The headline gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the third quarter seemed to signal a return to growth and a significant improvement from the previous readings. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the third quarter of 2022, in contrast to a decrease of 0.6 percent in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the reality of the United States economy is that stagnation persists.

The headline gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the third quarter seemed to signal a return to growth and a significant improvement from the previous readings. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the third quarter of 2022, in contrast to a decrease of 0.6 percent in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the reality of the United States economy is that stagnation persists.

The narrative to attack any tax cut and defend any increase in government size is reaching feverish levels. However, we must continue to remind citizens that constantly bloating government spending and increasing the size of monetary interventions are some of the causes of the widespread impoverishment of the middle class. Constantly increasing taxes and diminishing the purchasing power of the currency is wiping out the middle class in most developed nations.

Currency printing is not neutral, and it never is. It disproportionately benefits government and massively hurts real salaries and deposit savings. It is a massive transfer of wealth from savers to the indebted.

We live in strange times. The same people that vehemently defended massive deficit spending and money printing as the solution to the global economy now blame the turmoil of the UK bond and currency markets on a deficit-increasing budget.

I find it astonishing that no one of the so-called experts that have immediately placed the cause of the British market volatility on Liz Truss’ budget have said anything about the collapse of the yen and the need for Bank of Japan intervention, which has been ongoing for two weeks.

In a recent Bloomberg article, a group of economists voiced their fears that the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight may create an unnecessarily deep downturn. However, the Federal Reserve does not create a downturn due to rate hikes; it creates the foundations of a crisis by unnecessarily lowering rates to negative territory and aggressively increasing its balance sheet. It is the malinvestment and excessive risk-taking fuelled by cheap money that lead to a recession.

Those same economists probably saw no risk in negative rates and massive money printing. It is profoundly concerning to see that experts who remained quiet as the world accumulated $17 trillion in negative yielding bonds and central banks’ balance sheets soared to more than $20 trillion now complain that rate hikes may create a debt crisis. The debt crisis, like all market imbalances, was created when central banks led investors to believe that a negative yielding bond was a worthwhile investment because the price would rise and compensate for the loss of yield. A good old bubble.