Corrupt bureaucracy: Fed Scandal Bigger Than Watergate? By Investment Dynamics Research.
Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed.
— Francisco’s Money Speech, “Atlas Shrugged”
The Rule of Law no longer applies to the political and corporate elitists. Recall that three regional Fed Presidents were caught making millions in their personal stock accounts executing trades during “blackout” periods when they are legally forbidden to trade. All three individuals were pressured to resign. However, they did not suffer any consequences as a result of their illegal trading activities — “your laws don’t protect you against, but protect them against you…”
Chair of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell
Apparently the Fed’s El Hefe, Jerome Powell, also decided that he is above the law and executed trades in his personal account during blackout periods. Occupy the Fed Movement scrutinized public filings and determined that Powell on more than one occasion traded stocks in his personal account during legal blackout periods, failed to disclose most trade dates and “apparently” lied about muni bond conflicts.
While the Fed has touted new forthcoming trading rules that are more restrictive, one of the few existing restraints on Fed officials is the financial trading blackout around FOMC meetings. Powell could not even abide by that.
Keep in mind that Powell directed the massive bailout of Wall Street banks. He knew ahead of time that the trillions printed and transferred to the financial system would send stocks and bonds of all “flavors” soaring. He directly benefited from that by implementing trades that took advantage of his inside knowledge during periods of time when it was unequivocally illegal for him to trade in his personal brokerage account.
Unlike Pelosi and other Congresspeople, who can legally trade on insider information, the people in charge of manufacturing money are under strict rules.
Btw, Pelosi does better at investing than nearly all hedge fund managers. How come nearly every US Senator is a multimillionaire? Even Bernie Sanders has several houses. They certainly didn’t get that rich from their salaries. How did the Clintons and Obamas end up with a hundred million each on salaries of less than half a million a year? What did they do in return for that money? Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t in your interest.
The Biden administration chose to reward corruption at the highest level of government by renominating Jerome H. Powell to Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. …
Fed Chair Powell — who is supposed to serve in the public interest and avoid even the appearance of conflicts — traded millions in personal stocks and bonds while obstructing required public disclosures about those trades for years. Yet, the information that has slipped out is damning. It shows Powell made trades *DURING* the restricted blackout period for pivotal Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings. This is a shocking revelation and constitutes grave and inexcusable misconduct by a high-ranking U.S. government official. …
Why hasn’t the media reported any of this? It seems most financial journalist are some combination of: (1) totally delusional, (2) under gag orders from superiors, or (3) complicit when it comes to systemic corruption at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street.
It was always a mistake to allow bureaucrats to set interest rates — and thus the price of money — by diktat. Central planning didn’t work for the Soviet Union, and it is gradually bringing down western economies. If the market set interest rates, and the stock market didn’t spend most of its time second-guessing what the monetary bureaucrats were going to do next, we wouldn’t have near zero interest rates, historically massive debts, and a stagnant economy hamstrung by excess debt and excessive financialization.
