Top Trump official calls bankers, will convene ‘Plunge Protection Team’. It’s getting serious when the US government wants to be seen officially interfering in the stock market. The DOW is down to 22,457 now, from a high of 26,828 in October.

Of course, the US Government interferes on a near daily basis thorough various agencies, adding and subtracting liquidity. In addition, every few months a bunch of bureaucrats adjust interest rates. Why not leave it to the market? Interest rates were stable for centuries before fractional reserve banking and central banks.

The extraordinary debt levels and low interest rates of today are the culmination of a century of steadily increasing interference from western governments. Some cynics say that since 2009 there are no markets any more, only interference.

The amount and meaning of money is ultimately at the center of this problem, though this is a discussion that has been avoided in the West for decades. It’s going to come back into vogue in the next few years, because ordinary people are going to want to get involved.

hat-tip Joanne