When I saw Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 U.N. Climate Action Summit, I smiled to myself and whispered under my breath, “You go, girl!” Honestly, it wasn’t her logic or her message that struck a cord in me—which I explain more below—it was her gutsy conviction, her boldness and courage to slice through politics and stand up to world leaders. If there’s a character trait that modern-day people have lost, it’s courage. We don’t need any more politicians; we need brave leaders with moral convictions. They will come again. Ironically, I think Greta’s boldness is what rubbed most people the wrong way, but I applaud her for cutting to the chase and speaking her mind.
Truth is, our world has fallen sick with many problems that span way beyond the green movement. Unfortunately, the populace doesn’t go to the source, and politicians use popular messages to push around their agendas for money. My hope is that people will wake up to the hidden forces beneath the surface of global problems. Whether it’s the food industry, the medical industry, or the environment, it has been commercialized towards political interests. The root cause? Money, lots of it, and a toxic global debt-driven financial system with an ever-growing divide between the haves and the have nots. Historically, monetary currency debasement has always been accompanied by social decline and collapse. When money is cheap and easy to borrow, bad businesses and poor investments ensue.
If I had a voice, I would tell Greta and many others that the lowering of interest rates, the encouragement of more credit-debt, the punishment of ordinary savers, and the protection of billionaire wealth and power is like a toxic mold growing on the fabric of the world. It is our toxic system that encourages billionaires to zip around the world in private aircraft that use 450 gallons of jet fuel per hour. The system propels 1500 private jets to land and take off in Davos every year, where billionaires pay lip service to the climate and environment during that 3-day World Economic Forum. The U.S. military is the single largest user of transportation fuel in the world, but nobody talks about that behemoth.
The toxic financial system has allowed profitless, dangerous, and heavily indebted companies like Tesla (stock ticker TSLA) to soar under the auspices of the populist green movement while its CEO, Elon Musk zips around in his gulfstream jet every day. Remember, a private jet burns around 210 gallons of fuel per hour, while his “green” cars have spontaneously combust, exploded, and killed people. The batteries are extremely toxic. What he has called “Auto Pilot” has been fatal to many believers too. See for yourself at ElonMusk.today, TeslaDeaths.com, Plainsite.com’s Reality Check Report, TC’s Chartcast, or look at all the lawsuits. Another good example from 2019 is Adam Neumann’s failed WeWork. There are so many of these companies, all driven by cheap money and debt.
Where money is inexpensive to borrow (or God forbid we follow Trump’s “wisdom” into negative rates where government and people get paid by savers to borrow money), we will see ever increasing rates of malinvestment and bad business. Remember, someone’s credit is another’s savings now, and risk is mounting. In these epic times, the central banks have coordinated the lowest interest rates in 5000 years! Last year the Fed cut interest rates three times and has been bailing out the repo market since September, about $6 trillion en-counting. This liquidity has now exceeded post financial crisis QE and has pushed the markets to all-time highs and the biggest bubble in history.
I hate to be bearer of bad news, but we don’t have “the greatest economy in the history of the world.” We have the greatest debt in whole world! The U.S. government is insolvent, and they’re counting on the fact that every one of their lenders won’t ask for their money at the same time. They are also dependent on every one of their lenders to keep lending them more and more money. This is the definition of a ponzi scheme. While they tried to raise interest rates last year, it failed. Why? Because they weren’t willing to let the stock market drop? Why again? Because that’s what keeps foreigners invested in dollars (it gives the dollar its strength) and that’s what keeps the toxic debt system alive. When in doubt, just ask why. Focus on what they do, not what they say.
Truth is the government cannot pay its debt and the only way to survive is to devalue the currency to zero. People don’t care now, because their brokerage statements look really great. They’ve made a ton of money in the stock market, and they’re partying like it’s 1999. They will care later when it all goes up in smoke. The long-term implications of government fiscal irresponsibility are grave, for you and your family, for your country and the world. So today, I’m going to be bold like Greta. My message is to the Fed and central banks, although I don’t expect they will hear me. But just maybe this message will reach someone who can make a difference in the world. Here goes….
How dare you allow companies to buy back their stocks with borrowed money, at an unprecedented rate, to make the price go up.
How dare you prop up equity markets to the extent that company fundamentals and global macro risks don’t matter anymore. You’ve made it so all that matters is your printing. Do you not see the long-term consequences of your actions? What happened to price discovery and investors using their brains?
How dare you teach our young people that it’s better to borrow than to save, by stripping away interest rates and sending them on a riskier and riskier chase for yield in an increasingly expensive world. This is sure to result in a crash.
How dare you convince people to lend more and more money with less and less return on their investment, convincing them that bonds are safe when the risk is high and chance of default is greater with each passing day.
How dare you destroy our currency and the global financial system with excess borrowing, to finance your power and greed. There is no way this is sustainable for the future of our children. Do you even care?
Why should young people borrow money to go to college? After all, you have taught them not to use their brains to invest or run a business. All they need is a little money to make more and more money, or a printing press. No thought required. No business earnings required. Just hip ideas and a lot of ink.
You’ve made it cool to invest in businesses that sell $1 bills for .75 cents. Like Tesla, they sell more and more $1 bills for .75 cents and everyone cheers. You’ve enabled them to attain a market cap greater than the entire auto industry that does make money! You have no idea what you’ve done or what this will do to investors when the stock comes back to reality.
You have fostered bad business, bad credit, bad habits, stripping people of their ability to live and survive in the “real” economy. And speaking of the real economy, how dare you suggest it’s the greatest in the world! If that’s the case, then why are you lowering interest rates and bailing out the repo market that holds it all together, with borrowed money? If debt works, why didn’t our forefathers succeed with it?
You know that pain is coming. You know that you’re hurting people in the long run for the sake of politics and entitlements today. You know your policies are unsustainable. How dare you push the can down the road any further without any warning or mention of what’s really going on.
Mess with the market this much, and you’re going to wreak havoc on the world. Your drive to control everything will end very badly. Nature is more powerful than you, and it will undoubtedly take its course.
“Outstanding, sophisticated, and mesmerizing…a spiritual intrigue similar to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.” —ForeWord Reviews