Savings is Dun in America

This afternoon the minutes from the most recent Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting were released followed by a press conference starring Benny Bernanke himself.  This event will go largely unnoticed by the general population itself, but the implications for the savings and retirement of every American should make this front and center.  We are going to show you how the world reacted to the announcement and try and explain why this is happening.

This the the Dow Jones Industrial Average this morning down -44.80.  The Fed said it would likely taper (stop printing some money to reduce inflation risks) in September and so some people were preparing for a taper to be announced.  Talking heads and analysts everywhere said the taper would likely start and 10-15 billion was a consensus number.

Smart money, however was in commodities.  Crude was up 1.98 when I started typing and it is now up 2.92.  If you are on fixed income this is going to translate directly into inflation.  We are talking a $4 gallon of milk and $6 gallon of gas all while a silver quarter from pre 1962 will buy the same items for the quarter of silver value today.

When do we start acting like we actually care about our elder's income?  Enough lip service.

Shortly after the release (and apparently 3 minutes before the release for gold- but there's no price fixing or collusion there) we saw the markets skyrocket and both the Dow and the S&P 500 hit new All-Time highs.

Can you spot where the minutes were released?  This is the rich cheering because they are going to get richer and the poor are going to get poorer and the middle class and your retirements are paying for it to the tune of $85 billion a month in fresh inflation ad infinitum.

Would someone at the next Red Team meeting ask what they are doing about the inflation?  We can't make it and since no one mentioned our money as the root of the problem at the non-partisan Blue Teams meeting, we were hoping that someone might ask the question of Congressman Duffy at the non-partisan Red Team meeting, "when will you intervene in the Federal Reserve?"

About an hour ago metals took off.  They're still running...And it's the value of your money rolling in there every time Benny hit's print.

In the mean time, I take back everything I said about senior citizen discounts.

You people really need them most.  If you weren't part of the poor when you retired, you're closer this afternoon than you were this morning.

In 1 year it will be election time.  I'm willing to bet the farm I can turn this inflation into a very local, very kitchen table, campaign issue.

Now, will someone please let us know if any of our elected officials (because they are the only ones that can actually do something right now) discuss the Federal Reserve as part of any problem and what the resolution or understanding is around the problem?  I have a bet to cover.