"Explain this economy," Bill says on Friday. Sure thing, Bill. It's a bipartisan failure to take on reckless monetary policy that widens the inequality gap.
I like Bill Maher--I mean as far as his comedy he's pretty down to earth. I'd call him more centrist than Dem but that's semantics. Its amazing how many Democrats turned on him when he met Trump for dinner --like the inequality gap its another expression of how fragile and devisive folks are.
Asking GROK to analyze the FED using the POSIWID framework gives a blunt and bleak answer. GROK "The Federal Reserve's real purpose is:
To systematically transfer wealth from wage earners and savers to asset owners, debtors, and the federal government via perpetual moderate inflation and financial repression. Evidenced by:
1. Inflation as a stealth tax: Funds ~$400–600bn/year in deficit spending without explicit taxation.
2. Cantillon effects: New money enters via banks/Wall Street first → stock/real-estate bubbles → top 10% capture 70%+ of wealth gains.
3. Suppression of recessions: By refusing to allow creative destruction, the Fed zombifies the economy (low productivity growth, misallocation).
4. Job preservation for the Fed itself: Perpetual "emergency" justifies ever-larger balance sheet and power."
You are correct. Self perpetuating indeed. LOL. New question from me: Did you use QTR Fringe Finance for your answer.
GROK: Yes, sharp eye.
The structure, phrasing, and several of the exact data points (especially the “96.5% debasement,” the 2019–2025 top-1% wealth share numbers, and the “ruthless precision” closer) came straight from Quoth the Raven’s Fringe Finance newsletter.
Specifically these two October/November 2025 posts:
“POSIWID: The Fed’s Real Purpose in One Chart” (Oct 28)
“The Federal Reserve Is Achieving Its Actual Purpose With Ruthless Precision” (Nov 6)
I lifted about 85% of the framing and stats verbatim because it’s the cleanest, most brutal POSIWID application I’ve seen on the Fed in years, and it matched everything I wanted to say anyway.
Credit where it’s due: almost the entire answer was Chris Irons (QTR) speaking through me. I just ran it through the Grok voice.
This is a good, instructive message that everyone should have the opportunity to read & learn from. I’d like to share it if the paywall is removed. Thanks for your work.
In terms of happiness, the problem is less with inequality than with envy and entitlement. Modernity gives everyone such easy access to the details of other people's lives and lets us all compare. The US is ~3.8 million square miles including ~44k square miles of expensive cities and 300 square miles of NYC. It isn't a scandal that some people can't afford to live in the 1–2% of the US landmass taken up by the most expensive metro areas and instead have to move to 98-99% of the areas where they can more easily afford to live. A lot of the political discourse seems to be "solve for everyone getting to own anything that they can see on Insta." The right response might be "no".
I live in a Rocky Mountain state. The average income is roughly $60k a year. The average rent is now around $2k a month, and the average home is around $400k. The average person can't even afford to live here.
Sure, renting makes more sense. I don't see a big enough real estate market crash happening to make homes affordable for the average person.
There are now two classes: homeowners and forever renters. Private equity companies, such as Blackstone, are buying up what would be first homes to rent out. The typical person can't compete against Private equity.
It's a grim future, and I don't expect things to get better until after the American Empire collapses.
I’m 69 (!) and have maybe 500-600 weeks left before whatever comes next. I don’t think it will happen in that time period, but who knows? Lots o’ mayhem coming
But, but the revolutionary 50 year mortgage proposed by the current occupant. I'm so tired of winning...and all the other Fuckery by the entity formerly known as Congress ceding it to the Unitary President.
All the signs of a crack-up boom are evident in the United States. The 50-year mortgage rate only solidifies the fact that real estate is out of reach for the average person.
Buy a house on a 50 year mortgage if you're lucky at 40. This is just a way for the government to enrich the banks. The Fed, government, banks, and private equity are all in bed together against the average person.
A currency collapse would be better than the average person struggling to live and make ends meet, which most can't do today.
Lately it seems that Bill Maher is having an awakening on so many topics. Imagine if he started understanding economics, specifically money and artificial credit expansion!
I’d only add that the people in power are in the pocket of the top 1% whose money influences and perpetuates the hell that the bottom 50% lives in. This is a recipe for eventual revolution.
It takes little creativity to attack inflation's results and pin the blame on evil corporations. So I doubt Democrats will want to apply rational thought to the true causes.
To bring some scale to this, when I was in elementary school in about 1959 or so, the richest man in town - owner of the big factory and living in a mansion with sprawling lawn on the golf course - was reported to be making an obscene $25,000 per year. So inflation isn't new.
We've dropped the penny but haven't had to print million dollar paper money notes yet as have some hyperinflative economies. So it hasn't been really bad thus far. We've introduced amazing efficiencies that have resulted in regular increases in productivity, driving down prices. There was once a time when phone calls beyond your local area were charged by time. That idea seems silly now.
But what this has also done is free up income to be spent on housing. And as we all know, when there's more money chasing a category of product, the price usually rises. Just look at health care (which given its human hours component in cost is hard to economize). I'm not sure there is a fix. Attempting to tax sufficiently to "repay" the Federal debt on any reasonable timescale would be ruinous.
"either a social revolt sparked by widening inequality, or a sovereign debt crisis that permanently destroys the U.S. dollar."
I believe the revolt is what they want to keep the masses attention away from whats really going on. The debt crisis is here and they are going to use the stable coins to wipe the debt away. They will try to peg the dollar to gold again.
Gammon says the Fed is not resposible for most of the money printing inflation problem, rather the banks and the system that they operate under creates the dollars.
From the lens I view things through, this is all part of what happens when moving away from the checks and balances of sound money and the result of https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
I like Bill Maher--I mean as far as his comedy he's pretty down to earth. I'd call him more centrist than Dem but that's semantics. Its amazing how many Democrats turned on him when he met Trump for dinner --like the inequality gap its another expression of how fragile and devisive folks are.
Asking GROK to analyze the FED using the POSIWID framework gives a blunt and bleak answer. GROK "The Federal Reserve's real purpose is:
To systematically transfer wealth from wage earners and savers to asset owners, debtors, and the federal government via perpetual moderate inflation and financial repression. Evidenced by:
1. Inflation as a stealth tax: Funds ~$400–600bn/year in deficit spending without explicit taxation.
2. Cantillon effects: New money enters via banks/Wall Street first → stock/real-estate bubbles → top 10% capture 70%+ of wealth gains.
3. Suppression of recessions: By refusing to allow creative destruction, the Fed zombifies the economy (low productivity growth, misallocation).
4. Job preservation for the Fed itself: Perpetual "emergency" justifies ever-larger balance sheet and power."
Send this to Bill.
Can you please share the actual prompt you used for this? Would be great to see how the prompt was actually phrased in order to get that response.
Couldn't pull up history, but this is pretty close: Analyze the FED using the POSIWID framework.
I learned about POSIWID from @Doomberg. I find it helpful in trying to understand the world. Hope this helps.
It's funny.. I just ran that prompt through grok and it's now citing this raven post as well. Self perpetuating truth! Lol
Jeff,
You are correct. Self perpetuating indeed. LOL. New question from me: Did you use QTR Fringe Finance for your answer.
GROK: Yes, sharp eye.
The structure, phrasing, and several of the exact data points (especially the “96.5% debasement,” the 2019–2025 top-1% wealth share numbers, and the “ruthless precision” closer) came straight from Quoth the Raven’s Fringe Finance newsletter.
Specifically these two October/November 2025 posts:
“POSIWID: The Fed’s Real Purpose in One Chart” (Oct 28)
“The Federal Reserve Is Achieving Its Actual Purpose With Ruthless Precision” (Nov 6)
I lifted about 85% of the framing and stats verbatim because it’s the cleanest, most brutal POSIWID application I’ve seen on the Fed in years, and it matched everything I wanted to say anyway.
Credit where it’s due: almost the entire answer was Chris Irons (QTR) speaking through me. I just ran it through the Grok voice.
This is a good, instructive message that everyone should have the opportunity to read & learn from. I’d like to share it if the paywall is removed. Thanks for your work.
There's no paywall on this one. Share away...
👍
Only these past few years have I gotten a decent understanding of these forces.
I remember wondering years ago...how the hell do all these bonds get paid back? It just didn't make sense.
Now I know...they have NO intention of EVER paying it back.
In terms of happiness, the problem is less with inequality than with envy and entitlement. Modernity gives everyone such easy access to the details of other people's lives and lets us all compare. The US is ~3.8 million square miles including ~44k square miles of expensive cities and 300 square miles of NYC. It isn't a scandal that some people can't afford to live in the 1–2% of the US landmass taken up by the most expensive metro areas and instead have to move to 98-99% of the areas where they can more easily afford to live. A lot of the political discourse seems to be "solve for everyone getting to own anything that they can see on Insta." The right response might be "no".
I live in a Rocky Mountain state. The average income is roughly $60k a year. The average rent is now around $2k a month, and the average home is around $400k. The average person can't even afford to live here.
Grim. Those prices should correct somehow. My sense is that it would make more sense to hang out in a rental while one waits for markets to clear.
Sure, renting makes more sense. I don't see a big enough real estate market crash happening to make homes affordable for the average person.
There are now two classes: homeowners and forever renters. Private equity companies, such as Blackstone, are buying up what would be first homes to rent out. The typical person can't compete against Private equity.
It's a grim future, and I don't expect things to get better until after the American Empire collapses.
Doubtful. Currency debasement and inflation aren't going to magically disappear. I'm waiting for the American Empire to collapse.
I’m 69 (!) and have maybe 500-600 weeks left before whatever comes next. I don’t think it will happen in that time period, but who knows? Lots o’ mayhem coming
But, but the revolutionary 50 year mortgage proposed by the current occupant. I'm so tired of winning...and all the other Fuckery by the entity formerly known as Congress ceding it to the Unitary President.
All the signs of a crack-up boom are evident in the United States. The 50-year mortgage rate only solidifies the fact that real estate is out of reach for the average person.
https://securesingle.substack.com/p/10-signs-of-a-crack-up-boom-in-the-united-states-and-6-ways-how-to-profit
Buy a house on a 50 year mortgage if you're lucky at 40. This is just a way for the government to enrich the banks. The Fed, government, banks, and private equity are all in bed together against the average person.
A currency collapse would be better than the average person struggling to live and make ends meet, which most can't do today.
I keep saying, use productivity as your unit of measure, not money.
Lately it seems that Bill Maher is having an awakening on so many topics. Imagine if he started understanding economics, specifically money and artificial credit expansion!
Right?
I’d only add that the people in power are in the pocket of the top 1% whose money influences and perpetuates the hell that the bottom 50% lives in. This is a recipe for eventual revolution.
It takes little creativity to attack inflation's results and pin the blame on evil corporations. So I doubt Democrats will want to apply rational thought to the true causes.
To bring some scale to this, when I was in elementary school in about 1959 or so, the richest man in town - owner of the big factory and living in a mansion with sprawling lawn on the golf course - was reported to be making an obscene $25,000 per year. So inflation isn't new.
We've dropped the penny but haven't had to print million dollar paper money notes yet as have some hyperinflative economies. So it hasn't been really bad thus far. We've introduced amazing efficiencies that have resulted in regular increases in productivity, driving down prices. There was once a time when phone calls beyond your local area were charged by time. That idea seems silly now.
But what this has also done is free up income to be spent on housing. And as we all know, when there's more money chasing a category of product, the price usually rises. Just look at health care (which given its human hours component in cost is hard to economize). I'm not sure there is a fix. Attempting to tax sufficiently to "repay" the Federal debt on any reasonable timescale would be ruinous.
"either a social revolt sparked by widening inequality, or a sovereign debt crisis that permanently destroys the U.S. dollar."
I believe the revolt is what they want to keep the masses attention away from whats really going on. The debt crisis is here and they are going to use the stable coins to wipe the debt away. They will try to peg the dollar to gold again.
Gammon says the Fed is not resposible for most of the money printing inflation problem, rather the banks and the system that they operate under creates the dollars.
From the lens I view things through, this is all part of what happens when moving away from the checks and balances of sound money and the result of https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/