I knew the instant that I read the article's title, "Fed Nominees Seek Economic
Boost" in The Wall Street Journal, that I was probably going to be outraged and
end up screaming a fearful and angry Mogambo Howl Of Anger (MHOA).
It was, alas, a feeling of doom that soon gave way to stark fear when I saw
that the accompanying photo was captioned "Fed nominees - Janet Yellen, Peter
Diamond and Sarah Bloom Raskin - at a Senate hearing Thursday."
I am already petrified of this Yellen woman - at present the president of the
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and tipped by some to be the Fed's next
vice chairman - and the
horrifying things that she has said over the years, and probably done, for all
I know, and maybe far worse than even I expect. In fact, I am so distrustful of
the "sacrificing the minority to benefit the majority" insanity that I am sure
that they would have no qualms about killing all the first-born sons if it
meant a higher standard of living for the remaining population, a proud
tradition she perpetuates when she embarrasses herself by testifying, "Over the
next few years, the Fed must craft policies that ensure that our economy
accelerates its progress along the recovery path it has begun to trace." Yikes!
Because I was paying so much attention to my sudden crushing chest pains and my
left arm going numb at what she said, and the fearful inflationary implications
thereof, I was not sure if my hands were shaking at the prospect of the Fed
creating enough money to "ensure that our economy accelerates".
So I stood up, raised my hands and loudly asked, "Hey! Are my hands shaking?"
Well, almost everyone said something rude along the lines of, "Shut up, you
creepy little weirdo" or, "Hey! I'm on the phone here, moron!" but a few
acknowledged that, yes, my hands were shaking.
So I said, "Of course my hands are shaking, you morons! Yours should be, too,
when you read about the staggering amount of money and credit that the Federal
Reserve is willing to create, according to this horrid woman, which is
sufficient to be deemed 'all the help that the Fed can provide over the coming
year', which is a truly terrifying thing for those of us who fear the terrible
miseries of inflation in consumer prices that such monstrous inflation in the
money supply will bring!"
Well, everyone went back to work, most of them shaking their heads and
muttering under their breath, so I went back to reading the article, and saw
that Ms Yellen apparently mentioned something along the lines of, "the Fed
achieved price stability for a generation", which made me want to laugh, and
would have, too, if I wasn't so angry that I was grinding my teeth together so
hard that sparks were flying out of my mouth.
So, to distract myself, I looked up the definition of "generation" and found
that a "generation" is 30 years, which really, REALLY makes me want to laugh
that Ms Yellen would be so boldly, so brazenly, so bereft of brains that she
would DARE say that the Fed has achieved price stability for 30 years!
Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculator shows that $1 in 1980, 30 years
ago, had the buying power of $2.65 today! That’s 3.3% a year, compounding for
30 years, for crying out loud!
As Exhibit A in my persecution of Ms Yellen, according to thepeoplehistory.com,
"In 1980 the average cost of new car was $7,210.00", and now the average cost
of a new car in the United States is $28,400, according to the National
Automobile Dealers Association.
I apologize for bringing up the cost of cars because you and I both know that
the car we really, really want is not an "average car" that costs $28,400, but
one that costs at least $75,000, and usually more, lots more. Of course, we
can't afford either of them, like we are some kind of big-shots who could even
afford the insurance on a snazzy ride like that, which we find, after careful
research, that we could actually swing if the spouse left and took all the
kids, vowing never to return, but who kept paying the mortgage!
Then you realize that THAT sure ain't gonna happen, either, and this is just
one MORE thing to be angry about, as if you didn’t already have enough heavy
crosses to bear.
Well, peoplehistory.com also notes, probably as Exhibit B, that "From Our 80s
Price of Food Section", milk was 85 cents a 1/2 gallon, while I easily find
that the average price for a half-gallon today is $2.06.
So, Ms Yellen, price stability? Hahaha! A stable currency? Hahahaha! Isn't the
expressed mission of the Federal Reserve to provide a stable currency? Hahaha!
I laugh at you! This is outrageous inflation!
Again, the more frightened and enlightened among us scream in dismay in the
dark, dank dismay of doom and destruction, where all we have is a depreciating
currency and gratuitous use of alliteration, meaning higher prices day after
day, and month after month, and year after year, and decade after decade, each
of them filled with people suffering because their incomes did not rise as much
as inflation in prices because they were old, young, infirm, ignorant or just
plain lazy, or otherwise had nothing to offer with which to bargain for higher
incomes to offset inflation in prices.
So congratulations to the horrid Federal Reserve, and congratulations Ms
Yellen, for inflicting continuous financial pain on the population, despite the
fact that the freaking mission of the Federal Reserve is to preserve the
stability of the buying power of the dollar. Hahaha! Failures all!
So while everything else was a crappy investment that barely broke even in
nominal terms, they were dismal failures when adjusting for inflation, although
you might happily note that buying gold and silver were fabulous investment
decisions over the last 30 years, and for the 2,500 years before that, too!
And, I might add, just like right now. This amazing, wonderful consistency of
precious metals makes investing so easy that you cannot stop yourself from
happily laughing and clapping your hands together, saying, "Whee! This
investing stuff is easy!"
Richard Daughty is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group,
serving the financial and medical communities, and the editor of The Mogambo
Guru economic newsletter - an avocational exercise to heap disrespect on those
who desperately deserve it.
(Republished with permission from
The Daily Reckoning. Copyright 2010, The Daily Reckoning.)
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