Here are just a few of the headline items for the week that ended with two disastrous days after the FOMC policy rate decision to raise the federal funds rate to 1.50-1.75%, the sixth rate hike in the last 27 months and probably the one largest policy mistake in the history of the Federal Reserve System, an unconstitutional private banking system that has wreaked havoc on not only the economy of the United States of America, but of the entire planet.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 426 points, closing out the week at it's lowest level since November 22, 2017. The Dow is off nearly 1500 points for the month of March, a worse decline than that of February. In just the past week, the Dow has shed some 1410 points, a 5.67% drop.
The S&P 500 fell 5.9% on the week, the biggest drop in more than two years.
The NASDAQ 100 plunged 7.3% in the week, the most since August 2015. All of the major averages are negative for the year, except for the NASDAQ.
Scapegoating the tariffs put forward by President Trump has been the sport of the week on the likes of CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC. Surely, the Sunday talk shows will be hooting and hollering over what bad judgement the president has shown, when, in fact, it is the Federal Reserve's radical policies over the past ten years that have caused major distortions on Wall Street, a false sense of security in stocks as sound investments, impoverishment of many retirees who were denied any meaningful interest income on their savings due to the Fed's zero interest rate policy that prevailed from 2008 though 2015.
Meanwhile, the Fed, in a position to cause much further damage to the economy by raising rates while the nation is heavily indebted, has done just so, and has not backed off from its planned position to unwind its bloated balance sheet, and actually increase its sales of securities in the second half of 2008.
While the tariffs President Trump has put forward are certain to cause some disruption in some segments of the economy, they are not, on their own merit, the ultimate cause for a stock market collapse, such as is occurring presently.
There can be no other culprit than the Federal Reserve for the recent stock market volatility and massive outflows from stocks. Their policies have been the guiding force before, during and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-09, so there should be no doubting that their policies are still guiding investment decisions.
The entire global economic structure is currently under assault by coordinated central bank intervention, ongoing massive stock and bond buying and selling beyond their charters, and the continuing issuance of debt as fiat money on a global basis.
From the US federal government to individual citizens, the signs of financial stress are at breaking points. The federal government, already "officially" $21 trillion in debt, on Friday passed an omnibus spending bill of $1.3 trillion, causing further debt issuance and higher debt servicing costs thanks to the Fed's rate increases.
Corporations, which have binged on stock buybacks since 2009 and most recently increased their level of indebtedness and slothful management with the recent repatriation of an estimated $2 trillion based on the tax reform enacted by congress and singed into law by the president recently.
Individuals are more indebted than ever before, with credit card and student debt at all-time highs, variable rate mortgages increasingly difficult to service while incomes have barely budged for the past 20 years.
Additionally, the tax burden on some of the wealthiest Americans, with incomes over $100,000 per year, is upwards of 50%, enslaving these people to endless payments for governments (local, state, and federal) that have displayed absolutely no fiscal restraint.
Continued declines in the stock market are going to impact pension funds throughout the world, both pubic and private. Most public pension funds are massively underfunded, and heavily invested in stocks. A severe downturn - which has just begun - will bankrupt these entities, causing them to renew on promises made to workers.
A heavily-concentrated media will assure the public that the stock market collapse is entirely the fault of one man, President Donald J. Trump, while the true criminals of extortion and debt slavery are the central banks and their private, unconstitutional banking system, which has been favored and kept afloat by a supine congress.
Dow Jones Industrial Average March Scorecard:
| Date |
Close |
Gain/Loss |
Cum. G/L |
| 3/1/18 |
24,608.98 |
-420.22 |
-420.22 |
| 3/2/18 |
24,538.06 |
-70.92 |
-491.14 |
| 3/5/18 |
24,874.76 |
+336.70 |
-154.44 |
| 3/6/18 |
24,884.12 |
+9.36 |
-145.08 |
| 3/7/18 |
24,801.36 |
-82.76 |
-227.84 |
| 3/8/18 |
24,895.21 |
+93.85 |
-133.99 |
| 3/9/18 |
25,335.74 |
+440.53 |
+306.54 |
| 3/12/18 |
25,178.61 |
-157.13 |
+149.41 |
| 3/13/18 |
25,007.03, |
-171.58 |
-22.17 |
| 3/14/18 |
24,758.12 |
-248.91 |
-271.08 |
| 3/15/18 |
24,873.66 |
+115.54 |
-155.54 |
| 3/16/18 |
24,946.51 |
+72.85 |
-82.69 |
| 3/19/18 |
24,610.91 |
-335.60 |
-418.29 |
| 3/20/18 |
24,727.27 |
+116.36 |
-301.93 |
| 3/21/18 |
24,682.31 |
-44.96 |
-346.89 |
| 3/22/18 |
23,957.89 |
-724.42 |
-1071.31 |
| 3/22/18 |
23,533.20 |
-424.69 |
-1496.00 |
At the Close, Friday, March 23, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 23,533.20, -424.69 (-1.77%)
NASDAQ: 6,992.67, -174.01 (-2.43%)
S&P 500: 2,588.26, -55.43 (-2.10%)
NYSE Composite: 12,177.70, -199.69 (-1.61%)
For the Week:
Dow: -1413.31 (-5.67%)
NASDAQ: -489.32 (-6.54%)
S&P 500: -163.75 (-5.95%)
NYSE Composite: -606.68 (-4.75%)
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