Debt and the Dollar: The News Isn’t Good

Andy Snyder|May 18, 2023

Danged bird.

Where we hang our hat, there is a trio of birds that dare to sing their songs at night. Two of the three have the decency to keep it quiet in the wee hours.

But not the lonely mockingbird perched outside our window.

That lovesick beast spent the last few nights practicing his entire repertoire. Thanks to his vociferous efforts, it sounded as if we had a symphony of flyers serenading us as we closed the window and begged for sleep.

He imitated cardinals, wrens, sparrows… even the shrill shriek of a red-tailed hawk.

We give him credit for his depth of song and his can-do spirit when it comes to attracting his mate, but we’re not looking forward to tonight’s concert.

Perhaps a matinee would be better for his schedule and ours.

We must laugh at the timing of it all, though. The lil’ fella chose the week of the state’s election day to lie and cheat to get what he wanted. With no real song of his own, the loud-mouthed caroler simply echoes what he hears all day.

There’s hardly a better soundtrack for the day we vote for a bunch of flighty pigeons who seem to sing a different song every night.

Ouch!

But let’s move on to the mailbag before we say something we can’t take back…

Reading this reminded me of trying to figure out the meaning of a poem in literature class. Just write a clear message. – Reader C.J.

Roses are red; violets are blue; we’re sorry our words sound so new; we’ll dumb it down just for you.

At least somebody gets us…

Your writing is to the point and decisive. Keep it coming! – Reader C.S.

Thanks, Mom!

It’s true that we can’t please all the people all of the time. That’s why we don’t try to. Most often, we write to please ourself. It’s just easier that way… and it seems to work.

But here’s the deal: There’s a reason other fellas’ mugs sometimes appear at the top of this column. Between Joel, Alpesh and yours truly, there’s surely a voice you’ll nod your head to.

And if not, there’s always NPR… or Sesame Street.

Hi, Andy. Did you know WEF Charles Schwab bought TD Ameritrade and the transfer will be done by the end of May? If so, what does that mean for us in TD Ameritrade? Thanx! – Subscriber J.N.

Oh my… it looks like somebody is using ChatGPT to do their homework again. This one is all wrong.

Folks, if we’re going to fight what’s going on… we’ve got to know what’s going on.

As far as we can decipher, there are a few things happening in the question above. First, it mentions Charles Schwab and the WEF… aka the World Economic Forum. We think the reader is confusing ol’ Chuck Schwab, the billionaire who has famously donated armloads of cash (often through underground channels) to conservative politicians, with Klaus Schwab, the German who founded the WEF.

One is at the heart of capitalism. He got rich by offering a cheaper trading platform. The other wants to upend modern capitalism. He got rich with other people’s money.

As far as a merger between TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab (the brokerage), well, the question comes a few years too late.

The two merged in 2020.

Oops… danged Twitter.

In fact, if you see the duo in the news soon… it’s because customers are now suing to break up the powerful platform. A court recently decided the suit could continue.

You’ll likely hear about it in the financial press. Some of the reporting might even be true.

But to quickly answer the question (sorry for the wordiness, C.J.), all of this means nothing for TD Ameritrade customers… who apparently never even noticed the merger.

Rising Debt, Sinking Dollar

Next up…

We need a constitutional amendment that says the U.S. budget is not to exceed [the] total of what was paid in taxes for the prior year except in the case of a congressionally declared war. This is to include all interest payable on past debts in the total amount of past debt incurred by the government. That way the maximum spending amount would be known ahead of time and it would encourage spending programs to encourage economic growth and more tax income. – Subscriber W.E.

This is a great idea… if we want to start speaking Chinese, have no global trade and watch our standard of living plunge to something more familiar to folks in Africa.

If we want to maintain our lives of ease, continue to be the world’s police (and enjoy the fruits of such a bloody tree) and keep our enemies buried under a cache of high-tech weaponry… then we need lots of debt – lots and lots of debt.

That’s the rub of it all.

We export our dollars, which feeds our debt, which feeds our economy.

At this point – as the carnies in D.C. are finding out right now – there’s no way around it.

Yes, a constitutional amendment like the one W.E. suggests would have been worth pondering some 230 years ago. But today, that ship has sailed… and sunk.

But, hey, we can import stuff from China at economically impossible prices.

If Uncle Sam were to start living within his means, America would be in trouble.

Either way… we’re screwed.

One more…

The Federal Reserve has been a joke from day one. The current head is the worst one we have had, even worse than Greenspan. How can anyone justify keeping rates low until inflation is well under way then raise rates but not enough to stop inflation then try to tell us he is doing his job? The Federal Reserve should be eliminated and let the free market do its job. – Subscriber G.R.

We’ll end with an idea few folks can argue against. The Fed was created by the banks, is run by the banks and continues to serve the banks.

Thanks to its work, the banking sector is smaller today and has more concentrated power than ever before.

The dollar is losing value every day. Faith in the greenback is waning. And inflation seems to be living the life of an uncontrollable teenager who just got the keys to Daddy’s Benz.

Indeed, there’s little doubt the free market could have done a better job.

But few folks would like the results if Jay Powell closed up shop today. The free market is a blind and muscly beast. It’ll push its way to equilibrium any way it can find.

For a nation with $32 trillion in debt and more on the way… the results wouldn’t be pretty.

The news just isn’t good.

Golly. Perhaps it’s not the damned bird keeping us up at night after all.

But if all this money stuff is keeping us up… we might as well hear a tune.