitled “Time Enough At Last,” in which bookworm Henry finally gets what he wants: a nuclear blast to take all the distractions out of his life so he can just read the books that he loves so much. However, there’s a twist at the end that makes you wonder if Henry TRULY got what he wanted. [Turn Your Images On] If you’ve never seen it, I highly suggest watching it. Hopefully, you’ll be entertained and get a new perspective on what “getting what you wish for” really looks like. At the very least, the surrealness of the story will prepare you for the economy we’re all experiencing right now. America’s Economy: A World Beyond Our Comprehension Seriously, have you looked around lately? It’s a weird, weird financial world we’re living in. Inflation is exploding globally, prices across the board are climbing faster than they have in 40 years, and the pandemic woes are still wreaking havoc on the supply chain. BUT… At the same time, people are making more money than EVER before in the stock market, retail spending is almost pacing inflation, and the housing market is stronger than it’s ever been! Seriously, the housing market is so strong that the bubble a lot of investors are waiting to pop may wind up holding strong for years still. 2021 saw $3.9 trillion made in the housing market, and as we head into 2022, analysts are already projecting a $1.7 trillion purchase market. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?! [Turn Your Images On] How Long Will The Ride Last? These factors shouldn’t coexist! Some of them work in opposition to each other. Yet, here we are, living in a world where jobs are everywhere, workers are not, and you can’t buy a used car for a reasonable price. The used car market is out of control, and the US Department of Labor recently revealed that used car prices are up nearly 40% from last year. That FOUR ZERO…like I said, out of control. Now, keep in mind that new car prices are only up 12% and it doesn’t make sense why ANYBODY would buy used. It’s absolutely bonkers out there… But the real question is how long will it last. Many are saying that this weird economy will be brought to a screeching halt when the Fed starts raising the rates…but I’ve got to tell you, I’m not convinced that’s the case. At least not right away. People are enjoying the momentum way too much for a little interest rate hike to get them off the train. The ride is way too much fun for that. It may take a second or even third rate hike for people to start buckling down and taking the economy more seriously. So, for now…enjoy the ride. It’ll come to a stop soon enough, so we might as well ride the wheels off. [Turn Your Images On] “There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.” - Rod Serling --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [“Jerome And The Gang:” The Minutes Of The Latest Fed Meeting]( by Ryan James The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January meeting came out this week, which makes for great nighttime reading… well, maybe not for most people, but since I had nothing else to do yesterday, I read them so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome, America! Jerome Powell and the gang (not to be confused with Kool and the gang) got together for their first Federal Open Market Committee of the year to discuss the state of the U.S. economy and monetary policy. [Turn Your Images On] And as always, it was thrilling content to read up on. The two-day meeting featured presentations from staff economists on the state of the economy— the brainiacs behind the scenes that no one knows but do most of the work and make the members of the board look good. (Well, except when they get their forecasts wrong, which happens nearly every time. If the Fed tout results of an econometrics forecast, run away…far away, because it will likely not be even close to correct. Exhibit A: Inflation will be “transitory.” Yeah, remember that one? Enough said.) Then the crew went around and swapped stories and spitballed ideas on how to best use the monetary policy levers at their disposal. And then they said what they intended to do…which we already knew. Jerome Powell and the crew decided to keep the Fed Funds rate—the rate that banks charge each other—between 0 and 0.25%. However, they indicated that they would raise this rate soon. Coming soon to a Federal Reserve bank near you, the rise of the Fed funds rate. And that could happen as soon as the crew’s next meeting in March. So, we have that to look forward to. Yay! The committee also said that they would increase their asset purchases of treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities by $20 trillion and $10 trillion respectively before stopping the purchases altogether in March. They also intend on reducing their balance sheet, likely selling or letting mortgage-backed securities mature so that the balance sheet contained only treasury bonds. I mean, a $9 trillion balance sheet seems a tad bit high, doesn’t it? Well, even the boys at the Fed are starting to agree with that. Are you still with me, fellow Money Movers? I told you this stuff was exciting! As I laboriously poured over every comma and semicolon from the meeting minutes, I noticed one glaring omission from the committee’s discussion: the size of the money supply. Yeah…seeing how the Fed is in charge of the money supply, that would seem to be an important detail. But call me old-fashioned. The money supply has been expanded greatly over the past two years, even before the pandemic, but it received not one sentence of discussion that I could find in the minutes. Hey, I get that the pandemic screwed everything up, including inflation, but when the Fed dumps trillions of dollars of liquidity into the economy on top of the trillions of relief money passed by Congress, that seems like it might contribute to inflation a little? Right? Just saying. Another red alert that was discussed but hasn’t been given much airtime in the financial press is the warning from the committee on the stability of the financial system: “the staff provided an update on its assessments of the U.S. financial system and, on balance, characterized the financial vulnerabilities of the U.S. financial system as notable.” Notable? That’s Fed-speak for “oh “s**t, things might get bad at some point.” But hey, these aren’t the droids we’re looking for, move along! [Turn Your Images On] The staff economists added:” Asset valuation pressures remained elevated. In particular, the forward price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 index stood at the upper end of its historical distribution; high-yield corporate bond spreads and the excess loan premium for leveraged loans remained at low levels; and house prices grew strongly, with price-to-rent ratios that were at elevated levels.” So, that was this month’s rendition of the FOMC minutes. I hope it was as enthralling for you as it was for me. See you next month when the Feds long awaited rate increases, and asset sheet reduction, are finally set to begin! It’s about time! --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [Blockchain Conspiracy: “You Will Own Nothing And You Will Be Happy”]( by Shawn Ambrosino Conspiracy theories are a HOOT. Seriously, I love reading all about the different crackpot ideas that people are throwing around out there. And let me just say, after spending the past few years elbow-deep in political reporting, there are a lot of theories out there. Of course, the best conspiracy theories are those that have the right balance of insanity and believability. They’re typically crazy enough to almost sounds made up, but not so crazy that the probability of it actually being true is next to zero. The best ones have the right mix of the fantastical and the real. Once the balance skews one way or the other, the appeal is lost and it goes from Conspiracy Theory-land to Kooksville real quick. [Turn Your Images On] But even when they’re full-on insane, they’re still fun to read. Why do I bring this up? Well, it’s because I came across one that I wasn’t expecting to hear. My brain has been primed for this for the last three months as I’ve been conducting my deep dive into crypto. According to this theory–brought to us by a certain Reddit user–crypto isn’t as “free” as we thought. Rather, crypto was designed by globalists who are trying to get a one-world currency up and running so they can control it all. “You’ll Own Nothing And Be Happy…” “You are what they refer to as the ‘useful idiots,’” the anonymous post begins. “Cryptocurrency is the biggest psyop in human history. They knew that people would eventually fear inflation and abandon fiat money, so they created an ‘alternative’ that would help absorb the capital flight but do nothing to harm the system. That something is crypto. Remember their motto–you’ll own NOTHING and you will be happy. Every immaterial fiat dollar you exchange for immaterial crypto is wasted ammunition you could have used to fight the banking cartel. They don’t want you to own Gold, Silver, Oil, Farmland, etc…they want you to own nothing (cryptos, NFTs) and live in the metaverse. You are literally further engulfing yourself in the Matrix. Unplug yourself and become a commodities chad.” [[( And you have to admit, if this theory really is correct, if the governments of the world are hoping to achieve total financial control, then crypto would be the way to do it. If there were only one world currency, whoever controlled the policies and rules around what that money could be used for and WHO could use it would control the entire world. Conspiracy theorists also point to a video from the World Economic Forum as proof that this theory is real. Released in 2016, the video unveils predictions of what we can expect of our world economy by 2030–and the very first thing in the video is the claim that, in the future, “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.” Here it is, embedded within another channel’s review: [Turn Your Images On] [[ If you want to see it on the WEF’s Facebook page, [you can find it here](. Now, what does this video have to do with crypto? Well, that’s where the “theory” about this conspiracy comes in. See, with Blockchain technology, you technically own nothing. Yes, there are numbers on a screen that you can use to convert crypto to spendable dollars, but you technically own nothing. You can’t go into your wallet and pull out a Bitcoin note. It’s just out there in the ether, linked to you by nothing but code. The same can be said for NFTs. Sure, you own digital rights to something, but what’s stopping somebody from taking a screenshot of your NFT, putting it on a poster, and hanging it in their room or selling it on eBay? Nothing. Sure, you might be able to take them to court and show them they’re selling YOUR property–but that doesn’t change the fact that you really don’t own it. You can’t lock digital property away in a vault, you can’t station guards around it, and you can’t charge an admission fee for people to see it. It’s not there. Which Sounds More Believable? The theory is that Blockchain is supported by the globalists to get people used to and excited about the ownership of things that don’t actually exist–a fancy way of saying owning nothing. This is a VERY believable conspiracy because I’ve seen the faces of people who have bought a highly sought-after NFT–and I can tell you first hand that they were VERY happy. [Turn Your Images On] Does that mean the theory is true? Doubtful…but it does give one pause, doesn’t it? Not only is there some truth to this (own nothing and be happy), but there’s been a REAL fight to bring crypto under government control. Governments all over the world are trying to regulate something that is decentralized by design–but if this theory is to be believed, maybe that design is to allow people outside of governmental roles to truly pull the strings. Maybe they’ve been in control all along. Are we being revolutionaries investing in crypto, or are we forging the links of our invisible digital chains? While I believe the former, time will tell which is the truth. We can only hope we’re not getting played… --------------------------------------------------------------- For more quality content like this, and to learn more about the Money Moves team, visit us at [( Privacy Policy The Money & Markets, P.O. Box 8378, Delray Beach, FL 33482. To ensure that you receive future issues of Money & Markets, please add info@mb.moneyandmarkets.com to your address book or [whitelist]( within your spam settings. For customer service questions or issues, please contact us for assistance. The mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so please do not reply. Your feedback is very important to us so if you would like to contact us with a question or comment, please click here: [( Legal Notice: This work is based on what we've learned as financial journalists. It may contain errors and you should not base investment decisions solely on what you read here. 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