Weekly Column: Tweedledum and Tweedledee at the Fed

Review and preview 

President Joe Biden will briefly transfer power to Vice-President Kamala Harris on Friday when he undergoes a “routine colonoscopy” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the White House said. Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, is the oldest person to serve as president, and interest in his health has been high since he declared his candidacy for the White House in 2019. – Zeke Miller, “Biden to Transfer Power to VP Harris Amid Routine Medical Procedure,” The Associated Press, November 19, 2021. 

Worn out by what they see as entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus, key West Wing aides have largely thrown up their hands at Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff… The exasperation runs both ways. Interviews with nearly three dozen former and current Harris aides, administration officials, Democratic operatives, donors and outside advisers reveal a complex reality inside the White House. Many in the vice president’s circle fume that she’s not being adequately prepared or positioned, and instead is being sidelined. And those around her remain wary of even hinting at future political ambitions, with Biden’s team highly attuned to signs of disloyalty, particularly from the vice president. – Edward-Isaac Dover and Jasmine Wright, “Exasperation and Dysfunction: Inside Kamala Harris’ Frustrating Start as Vice President,” www.cnn.com, November 18, 2021.

It is interesting that Joe Biden went in for a colonoscopy on the day of the lunar eclipse, a full moon during the sun sign of Scorpio, which rules the colon. He was under anesthesia for a short time. And it was one day before his 79^th birthday, so his solar return – a year ahead – could be like a colonoscopy and/or as if he is under anesthesia. For some, that may seem like nothing new. Full moons, and especially lunar eclipses involving Scorpio, are not considered the best of times for surgery or even a “routine” medical procedure. However, the Moon is in Taurus with this eclipse. In Taurus, the Moon is exalted, which is always a favorable placement by itself and it may overcome the “dangers” posed by this lunar eclipse, which happens to be historic as it is the longest lunar eclipse since 1440. The longer the eclipse, the longer the issue represented by signs persists. With Taurus and Scorpio, the issues are credit and debt, taxes, surveillance, spying and snooping, behind-the-scenes plotting, and any matters to do with the concepts of elimination, removal, and reform.

As far as financial markets go, the lunar eclipse can correspond with intraday volatility, especially when the Moon ingresses during the day from the steady sign of Taurus to the more erratic and attention-grabbing sign of Gemini, as noted on Friday. In fact, the entire week was a bit strange as the Sun and Mars ended their 2-week T-square with Saturn and Uranus in the middle of last week, just before the lunar eclipse. The S&P and NASDAQ made new all-time highs on Friday’s lunar eclipse, while the DJIA dropped to its lowest level in over three weeks, an example of the dualistic nature of Gemini, especially following a Mars/Uranus opposition. Gold and Silver made new multi-month highs on Tuesday, November 16, one day after our two-star geocosmic critical reversal date (CRD) of November 12-15. Both then declined to their weekly lows on Friday’s lunar eclipse.

The vulnerability of markets did not end there. Bitcoin made a secondary high of 66,150 on Monday’s CRD, November 15, but by Friday it had fallen to 55,571, its lowest mark in over a month, and a loss of 19.5% since its all-time high of November 10. For us, that’s fine. We were looking for a 20% decline following that high. But the most unstable market was probably the Euro currency, which fell to a new multi-year low of 1.1248 on Friday, its lowest level since July 2020. It is interesting that it should fall so dramatically when the German DAX recorded another new all-time high of 16,290 one day earlier on November 18. Crude Oil also has a difficult week, falling to 75.09 on Friday, its lowest price in a month. 

Short-term geocosmics and longer-term thoughts 

Since 1970, negative real Treasury bond yields typically have corresponded with a  plunging stock market. Today, real yields of negative 4.7% are the second lowest since 1970, yet the S&P 500 has risen nearly 30% over the past year. What’s different today? First, the U.S. Treasury bond market has been rigged and manipulated since the Federal Reserve’s second quantitative easing program began 2010… With rising inflation and big government borrowing, a spike in Treasury yields or a market driven tightening could trigger a financial crisis. Favorable funding will vanish , no longer shielding Treasury yields from large budget deficits. – Lawrence Goodman, “How the Fed Rigs the Bond Market,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2021.

Neither one (Jerome Powell or Lael Brainard) deserves the job (Fed Chair) if you judge them by how well they have performed in their main duty of maintaining price stability. The Powell Fed has presided over inflation that it failed to predict and has been slow to address. The Fed’s professed inflation target is 2%, but the consumer price index rose 6.2% in October above a year earlier. By any measure this is a historic failure. – Opinion Page, “Tweedledum and Tweedledee at the Fed,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2021.

Yes, of course, the Fed rigged and manipulated the Treasury Bond market, which has been anything but a “free market” where prices are dictated by buyers and sellers competing freely and fairly with one another. They are instead competing with the world’s largest banks – the central banks. Going against the Fed and its manipulation of the markets has been a losing proposition ever since the Cardinal Climax began in 2008 when Pluto (debt and manipulation) moved into Capricorn and the QE (quantitative easing) and ZIRP (zero interest rate policies) began, and probably even since the Black Monday sell-off in October 1987 when the Fed was given extraordinary new powers. Pluto leaves Capricorn January 22, 2024.

But wasn’t the idea to solve the “debt crisis” always going to be to inflate our way out of it? However, along the way, something happened that was not part of the calculation (it’s never part of the calculation because if it was, it would not be allowed). The Fed, the government, and its citizens all became addicted to the concepts under the domain of Pluto, instead of focusing on reform that represents the higher aspect of this planet’s dynamic. They administered the heavy medicine to relieve the pain, but now they can’t get off it without encountering the negative consequences of staying on the medicine of stimulus too long.

Pluto rules concepts like rigging and manipulation, just as it has ownership over corruption, coercion, and power. Once leaders get the power and start behaving in a corrupt and coercive manner with the public’s treasury (in order to maintain their power and position), it becomes an unstoppable force until … it is revealed and opposition forces bring it to an end. But at some point, all cycles end, and the end of a cycle – like life itself – is often a shipwreck, if not prepared for or thought out properly.

It is imperative to get this ship righted very soon. It does not have to end up as a shipwreck, because at the same time, most of the outer planets have just begun their waxing phase to one another that will last several years. There is a chance to reverse all this market manipulation in the next 6-18 months, but it will require policies and actions that are moderate (Jupiter/Saturn waxing), not extreme and manipulative (Saturn square Uranus with Pluto still in Capricorn). Otherwise, the cure may be worse than the problem.

In the meantime, this ship is still headed toward the third of three powerful periods as described in our Forecast 2021 webinars last February and May. In fact, we are in it now: October 29-December 31, and especially the last two weeks of December when Venus will turn retrograde and Saturn will make its third waning square to Uranus. The Venus retrograde takes place in late Capricorn, conjunct Pluto. Venus retrograde (December 19, 2021–January 29, 2022) often coincides with the Fed and other central banks of the world changing their monetary policies. This is even more likely this time because of its conjunction with Pluto which rules debt. Of great importance as we head into the end of the year will be the currency markets, and probably the cryptocurrency markets as well. In Capricorn, we may hear of new regulation efforts.

For this week, we note that the Sun and Mercury will enter Sagittarius for the next 3-4 weeks. This is usually bullish for world stock markets, as Sagittarius represents good will and joy. Let’s hope that theme repeats and is not interrupted with the Saturn/Uranus square of December 24.

U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday, November 23, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Stock markets are usually bullish during this period (day before, day after).