Swing voters are a fickle bunch.\u00a0 One election they vote Democrat.\u00a0 The next they vote Republican. For they have no particular ideology or political philosophy to base their judgment upon.<\/p>\n
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![\"swing-voter\"](\"http:\/\/www.acting-man.com\/blog\/media\/2016\/09\/swing-voter.jpg\")
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The primacy of the wallet.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t give a rip about questions of small government or big government.\u00a0 Nor do they have any druthers about the welfare or warfare state.<\/p>\n
In effect, they really don\u2019t care.\u00a0 What\u2019s important to the swing voter is much simpler.\u00a0 In fact, it can be boiled down to the following essential question.\u00a0 What have you done for me lately?<\/p>\n
The answer to this question, of course, comes back to money.\u00a0 As far as the swing voter\u2019s concerned, if their brokerage account\u2019s growing they vote the incumbent party.\u00a0 If it\u2019s shrinking, they vote the challenger party.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter if the source of the stock market inflation is a fraud.\u00a0 Nor does it matter that a stock market correction will help reestablish financial markets on a firmer foundation.<\/p>\n
In this respect, the mere trajectory of the swing voter\u2019s portfolio tells them everything they need to know about whom to vote for.<\/p>\n
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Truth and Denial<\/strong><\/h3>\nEarlier this week Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump took issue with the Federal Reserve\u2019s stock market inflation games.<\/p>\n
He remarked on\u00a0CNBC<\/a>\u00a0that the Fed has created a \u201cfalse stock market,<\/em>\u201d and that Fed Chair Janet Yellen and central bank policymakers are very political, and should be \u201cashamed<\/em>\u201d of what they\u2019re doing to the country, \u201cThe Fed is not even close to being independent.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nCertainly, the idea that the Federal Reserve influences elections is not a novel concept.\u00a0 For this reason, at the recent central banker\u2019s summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, former Democrat Congressman, and overall repulsive being, Barney Frank,\u00a0told the Fed<\/a>, \u201cDon\u2019t raise rates before election.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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With his tireless work for the poor and the middle class finally done, Barney Frank waved good-bye, to sail off into the well-appointed retirement of a Congressman. Recently he felt the need to pipe up again, dispensing advice to the \u201cindependent\u201d Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n
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Obviously, a monetary policy change toward tighter credit, and the subsequent stock market swoon prior to an election can mean death for an incumbent party.\u00a0 Just ask former President George H.W. Bush.\u00a0 He\u2019ll tell you that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan\u00a0cost him<\/a>\u00a0the 1992 election.<\/p>\nFrom an axiomatic perspective, the truth of a political accusation is equal to the denial that follows.\u00a0 In other words, the greater the subsequent denial is, the greater the truth of the allegation.<\/p>\n
Shortly after Trump\u2019s shaming of Fed Chair Yellen, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari took to\u00a0Squawk Box<\/a>\u00a0to offer this denial:<\/p>\n\u201cPolitics simply does not come up,\u201d<\/em> said Kashkari.\u00a0 We suppose Kashkari had his fingers crossed behind his back when he uttered this.\u00a0 Because given his checkered past, he\u2019s simply not a man to be trusted.<\/p>\nKashkari, without question, is an extreme economic interventionist.\u00a0 If you recall, as federal bailout chief, he functioned as the highly visible hand of the market.\u00a0 In early-2009, he awoke each morning, put on his pants, drank his coffee, and rapidly dispersed Henry Paulson\u2019s $700 billion of TARP funds to the government\u2019s preferred corporations.<\/p>\n
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Kashkari\u2019s former partner in crime, Hank Paulson. They had to destroy the village to save it \u2013 or so they said, anyway.<\/p>\n
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Incidentally, the experience had an ill effect on Kashkari\u2019s mental health.\u00a0 Following his position of federal bailout chief, he became a hermit, took to a cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains \u2013 near Donner Pass \u2013 and found his purpose in life\u00a0chopping wood<\/a> (for an image of Kashkari the wood-chopper, see here<\/a>).<\/p>\nWe thought we\u2019d seen the last of him. But alas, after a failed gubernatorial campaign in California in 2014, Kashkari resurfaced earlier this year as Minneapolis Fed President.\u00a0 The world is a worse place because of it.<\/p>\n
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Why the Fed Destroyed the Market Economy<\/strong><\/h3>\nKashkari\u2019s a man with\u00a0crazy eyes.\u00a0 But he\u2019s also a man with even crazier ideas.\u00a0 After stating that politics is not part of presidential election year Fed policy, Kashkari explained how Fed policy is set.<\/p>\n
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![\"neel\"](\"http:\/\/www.acting-man.com\/blog\/media\/2016\/09\/Crazy-eyed-Neel.jpg\")
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Neel Kashkari: Crazy eyes and even crazier ideas.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe look at the data,<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> he said.\u00a0 In hindsight, this clarification was more revealing than the initial denial.<\/p>\nClearly, Kashkari \u00a0has never thought about what exactly it is he is looking at when looking at the data.\u00a0 If he had, he\u2019d likely conclude that the approach of using data to identify apparent aggregate demand insufficiency and perceived supply gluts is crazy.<\/p>\n
Unemployment.\u00a0 Gross domestic product.\u00a0 Price inflation.\u00a0 These data points are all fabricated and fudged to the government number crunchers\u2019 liking.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, for each headline number there is a long list of footnotes and qualifiers.<\/strong><\/p>\nHedonic price adjustments.\u00a0 Price deflators.\u00a0 Seasonal adjustments.\u00a0 Discouraged worker disappearances.\u00a0 These subjective adjustments greatly affect the results.<\/p>\n
Yet what\u2019s even crazier is that Kashkari believes that by finagling around with the price of money the Fed can improve the output of bogus data.\u00a0 According to central planners, better data \u2013 i.e. higher GDP, greater consumer demand, 2 percent inflation \u2013 means a better economy.<\/p>\n
But after 100-years of mismanagement, the last eight being in the radically extreme, the Fed has scored a big fat rotten tomato.<\/strong>\u00a0 The data still stinks \u2013 GDP\u2019s still anemic.\u00a0 But the downside of their actions is downright putrid.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Certainly, the idea that the Federal Reserve influences elections is not a novel concept.\u00a0 For this reason, at the recent central banker\u2019s summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, former Democrat Congressman, and overall repulsive being, Barney Frank,\u00a0told the Fed<\/a>, \u201cDon\u2019t raise rates before election.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With his tireless work for the poor and the middle class finally done, Barney Frank waved good-bye, to sail off into the well-appointed retirement of a Congressman. Recently he felt the need to pipe up again, dispensing advice to the \u201cindependent\u201d Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Obviously, a monetary policy change toward tighter credit, and the subsequent stock market swoon prior to an election can mean death for an incumbent party.\u00a0 Just ask former President George H.W. Bush.\u00a0 He\u2019ll tell you that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan\u00a0cost him<\/a>\u00a0the 1992 election.<\/p>\n From an axiomatic perspective, the truth of a political accusation is equal to the denial that follows.\u00a0 In other words, the greater the subsequent denial is, the greater the truth of the allegation.<\/p>\n Shortly after Trump\u2019s shaming of Fed Chair Yellen, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari took to\u00a0Squawk Box<\/a>\u00a0to offer this denial:<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics simply does not come up,\u201d<\/em> said Kashkari.\u00a0 We suppose Kashkari had his fingers crossed behind his back when he uttered this.\u00a0 Because given his checkered past, he\u2019s simply not a man to be trusted.<\/p>\n Kashkari, without question, is an extreme economic interventionist.\u00a0 If you recall, as federal bailout chief, he functioned as the highly visible hand of the market.\u00a0 In early-2009, he awoke each morning, put on his pants, drank his coffee, and rapidly dispersed Henry Paulson\u2019s $700 billion of TARP funds to the government\u2019s preferred corporations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kashkari\u2019s former partner in crime, Hank Paulson. They had to destroy the village to save it \u2013 or so they said, anyway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Incidentally, the experience had an ill effect on Kashkari\u2019s mental health.\u00a0 Following his position of federal bailout chief, he became a hermit, took to a cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains \u2013 near Donner Pass \u2013 and found his purpose in life\u00a0chopping wood<\/a> (for an image of Kashkari the wood-chopper, see here<\/a>).<\/p>\n We thought we\u2019d seen the last of him. But alas, after a failed gubernatorial campaign in California in 2014, Kashkari resurfaced earlier this year as Minneapolis Fed President.\u00a0 The world is a worse place because of it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kashkari\u2019s a man with\u00a0crazy eyes.\u00a0 But he\u2019s also a man with even crazier ideas.\u00a0 After stating that politics is not part of presidential election year Fed policy, Kashkari explained how Fed policy is set.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Neel Kashkari: Crazy eyes and even crazier ideas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe look at the data,<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> he said.\u00a0 In hindsight, this clarification was more revealing than the initial denial.<\/p>\n Clearly, Kashkari \u00a0has never thought about what exactly it is he is looking at when looking at the data.\u00a0 If he had, he\u2019d likely conclude that the approach of using data to identify apparent aggregate demand insufficiency and perceived supply gluts is crazy.<\/p>\n Unemployment.\u00a0 Gross domestic product.\u00a0 Price inflation.\u00a0 These data points are all fabricated and fudged to the government number crunchers\u2019 liking.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, for each headline number there is a long list of footnotes and qualifiers.<\/strong><\/p>\n Hedonic price adjustments.\u00a0 Price deflators.\u00a0 Seasonal adjustments.\u00a0 Discouraged worker disappearances.\u00a0 These subjective adjustments greatly affect the results.<\/p>\n Yet what\u2019s even crazier is that Kashkari believes that by finagling around with the price of money the Fed can improve the output of bogus data.\u00a0 According to central planners, better data \u2013 i.e. higher GDP, greater consumer demand, 2 percent inflation \u2013 means a better economy.<\/p>\n But after 100-years of mismanagement, the last eight being in the radically extreme, the Fed has scored a big fat rotten tomato.<\/strong>\u00a0 The data still stinks \u2013 GDP\u2019s still anemic.\u00a0 But the downside of their actions is downright putrid.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\nWhy the Fed Destroyed the Market Economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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