Saturday Broadcast 41

Key topics:

✔️ ICYMI news, 3/19 - 3/24.
✔️The whisper in the wind I heard about deposit withdrawals that I reported on in the last broadcast has proven true.
✔️You're supposed to think this is a great time to buy a house. IDK why, but apparently, you're supposed to think so.
✔️What good is a "guarantee" if it's not worth the paper it's printed on?
✔️The system is totally fine and totally sound. 😉 *wink wink*

Links:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/18/blackrock-is-working-on-a-rival-takeover-bid-for-credit-suisse-financial-times-reports.html

https://www.rt.com/business/573141-us-banks-borrowing-crisis/

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/18/midsize-us-banks-reportedly-ask-the-fdic-to-insure-all-deposits-for-two-years.html

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/american-elite-planning-escape-starts-120011462.html

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/nervous-bankers-swarm-recruiters-5194849/

https://fortune.com/2023/03/23/laid-off-workers-calling-out-former-employers-social-media-non-disparagement-clauses-rule-careers-labor-steinhorn-scorah/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xw6zkKvknc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grDjUQzNEms

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/working-remotely-is-it-enough-6204186/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/accenture-cuts-19000-staff-globally-5587156/

Links where I can be found: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2023/01/30/updates-housekeeping/

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Transcript

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host Sara Causey.

Hello. Hello, and thanks for tuning in. Today it is Sunday, March 19. Getting started just a little bit early. Over on CNBC, we find UBS offers to buy Credit Suisse for up to $1 billion. The Financial Times reports. We also find Blackrock denies report that it's preparing a takeover bid for Credit Suisse. Hmm. In the TLDR key points we find Blackrock has denied a report that it is preparing a takeover bid for embattled Swiss lender Credit Suisse. The Financial Times has said the US asset manager was working on a bid to acquire the bank citing people familiar with the situation. UBS has also been suggested as a potential buyer, with the Financial Times reporting Friday that it is in talks to take over all or part of Credit Suisse, UBS hasn't commented on the report, interesting times that we live in, some of these big banks are going to get even bigger. You know, I warned you that we would see mergers and acquisitions. And then it might not necessarily be a company that's doing well buying a company that's doing poorly, we might see two companies doing poorly that merge together and see if they can make a go of it. But you will see mergers and acquisitions, no doubt about it. Now, on the last Saturday broadcast, I told you about whispers in the wind. I was hearing that people were taking their money out and these kinds of small local and regional banks because they were scared and starting to put that money into larger big name, big immediate recognition type banks. I could not prove that. So as I said, it's a rumor. It's a whisper on the wind, I don't know. Now today on CNBC, we find mid size US banks reportedly asked the FDIC to insure all deposits for two years, a coalition of mid sized US banks mid size bank coalition of America has asked regulators to extend FDIC insurance to all deposits for the next two years, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing an NBC a letter to regulators. The letter argued that extending insurance will immediately stop the exodus of deposits from smaller banks, which in turn will stabilize the banking sector and restore confidence in the banking system. The report said in quote, so apparently that whisper on the wind was good intel that I was given. Now, you can look at this article a couple of different ways you can say, Well, that's good. I take this as a good sign. I think it's a good thing that they're asking for the FDIC to ensure all deposits for two years, they're getting out ahead of it. They're trying to be proactive. I'd rather see that in something else. I guess that's the glass half full optimist way of looking at it. Maybe the glass half empty way of looking at it is to say, why are they only just now doing this? Why are people feeling not confident? And they're taking their deposits out? And then what will happen to the people who still have their deposits there? What's going to happen if Big Daddy government doesn't bail out the midsize banks because politicians and celebrities and the important people don't bank there. I hope that people have wargame that out. I hope they thought about it. I hope that's not something that's only just now a thought that's occurring in the brain. As the saying goes I'd rather be 10 years too early than 10 seconds too late. By way of Rossiya Segodnya. Russia Today we find us lenders preparing for possible bank runs. The byline reads a record $165 billion was borrowed from the Fed after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. US banks took out a combined one where we go with numbers 164 point 8 billion in loans from two Federal Reserve facilities over the past fortnight fed statistics released on Thursday showed this came as lenders rush to backstop liquidity in the event of bank runs in the wake of the Silicon Valley collapse and quote, here's the deal. They know what's coming. The fat cats the power brokers, the Wall Street Titans, the corporate raiders, the hedge fund manager for billionaires, these people that have money on top of money on top of money that are in bed with the state. They know what's coming. They know none of this is going to catch them off guard. My hope my prayer is that it doesn't catch you off guard either because the onus is on you to protect you yourself. The onus is on you to caveat am Tor and to make good decisions for you and your family. On that note, Yahoo News by way of HuffPost we find the American elite are planning their escape and it starts with paying for passports, because that doesn't sound ominous at all. Of all the promotional emails I've received, the one I got in February from St. Kitts and Nevis is probably the strangest. For a limited time only it said this small island nation in the Caribbean could offer me citizenship at a $25,000 discount. Why I wound up getting an email like this is a minor mystery. I cover wealth and I find the logistics of being rich extremely amusing, but being able to drop $125,000 On a second passport, which was the sale price and laughing about it are not the same. More likely than not the center was trying to tap the hottest new market for secondary citizenship. The United States. Henley and partners the world's premier passport brokering company said that in 2022, more Americans inquired about citizenship by investment programs that allow people to pay for citizenship instead of gaining it by demonstrating their ties to a country than in any previous year. Americans were also the leading nationality for submitting applications. Hmm. Wow. Wonder what's up with that? When we scroll down a bit, we find very wealthy people. They're very, very risk averse. seracs said they're kind of paranoid. They have a lot of money and they'll do a lot to keep it safe. A second citizenship, a third citizenship, a backup plan B a backup plan C a backup plan D. You're getting more and more Armageddon Americans, either President Biden the communist is going to take over or the Fascists are going to take over. Which makes me laugh for 1000 reasons. But yeah, suddenly, hundreds of Americans are willing to pay six figures for nominal membership in a nation where they may have never set foot just in case. At the same time events like the war in Ukraine and strict COVID 19 lockdowns in China have made it more complicated for the citizenship industry to work with some of its traditional clientele. Companies are eager to cultivate American interest in quote, oh, I'm sure the part I agree with there. I mean, to me, it's laughable sort of still yet be setting up these false dichotomies of communism versus fascism and Biden is the commie and even though he you know, can't even hardly string a coherent sentence together. He's the commie or the Fascists are going to take over. Right? Like they haven't, you know? Right. Oh, the fascist will take over. Yeah. Oh, they will. Okay. The part that I think is absolutely true, is that very wealthy people are risk averse when it comes to preserving that wealth. Yes, they're paranoid. They don't ever stop. That's the thing. Gordon Gekko here I go back again, Gordon Gekko tried to tell you, there is no enough, it's not a question of enough. There's not a point where that ultra wealthy person says, You know what, I'm good. I think I'll just sit on the porch and sit my sweet tea and listen to the birds chirp and watch the sunrise every morning. And I'm just done. Unless they become ill, to a point where that's their only option is to sit in the chair with the Afghan over their lap. They're going to be doing something. And I think it's important to pay attention to that type of behavior. How many times have I told you to have a plan B, C, D, have a backup for the backup plan, don't just rely on one particular thing. If you freelance or own and operate your own business, what are you going to do if during this downturn, the primary way that you make your bread goes away? Maybe not for forever, but for a little while? Do you have that plan B, C, D, E, F G? Have you wargame this out? Or are you just suddenly waking up to a new reality? The point that I really want to make here Well, there's two points. Rich people seem to understand that there'll be a shitstorm of brewing and they want to have a game plan to get the hell out if it gets too difficult for them. The second thing is they're prepping. They don't want you to prep. They don't want John and Jane Q Public to be ahead of the eight ball because it's easier to take your stuff. You will not single DVB hippy. You just gonna go into your 15 Minute city into your little hovel and go into the metaverse and have virtual reality all day, because that's better than your miserable peon life anyway, and that will be that at least if you've prepped you've bought yourself some time. I can't sit here and say that the complete technological takeover is inevitable, but you know, one way or the other, I do think things are going to change. At least you're buying yourself some wealth preservation some amount of time to figure out how you want to handle that because not everybody is going to be able to hang out in the woods or go to an underground bunker and live off of raccoons and squirrels and possums. We have to be real about this.
But I think that article is very telling. Today it is Monday, March 20. Happy Spring vests nap British law, even though it has already been meteorological spring now it's officially seasonal spring to grass is already getting green here, the trees are starting to bud out and put on leaves, some of the flowers have started to bloom. Now that's not to say that we won't still have another frost or freeze between now and really, I would say the early part of May April can be pretty dicey in terms of thunderstorms, weird weather, sudden snowfall in the Midwest just kind of have to be prepared for anything. I'm still struggling with the time change. To be honest, it's a little depressing to get up and it's pitch black, but then it stays daylight for so long. As I've told you before, I'm more of a dark half of the year person. I really love the fall. And I have a lot of happiness in the wintertime too. I love that sensation of being able to curl up with a good book under a nice fuzzy blanket and just exist. That's the time when the Earth goes fallow. And it gives the opportunity for farmers and ranchers to have something of a break as well. Now there are wintertime chores that are a complete and total biatch getting up and breaking ice and having to do what you need to do so the animals can drink. It has its own set of challenges that we just don't see in the summertime, but hmm, I don't know. I don't know. The Wheel of the Year has spun yet again. And here we are. And it's springtime. Before you know it. It'll be summer and I'm just like, time is going for that matter. q1 of this year is almost over with. And I'm a little bit dumbstruck, I guess like how did all of this happen? Well, probably because there's been so much turmoil and all of these markets that's captured the attention of a lot of us I guess. Over on CNBC, we find Amazon to layoff 9000 more workers. In addition to earlier cuts. Google Mehta, Amazon and other tech companies have cut more than 100,000 jobs in the last year. JP Morgan advising first republic on strategic alternatives including a capital raise sources say the $17 billion wipe out of Credit Suisse bondholders has not gone down well in Europe. Imagine that. Stocks rally to start the week Dow Jones 300 points on hopes banking crisis is easing. So even our markets seem to operate on hopium what system is this? JP Morgan Chase can be sued by the Virgin Islands over the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking claims. Dear friend, China's Ji and Putin praise each other before talks on Ukraine and deeper cooperation begins. Over on Yahoo Finance it's a similar scene. Investors face three big questions as a rolling banking crisis shakes markets. The byline reads as concerns over a looming banking crisis way on the minds of investors. One economist says the ultimate outcome will depend on three major questions. I'm not even going to go down that rabbit hole because I feel like there is a rolling banking crisis. I hope I'm wrong on that. And I'm certainly not a financial planner or advisor, not an economist. I don't sit on the web, you know all of that. I'm just reading the tea leaves and looking around like, um, if even the markets themselves operate on hopium where are we at? What are we even doing? Elon Musk warns the banking crisis may lead to something bigger. The byline there reads the crisis of confidence affecting regional banks poses a serious risk to the economy. The billionaire entrepreneur warns. I don't really think that you have to be a billionaire entrepreneur to again, look at what's happening and say you know what, I think it's a safe bet that something bigger is coming. And it's probably going to be nasty. Just saying crash and crisis just starting. Robert Kiyosaki just blasted. The US central bank calls the Fed both the fire man and the arson. Well, he's probably not wrong there. Create the problem then create this illusion. Imagine? Credit Suisse failure follows years of scandal and mistrust with an Ohio Mattress Company playing a role. The byline reads we've watched the bank lurch from scandal to scandal for so long and it's hard to recall all of them at this point. The Fed will either pause or hike interest rates by 25 basis points. We'll see. I think that we're in a situation now, then this is just my opinion. And I could be wrong. But I feel like we're in a situation now where the snowball has gone downhill far enough that it's going to become an avalanche. I don't see any way around that. I think we're past the point of some Hail Mary pass or some sudden something swooping in saving the day and then while we Valley no recession, I think we're past that point. Close to 190. Banks could face Silicon Valley Banks fate. According to a new study. The byline reads the Feds aggressive interest rate hikes have eroded the value of bank assets, such as government bonds and mortgage backed securities. Hmm. I hope not. I'm not really sure if they would face the exact fate of Silicon Valley Bank because I think it would depend on whether or not the fat cats and the power brokers and the movers and shakers that matter to people were banking there. Celebrities, royalty, politicians, people that you know matter to the politicos, do those people bank at your bank? If not, then you might be ft. Hate to break that to you. Over on fortune.com we find central banks around the world have said they'll boost the flow of US dollars into the global financial system. What could possibly go wrong? I'm sure they have our best interest at heart. Saudi National Bank is losing $1.2 billion on its Credit Suisse stake days after its chairman. Its Chairman's comments helped send the Swiss lender into crisis. Bill Gates says the world must create a fire department for pandemics to avoid the next catastrophic outbreak. So I'm assuming there's going to be one. If we are being told that we need a fire department for pandemics to avoid the next catastrophic outbreak, it's a safe assumption, there's probably going to be another one. I hope not. Gen Z are now Polly working because holding down just one job doesn't pay enough or give them the flexibility they want. Again, I go back more so to like the grandparents generation where one job one person holding down a full time job was enough for the household. Look at how far we've gone. Now people are having to Polly work. This is I think something that self employed individuals, people that own and operate their own business or they freelance full time. I think that's something that a lot of people in that realm have have learned a long time ago. I'm thinking back to both the book version and the movie version of the firm, where that partner tells Tom Cruise like, at the end of the day, you'll realize the only thing you have left to sell is your time. One job one standard eight to five Monday through Friday job that pays a salary and has a few benefits with it. It's just not enough for a lot of people. Then you add to that a spouse you add to that children, and how expensive it is to raise children in this current inflationary environment. I can understand people Polly working, I can understand why they would feel the need to do that. Silicon Valley Banks collapse almost led to payroll disasters, but it offers founders and important finance lesson. I'm not really sure that they're going to absorb that lesson. But okay. The Fed is stuck between a rock and a hard place as high inflation and a banking meltdown demand opposite responses. Are they stuck between a rock and a hard place? Or was this engineered? Again, this all boils down to what narrative you want to believe? Do you want to believe the idea that oops a daisy, these things happen on accident? Or do you believe the narrative that they're engineered to happen on purpose? That's only a decision that you can make for yourself. I don't tell you what to do or not what not to do. And I don't tell you what to think. If it were me, I feel like I would look at the preponderance of evidence and I would say this is being manufactured. It's happening on purpose. If you create a crisis, and then you present a solution, especially if the first solution that you trot out is something really draconian and scary to people, they will revolt against it. So then you come up with a solution that still want you want it but it's more palatable than that first draconian solution that you trot it out. I talked about the article from the WEF, in the last Saturday broadcast saying that CBDCs are inevitable. I see think it's possible that this particular banking crisis is being used to usher in a cashless society.
I think that's entirely possible. I also think it's possible. The economists and strategists who say that the whole system broke the wheels came off the economic jalopy and the whole system broke in 2008. And we've really just been limping along and humping and along on life support since then. I'm going to try this week to publish an episode about a PBS documentary that I watched from frontline called age of easy money. I'd like to get that out for Thursday's episode. If I have time to sit down and record it this week. I'm watching that documentary. And that is one of the things that gets talked about, that the system actually died, everything failed, everything collapsed, the whole ball of wax melted down to nothing. It failed in 2008. And we've been propping it up. Well, not we as in we the people, but the Fed and the central bankers and their politicians. I'm thinking of The Godfather that these politicians that you keep, like nickels and dimes. These politicians that they keep, like nickels and dimes have been propping it up ever since. And that at some point the bill is going to come do we're not going to be able to just prop it up and humping along forever. Could that be part of the great ar e s e t, this revelation of the system is totally broken, it cannot be fixed. We have to reboot it and begin anew. I don't know the final answer to that question. Other than to say I would not be at all surprised. Something else I want to say even though I try not to get overly political on the broadcast. You know, over the weekend, we were hearing these rumors that orange man might be arrested. He was I guess predicting his own arrest, which seems odd, you know, because that doesn't really happen to John and Jane Q public. The average person who gets arrested for something doesn't usually go out on the airwaves and say, hey, guess what everybody on such and so date, I predict that I'm going to be taken to the jailhouse, that didn't know itself seems odd to me. But then these calls for protests against the potential we don't even know yet if it's going to happen. But protests about the potential of Orange Man getting arrested. I heard that and I thought, God, we live in such a jacked up clown World Time, banks are failing, CBDCs are coming. Corruption is everywhere. And you have to be careful how you talk about it, or you'll just get deep platformed. And that'll be the end of you. And yet, we're supposed to worry about Orange Man predicting his arrest, which may or may not happen and may or may not even be true, I don't know. And then fomenting a protest about that. As I always, always say, I don't give advice on this broadcast. I do not tell you what to do. I sit here and I opine for your entertainment only. And for your entertainment only. Let me just say if it were me, or a close family member or somebody in the immediate household, that said, you know, I think I want to go and have a protest about this. I would say like hell you will? Do you not remember what happened in that month in between December and February on that day in between the number five and the number seven? Did you not learn anything? From that little situation? In my mind, anybody that would show up to a protest about that? You're inviting your own problems, you're inviting your freedom to be taken away? You're gonna be down there with people that God only knows what their agenda actually is. Are they legitimately protesting? Are they provoca tours? Are they trying to fan flames so that they can arrest you? I don't know. But I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in the middle of that melee. You also have to think about how quickly things can turn from peaceful protest a peaceful gathering into violence. It's really getting to where those types of gatherings in my opinion, are just not safe to be at. We're not living in a bygone era where people went out with signs or sandwich boards and they protested politely. Everything was civil. And violence didn't break out. They went to the park and they gathered with their signs and their sandwich boards and they had their say, maybe somebody had a loudspeaker and then everybody went home peacefully. Everybody got to go home at the end of it to their families. I just don't think we live in that era anymore. I don't. And, again, if it were me or an immediate family member, spouse, child, anything like that, I would be like, oh, like hell, no, no, you go down there, you might end up in jail, you might end up injured in the hospital, you might end up dead. There's just too many things that could go wrong in my mind. I really feel that way anymore about large crowds. Now that you could make the argument to me surely, well, you're an introvert. So you're not exactly at large crowd person anyway, I don't really see you wanting to go to a big stadium. And you know, see a football game with 1000s upon 1000s of people or go to a concert and allowed venue with people pushing and shoving. Now, I did that back in the 90s. Okay, I had my fill of that when I was younger, I was a little bit more extroverted. And the whole mosh pit thing some of you might be too young to remember that. But yeah, I did the crowd surfing and the mosh pit thing back in the 90s, that those concerts, I'm good. I don't need to do that crap. Again. I'm too old for that. I wouldn't want to go to a large people the gathering anyway. There's just again, there's we're living in a time where it's just too much of a powder keg environment. I saw something on the news yesterday, as I was kind of up doing housework and some other things. I heard a report on the news, I think it was in Miami, there was some type of violence that broke out at a spring break gathering. And so Miami had to put a curfew out because some people got shot. It was like everybody was partying and everything was cool, until suddenly it wasn't and people died. This is this is a crazy time. So if it were me, no, I would not go to some kind of political protest over whether or not Orange Man is or is not going to be arrested. I would not go to some big spring break gathering, I would not go really to any kind of super crowded venue where I could not immediately Get the eff out. You better know where the exit is, you better know who you're partying with, you better know who you're hanging with. Because it's just, it's crazy. It is a crazy time. And it does me no pleasure to say that. It doesn't, you know, but I had heard some whispers on the wind about this last Fourth of July that something was going down. And that it would not be a wise idea to go spend Fourth of July in a crowded venue, you would be better off staying at home with your family. And if you're going to pop off fireworks then do that at home, which I don't do that anyway, it drives the animals crazy. They don't like it. Since I do rescue and rehabilitation, some of my animals or special needs, it's terrifying to them. And it's a waste of money, in my opinion, okay, say I'm not patriotic, I'm a stick in the mud. It's a waste of money. And with all of the inflation and everything going on, it was like how the hell much are you gonna pay for these damn fireworks anyway? You know, shouldn't you be like, I don't know, investing in some extra food and water. Something for when sh t f because it's gonna, in my opinion, just you know, just my two cents. And then that crazy. Had some type of shoe down. I think it was in Illinois, at a parade. It's getting to where it's just scary to go to these large gatherings. And to me when I look at the return on investment, okay, is it worth it to go to some kind of big gathering and watch fireworks or listen to a concert and run the risk of violence breaking out or something bad happening and then I can't get back home? No, to me, it's just not worth it. You have to make your own decisions about all of this but I think approaching it with a with an attitude of caution and really, really thinking things out. Not a bad idea. Today it is Tuesday, March 21. Over on CNBC we find Fed is likely to hike rates by a quarter point, but it must also reassure it can contain a banking crisis. stocks closed higher Tuesday, s&p 500 adds more than 1% as regional banks pop. Google CEO tells employees that 80,000 of them helped test Bart AI and morons things will go wrong. Well, I'm sure you're very comforted by that. Gamestop stock soars after retailer post first quarterly profit in two years. Well, as long as the stock market is doing okay. I guess we're all doing great then.
Home sales Spike 14.5% in February as the median price drops for the first time in over a decade. Bill Gates says open AI GPT is the most important advance in technology since 1980. Also, I guess that's something to feel good about. Potentially Deadly fungus is spreading at an alarming rate CDC says over on Yahoo Finance, it's a similar scene. Banks rebound lead stocks surge as all eyes turn to the Fed. US stocks were higher Tuesday following us and European efforts to stabilize the banking system. Wall Street's Attention now turns to the Federal Reserve. First Republic surges as Yellen pledges support for US banks. existing home sales jump in February as mortgage rates fall. Well, hey, maybe that realtor who told me that the market is really warming up. Just like springtime is here and the weather is getting warmer, the real estate market is warming up. Maybe that person was correct. Maybe you are supposed to believe that now is a great time to jump into the housing market and get yourself a house. Now I don't tell you what to do or what to think. But I will tell you I'm not going to do that right now. But I guess you could choose to believe that now is a great time to do that. Over on the side panel for LinkedIn news, we find diamond heads. First Republic rescue meaning James, our old buddy Jamie Dimon. New Yorkers aren't loving New York's new logo. Nervous bankers swarm recruiters, Amazon to lay off another 9000 Pay transparency becoming the norm. Well, that's some good news if you ask me. Strike shuts 1000 LA schools retailers hungry for bed bath sites. Home prices fall and sales rise in February. Netflix and Disney plus ad tears paying off. Well, okay, good. Just good news all the way around, I guess. When we click on nervous bankers swarm recruiters we find Credit Suisse will likely lose 10s of 1000s of jobs because of its takeover by bigger Swiss rival bank UBS, as much as a third of the combined workforce of 120,000 is expected to be cut. The Financial Times reported citing anonymous sources employees of Credit Suisse, which had already been in the midst of downsizing have started to swarm headhunters. Bloomberg said anonymous sources had told it in particular investment bankers and equities traders with the smaller bank had been seeking employment elsewhere. Credit Suisse bankers will also lose some bonus pay under the government broker takeover and quote, where are they going to go? And what recruiters are they going to find? Because there have already been no small number of people that have washed out of this business. Let me tell you that there are people desperate there are people scared. Remember, I predicted that we would see some of these people getting laid off from HR from recruiting setting a shingle out saying oh, hey, I'm a career coach now Oh, hey, I'm an interview coach. Oh, hey, I'm gonna resume writer. Some people haven't even done that some people have just exited the building completely. When we go to the latest layoff roster we find Disney which said In February it would shrink its headcount by 7000. Now says it will lay off 4000 employees the other 3000 jobs to be cut or open rolls that will now be eliminated. Georgia based candor technology which creates AI software for the mortgage industry has reportedly trim the size of its small staff. The exact numbers are not available. But wait a minute, I thought housing market was coming back really warming up. After eliminating 18,000 jobs in January, Amazon will lay off another 9000 workers in the coming weeks. Twitch which is owned by Amazon will lay off 400 employees as part of this workforce reduction. Coherent a maker of lasers and optical gear inform California officials that it will eliminate 108 rolls edits subsidiary Finisar Finisterre Finisar I don't know. But somehow 3.6% unemployment rate. Still a hot labor market. We can't be in a recession right now. Because look at how hot this job market is.
Are you looking for more? Don't forget you can find Sara on her blogs at Causey consultingllc.com. And at Saracausey.com. You can also read her content on medium and substack on with the show.
Today it is Wednesday, March 22. On any news outlet that you choose to look at the main news of the day is going to be the Fed. Over on CNBC we find fed hikes rates by a quarter percentage point indicates increases or near an end, the Fed forecast just one more rate hike this year. What does that mean for inflation? Well, we already know it's not transitory wink wink ha ha. So if they're not going to do what needs to be done to get out of this age of easy money, they're wanting to hurry up and get back to Easy money. I don't think inflation is going to go away anytime soon. So I think the price gouging the pain that we're feeling when we go to the grocery store and when we pay our utility bills, I don't think that's likely to go anywhere anytime soon. I hope I am wrong on that. But unless they have a magical solution made out of unicorns and fairy dust and leprechauns upside, I don't know how that would happen any other way. Over on Yahoo Finance, it's a similar scene Fed raises rates point two 5% to highest since 2007. Amid banking crisis, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates as it works to tame inflation that remains above target and short circuit a banking crisis that has seen three US banks fail this month. Stocks turn higher after Fed decision Well, good for them. Fed dot plot shows rates peaking at 5.1%. This year, Pac West lands $1.4 billion in new cash after deposits drop 20%. I just feel like we're watching a slow motion wreck taking place. I also feel like we're watching history in the making someday down the road, there will be a documentary there will be books about hey, if you were alive at this time, and you saw the complete shit show, here's where it all went wrong. But of course by then we will have already gone through it. It's like the more things change the more they stay the same. Fed officials raise interest rates by 25 basis points amid banking woes. Well one thing that I will say for Yahoo Finance is at least they're being somewhat honest with us about banking woes and trying to avert a banking crisis, the highest they've been since 2007. So here we go more shadows of the Great Recession. I hope to God that we're not headed into something like that. But I also hope that you're prepared in case we are. Over on the latest layoff rosters on LinkedIn we find recruiting firm indeed announced that it is letting approximately 2200 People go. CEO Chris Hyams said he expects job openings to decrease to pre pandemic levels or even lower over the next two to three years. And that the company is simply too big for what lies ahead. Oof. Oh, my God, I hope you're hearing that the cut represents 15% of indeed, headcount. Wow. So it's going to go down to pre pandemic levels, maybe lower over the next two to three years. Right now the company is simply too big for what lies ahead. Ignore that at your own risk. chipmaker Marvell Technology reduced its workforce by 4%, cutting about 320 jobs. Georgia based candor technology, which creates AI software for the mortgage industry has reportedly trim the size of its small staff, the exact numbers are not available. How? I guess the biggest news, there are the most recent news so far is indeed cut. That tells you a lot. The CEO of a job board platform is telling you Yeah, we're too big for what's coming. And it's probably going to be a two to three year event. Wake up, wake up, wake it on up. Also on the side panel for LinkedIn, we find generations X and Y pull back on spending well, as an extra myself born toward the end of Gen X, I can tell you, I hope you are. Who has the disposable income, who is willy nilly going out and just spending money on frivolities. Were not No way. I went into recession mode quite some time back. And except for things where I could really make a justification that we needed it I have stayed in recession mode. I'm inclined to agree with that CEO that said two to three years. I'll be dropping a broadcast tomorrow about that documentary The Age of easy money. And there's an editor from the Financial Times that talks about that same window, like well, if you're going to need your money and like the next two years, you should probably be paying attention you should probably be being cautious. Yeah. I would say the same thing. Today it is Thursday, March 23. Over on fortune.com. Today we find tiktoks Little Known CEO faces a hostile audience as he introduces himself to America. Bill Ackman blasts, yell ins rejection of full deposit insurance, a guarantee is needed to stop the bleeding. Well, what guarantees are they're going to give anybody a guarantee might be needed to stop the bleeding. But if a guarantee given to you is not worth the paper, it's printed on then what? Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi calls the Feds latest interest rate hike disappointing and unnecessary. I want to buy John Wayne's Ranch, it just hit the market with a $12 million price tag. So those of us who are just trying to make ends meet Well, let's go on out there and get that $12 million ranch that belong to a movie star. Sure. laid off workers are calling out their former employers on social media and the death of the non disparagement clauses could make it the norm. Oh, I'm sure and this sounds very juicy. So let's click on it. Last month, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that employers can no longer include non disparagement clauses in severance agreements with employees, non disparagement agreements barred laid off or terminated employees from sharing negative thoughts or experiences about their former employers in exchange for a few months salary. If federal courts uphold the NLRB decision, it would effect effectively invalidate these clauses from severance agreements. While this may seem like a dry, contractual legal change, it actually materially impacts the way we can communicate about our bosses, our financial compensation and our actual work duties in the public eye. transparency into people's experiences and opinions of work, which previously may have been deemed to counterproductive to capitalism to expose could now as a result of this rule change, become more normalized outside of informal whisper networks, or happy hour gossip sessions and quote, hmm, interesting times, indeed. I think that people need to know. Now I'm not saying people should just go on social media and write things that are defamatory. But I think if you're speaking the truth, and you should, if you were treated terribly, and the layoff was handled terribly, then why should people not be able to talk about that? Over on YouTube, there's a couple of videos that I wanted to call out. One was published by Fox Business day or so ago, titled The US recession will hit everywhere all at once economist mourns, and that comes from Stephanie Pomeroy who tells in this video that she thinks what's coming is a recession that hits everything, everywhere, all at once. I hope that prediction doesn't bear out to be accurate, but I would simply say I would not be surprised. I have really thought for a while now that as the snowball rolls downhill and becomes an avalanche. For one thing by the time that John and Jane Q Public clue clue into that reality. Scary times, indeed, when the panic hits unless people are so zombified at this point that they just don't panic. It's going to really be that SHTF situation. Not that zombies are going to eat your brains out in the street. Today it is Friday, March 24. T GIF. This is the kind of Friday where I want to just melt into the blankets on the bed. We had some storms and a lot of rain that came through last night into this morning. Fortunately, it wasn't anything tornadic and initially they had been saying we were going to have a lot of hail like property damaging hail, which fortunately we didn't because I guess it got cold before the atmosphere could really do too much in the way of tornadoes and hail. So now it's just cold, it's wet, damp, muddy and cold. It does not feel like spring today for sure. Over on CNBC, we find Deutsche Bank is not the next Credit Suisse analysts say is panic spreads. Deutsche Bank shares slide 11% After sudden spike in the cost of insuring against its default. Treasury yields fall as concerns over global banking system grow once again. I always say I don't tell you what to do or what to think. I'm inclined to look at this news and then think the opposite. Deutsche Bank is not the next Credit Suisse analysts say as panic spreads. Hmm. Well, if panic is spreading, and people are nervous, I would say they probably have a good reason to feel nervous about all of this because after all, we've seen this movie play out before we remember what it was like in oh eight and oh nine.
Over on Yahoo Finance. It's a similar scene stocks fall further as bank related fears percolate. US stock futures fell Friday morning to cap off a busy week following the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday, and further pressure in the banking sector. The Fed gave stocks a reprieve but the all clear is a ways off. Amazon and other retailers revamp free shipping as costs soar. The Fed is really trying to grapple with inflation and banking fallout. Hmm. You don't say tick tock CEO fails to convince Congress that the app is safe. Wow. Real Estate billionaire Sam Zell warns that hot inflation isn't going away anytime soon. Says the Fed screwed up. The byline reads disinflation might be a pipe dream. Yeah, I think that's probably an act. Your statement if they go back to quantitative easing and or we get into more printing up of fiat currency willy nilly, I don't see any way that inflation will come down. And I think unfortunately, as we go further into this mess, what seems to be a more prominent likelihood in my mind right now is 1970s era stagflation, ie high inflation coupled with high unemployment. I hope I'm wrong on that. I really do. But that seems to be a general direction that we could be heading in. Commercial real estate is in trouble. a banking crisis will make it worse. The byline reads property owners were already under pressure from rising rates and empty office space, the last thing they needed was a banking crisis. Well, the last thing any of us needs is a banking crisis. But I'm going to make a guess that perhaps some of those empty office spaces won't be empty that much longer. Over on the side panel for LinkedIn we find working remotely, is it enough? God? In that article we read does being seen at work really matter? Academic research suggests it does. But most studies on the topic were done before the pandemic altered our work lives for good. With remote work far more common these days have things changed. According to new data from LinkedIn workforce Confidence Index, US workers are divided. 58% of Americans think it's important to be seen in person by their organization's leadership team 68% of on site workers and 60% of hybrid workers agree while only 41% of remote professionals do and quote, sounds a little bit like in Billy Madison, Billy likes to drink soda. Mississippi's car is green. What kind of Earth breaking journalism is the young people who work remotely or are more likely to say that working remotely is enough and no, you don't need all of this in person, face to face handshaking, FaceTime, doing it over Zoom is good enough. And then the people who've been herded back to the office, either because they're highly extroverted and they want to get out of the house or they've been forced to do it out of financial necessity. They're gonna say it's important to be on site, I mean, like, and then the commenters that are being promoted are obviously people that agree with this and want to seal clap about how important it is to be seen by your boss. We also find Starbucks CEO picks up Cafe shifts, I think I saw the other day where once a month, he's got to work a shift and an actual store. I think it ought to be more often than that once a week do it. I understand he probably couldn't do it once every day because then he wouldn't have time to do the other components of his job. But being out there in real time and experience it experiencing it is just no substitute for talking about it in an office somewhere. We also find Accenture cuts 19,000 staff globally. When we click on that we find Accenture is laying off 19,000 employees worldwide about 2.5% of its workforce and consolidating office space as it seeks to shrink costs amid rising economic uncertainty. The Irish American consulting giant said the layoffs will most likely affect employees in back office or non client facing roles. It expects to spend 1.2 billion on severance over the next 18 months. A slowdown in client spending has hit other consultancies KPMG recently announced that it was cutting 2% of its workforce, and McKinsey is reportedly considering eliminating 2000 jobs. Accenture also lowered its revenue growth outlook for the current fiscal year to between eight and 10%. Down from a previous estimate of eight to 11. The consultancy boosted its workforce by 38,000 in the last financial year, which ended in February. But hey, red hot labor market, people are doing great. Banks probed by Department of Justice over sanctions block hit with fraud allegations, wages, wages pop at highest lowest tiers, and tick tock CEO grilled by Congress. We live in strange times right now. I was talking to a friend the other day who lives in Los Angeles and I was like, Hey, did you get impacted by that tornado? And she said no. In fact, there's some people out here saying that the videos of the tornado are fake. And is sat here with my head in my hands like has somebody faked or deep faked of tornado, like sent it into the weather channels like who does that? And why would you do that? Then I just had to remember like such are the times in which we live. Just wow. And I'm not saying I believe that those videos were fake. I have no idea. I was just asking her to find out like hey, did you have any property damage because in the Midwest, we expect tornadoes especially in the spring. But you don't really think about Los Angeles being a hotbed for Tornadoes. Keep your head on a swivel. I don't tell you what to do or what not to do. I feel like the best thing that anyone could consider is to keep your head on a swivel and just be be ready for whatever. Stay safe, stay sane. And I will see you in the next episode.
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