The Boy And The Dike

The story of the dike with a hole is a popular Dutch folktale that has been passed down through generations. One day, while walking along the dike that protected his village from the sea, Peter noticed a small hole in the dike. He realized that if the hole was left unchecked, it could cause the dike to break, and the village would be flooded.

Without hesitation, Peter put his finger into the hole to stop the water from coming through. He knew that he couldn't leave his post until someone came to help him. He stood there, bravely holding his finger in the hole, as the sun began to set.

Hours passed, and Peter started to feel cold and tired, but he didn't move from his spot. He continued to hold his finger in the hole, hoping that someone would come to his rescue.

Finally, as the night grew darker, Peter saw a villager passing by. He called out for help, and the villager ran to the village to gather a group of men. They rushed to the dike and quickly repaired the hole, saving the village from a terrible flood.

The FED and The “Little Hole”

The Federal Reserve's balance sheet as of Wednesday, which was published March 16th, reveals the extent to which the Fed has given US banks emergency loans at 4.75% interest and in exchange for collateral as well as the amount of money it loaned to the FDIC, which is in charge of saving all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank after those institutions failed last Friday and over the weekend.

At the same time, it demonstrates that the QT-related roll-off of Treasury securities and MBS continued.

On today’s balance sheet, there are two new accounts, the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) and “Other credit extensions” that were announced last Sunday as part of the liquidity support for banks and the depositor bailout with the FDIC.

$153 billion is the discount window. This "Primary Credit" enables banks to borrow money at the present rate of 4.75% in exchange for security. The biggest increase in the data, it increased by $148 billion, from $5 billion a week ago to $153 billion today.

This is expensive money for banks, and it requires collateral, and so banks won’t borrow long at this rate if they can avoid it, and they tend to pay back those loans quickly.

GOP Presidential Candidate Opinion

Vivek Ramaswamy, best selling author, is someone worth paying attention. I don’t expect this to be the next President, but his views may sway the way our leadership think about the road ahead.

Ramaswamy, who has an estimated net worth of $600 million and holds degrees from Harvard (BA) and Yale (JD), is a strong supporter of limited, constitutional government.  He made his remarks on CNN's State of the Union, March 12. 

When asked about SVB and the billions of dollars it owes its many high-tech business clients, Ramaswamy said, "I would not bail out either SVB or even the depositors, because here's what's actually going on."

"SVB made some -- Silicon Valley Bank made some uniquely bad management decisions," said Ramaswamy. "One of them is, first of all, they have a depositor base that's really concentrated of tech start-ups in Silicon Valley. A staggering nearly 90 percent of their deposits are uninsured."

"That's an anomaly compared to most banks in this country," he continued.  "So what's happening right now is a lot of Silicon Valley executives and V.C.s this weekend, many of them have even reached out to me to push this narrative that that's going to create a bank run in America if Silicon Valley Bank isn't actually bailed out."

"But what they're doing is actually trying to create the fear of one," he said.  "I think that can actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is dangerous. But the reality is, Silicon Valley Bank also had exposure to interest rate-tethered securities that they could have hedged. A normal bank would have done that."

The anti-woke money manager also criticized the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) agenda followed by SVB. 

"Silicon Valley Bank just last year made a $5 billion commitment to sustainable finance to ensure a better and more sustainable planet," noted Ramaswamy.  "If they had actually sought for a more sustainable balance sheet, they would have better done their job."

"It's not that different than what companies like Goldman Sachs did back in the 2008 financial crisis," he said.  "You play the right games, you influence the right people, you send the right virtue signals, you're the one that gets bailed out, if you're Goldman, instead of Lehman Brothers, who didn't do those things."

Ramaswamy, 37, is married and has two children. He announced his run for the GOP presidential nomination on Feb. 21.  He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, Woke, Inc. and Nation of Victims.  CNS News

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Stay with me for a bit, there is a reason for going down this road. As you will see, it really could affect you and your retirement assets. I have told you that BlackRock is not your friend.

A recent article on Breitbart brings forth insight into the funding of Black Lives Matter.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and related causes received an astonishing $82.9 billion from corporations, a new funding database from the Claremont Institute has found. 

And BlackRock gave the group a staggering $810,000,000.

I urge you to read the article in its entirety. (For the record, I think all lives matter).

So, how is the FED like the boy at the dike?

For too many years now, the FED has been creating a bunch of holes, only to finally “put its finger” in as many of those holes as possible.

This time, the dam will break, and destroy a lot of folks who are not ready.