The Macro View – A Financial War is Raging

There is a financial war raging right now… just beneath the surface.

This war pits the globalist power structure against the Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the New York banking interests. These two factions are driving the macroeconomic picture right now.

We’ve been talking about this topic all week. But this is something that’s been on my radar for about a year now. The thesis just keeps getting stronger…

Last month JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon put out his annual letter to shareholders. Dimon appears to be the mouthpiece for the New York banking faction right now. And check out what we wrote:

“Lest anyone think that I’ve become a little soft, rest assured your CEO is a red-blooded, patriotic, free-enterprise and free-market capitalist (properly regulated, of course) and finds nothing inconsistent with the multifaceted ways we use our capabilities to lift up our communities.”

When’s the last time we’ve heard somebody with a big platform talk about free enterprise and claim to be a free-market capitalist? These have become dirty words in globalist circles.

And where’s the talk about fighting inequality and climate change? Those are two key talking points in the globalist narrative.

Now, Dimon then went on to suggest that the government needed to use eminent domain more. He suggested confiscating private property for further investment in energy production.

That’s not a position a true free-market capitalist would take. So I’m certainly not suggesting that Dimon is somehow a thought leader in this space.

But my point is that Dimon’s annual letter is not aligned with the globalist narrative. And his comments in support of free enterprise and free-market capitalism could even be antagonistic to the globalist power structure.

Then we can look at what the lieutenants at the Fed are out there saying…

Last month Fed Governor Michelle Bowman gave a speech at Georgetown University. And Bowman told the audience that the benefits of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) would not be greater than the risks. She even cited privacy concerns and the likelihood of unintended consequences.

And then she added this nugget: “I think it is unlikely that this group would find the government somehow more trustworthy than highly regulated banks”.

Notice how Bowman is drawing a line in the sand between the banks and the government here.

And then just last week Bowman said that the Fed will likely need to raise interest rates further. Then she suggested the Fed would hold rates higher for longer.

Meanwhile, Fed Governor Christopher Waller gave a talk at an economic conference in Spain last week. He told the audience that “the risks posed by climate change are not sufficiently unique or material to merit special treatment“.

This is an innocuous statement. But it runs completely counter to the globalist narrative. The globalists exclaim that climate change is an existential threat to humanity every chance they get.

To me, these are little breadcrumbs that point us in the same direction. The Fed and the New York banks have broken ranks with the globalist power structure. As such, they are now at odds with the current U.S. administration and indeed the U.S. Treasury.

So what should we make of all this?

For starters, things are going to get very interesting. With these two juggernaut factions in opposition to one another, we’re going to see some strange things happen.

More practically, the days of low interest rates and “easy” money are behind us. The Fed cannot goose the stock market and fight off the globalist faction at the same time.

And that means the Age of Paper Wealth is over.

As such, we need to completely rethink personal finance 101. Proper asset allocation and passive income streams are more important today than ever before.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. We’re tracking these big-picture macro stories in more depth within our investment membership The Phoenician League.

Personally, I find it all fascinating. The world is not nearly as simple as we’re led to believe.

But beyond that, the insight we glean from the macroeconomic picture helps us make our finances as bulletproof as possible. This is something we focus on intensely within our membership.

If you’re interested in learning more about what we’re doing at The Phoenician League, please sign up for our wait list right here:

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We’ll be opening our doors to new members soon.