Both Political Parties Are To Blame

 And for that matter, anyone who mindlessly supports or defends the actions of his or her political party without a thought as to the right or wrong of the situation.  

We were warned by Washington himself that having long lasting entanglements in foreign lands should be avoided.  Did we listen?  *cough, NATO, cough*  *cough, Korean peninsula, cough*  He also warned against blind loyalty to political parties.  Did we listen?

Establishing a Federal Reserve may have seemed like a good idea at the time but it has also provided a gateway to politicians to try to influence monetary policies in order to sway elections for themselves.  

Presidents, including Donald Trump, have done it over and over again.   LBJ did it.  Trump was needlessly hammering Powell to lower rates into net negative territory just before his re-election campaign in order to solidify his position against a backdrop of "pedal to the metal" growth.  I still remember his tweets calling his pick of Powell to head the Fed "a big mistake and a regret".  I thought to myself, "Fuck you Trump".

Politicians on both sides (R or D - makes no difference) of the aisle love having the Central Bank to buy up Treasuries with newly minted money at nosebleed prices.  This way they can fund the government's many bullshit artists and their bullshit projects behind a lot of smoke and mirrors.  Think of it as the nation's secret credit card.  The taxes that you pay to the government don't actually pay for purchases.  The taxes you pay every year represent the interest due on Uncle Sam's Mastercard bill and maybe a tiny amount is paid on the principle balance in a good year.  The government (both parties) like seeing you tread water and keep paying.  

What is happening today is like this:  It's like coming home from work one day unexpectedly because the office or shop or factory you work in closed up early.  Your free spending spouse has not as yet arrived home to collect the mail and so you go to the mail box and get the mail inside.  Whereupon you find a Mastercard statement that you have no previous knowledge about but it bears your name and that of your spouse.  The account has a very large balance due that has been accruing interest for quite a while.  Payments (from your salary) have been made in the past but have never touched the principle due in any meaningful way.  You have never been the beneficiary of any of the items purchased with this "secret Mastercard".  You're blindsided by the balance and somewhat hurt by your spouse's financial betrayal.  

The Fed and Treasury are your Mastercard issuer, Congress is your free spending spouse and you have been played like a violin.  It doesn't matter if your "spouse" has a D or an R in front of his or her name.  Congress is the root of the problem.  Like a bad spouse, the best you can do is give them the boot.