Posted on

The Silicon Valley Bank collapse: the beginning of the end?

In the space of just a few days two major US banks collapsed and were shuttered, sowing panic and uncertainty in the financial markets. The first bank was the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 2nd-largest bank failure in US history, and the 2nd bank failure was that of Signature Bank. Other regional banks have since also closed. Was it poor judgement on the part of the banks or is this the start of an engineered failure of the banking system in the West? These events are not isolated, but instead have broader implications. This is an evolving story. We will have a look at the reasons for the failure of SVB here and what lies ahead for the West’s banking systems in the immediate future. Continue reading “The Silicon Valley Bank collapse: the beginning of the end?”

Posted on

What’s up with the Fed?

This will be the first of several articles outlining the state of affairs in the West post-COVID-19. We’ll start with economics. A little over a month ago there were several headlines in open-source articles that carried the headline, “Has Trump Nationalized the Fed?”, or words to that effect. The US Federal Reserve has been a favorite of speculation, conspiracy theory, revile and even praise for years. We won’t be examining issues like foreign ownership in the Fed here. But recently, with the outbreak of the coronavirus in the US, it has been directed to start buying up junk bonds and the like to the tune of trillions of dollars at what many commentators see as an alarming turn of events, while using BlackRock as its agent. What exactly has happened to The Fed, then, and where will it likely land the country in the near future? Or the world for that matter? It’s been said that when the US sneezes the world catches cold, or in this case, a crowning virus. We’ll explore the astrology of The Fed here and see what clues are offered. Continue reading “What’s up with the Fed?”