I don't care what anyone says, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury are pretty smart cookies. It took me a while to put the puzzle pieces together but after coming across a recent article, my mind started to race.

Lets step back a bit and fill in some back story. A lot of rumblings were going on about the Federal Reserve was potentially going to start buying (injecting liquidity) into any corner of the credit market, from corporate bonds to mortgages to US Treasuries to small business asset backed securities. You name it, if credit flows in that direction, the FED will be there!

On April 9th 2020 the FED announced “new lending plans and said it will provide $2.3 trillion in support for economy!” * The FED quickly established new lending facilities to support the economy. Wow, QE infinity is what everyone was spouting, but I have a different theory based on more recent information that was released by the FED. It was noted that today at the end of June 2020, “the FED have spent just $143 billion, or 6.2% of their projected total firepower.” **

Did the FED just use a Jedi mind trick on investors?

Well, in short – YES.

Lets talk about human nature and “credible threats”.

Since the March/April 2020 FED announcement, to lend credibility to the announcement, the FED set up lending facilities and the US Treasury backed the plan. However, the FED only participated a fraction of what they set aside as firepower. Here is the Jedi mind trick, the FED knew that when investors saw this they would try to make some profit off it. Get in before the FED starts buying because when they do the Bond prices will skyrocket. Well true to human nature, investors tried to front-run the FED when they said hey we're gonna step into the corporate debt market, but it backfired, all the investors trying to get in before the frenzy bought up all their corporate debt and the Federal Reserve barely even had to participate at all. A few billion dollars ... whatever.

That's what is called a credible threat, the fact that the FED has $2.3 Trillion set aside for investment is a credible threat that shorting the market would be a bad idea. In fact, the mind tricks tell you to buy! It's genius if you ask me. And the “credible threat” is still there with 94% of the original $2.3 Trillion waiting to be used if necessary.

So the FED didn't spend the money, check-mate economy. Want to play again? :–)

Sources:

*-https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-announces-new-lending-plans-it-says-will-provide-23-trillion-in-support-for-economy-2020-04-09

**-https://seekingalpha.com/article/4355580-borrowers-in-money

Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash

Looks like the future of payments has started today. I can't wait to have my own.

So I have my own website https://mirrae.com (needs updating I know), but I can see a later day when I may implement something like this

(NOT A VALID PAYMENT POINTER - FYI - FOR EXAMPLE ONLY)

PayID URI: mirrae$mirrae.com

PayID URL: https://mirrae.com/mirrae

Easy to see directly from the white paper, easy email addresses turned into easy PayID's

mirrae@mirrae.com —> mirrae$mirrae.com

But I will leave it up to the true professionals like Wietse Wind as described in his latest blog. https://coil.com/p/wietse/PayID-email-address-for-payments-available-today-in-XUMM/dQlHAvNKe

The future has arrived my friends!

Dog: Dogs are so much better than cats!

Cat: I don't care what you think.

Dog: We are mans best friend!

Cat: But mother Earth doesn't like you.

Dog: Wuuut???

Cat: You pant so much and emit all that carbon-dog-oxide.

Photo by Alexandru Rotariu on Unsplash

Western Union offering to buy MoneyGram is the latest rumor in payments. I have seen many talk about what and why this is happening and how Ripple may be involved. I have to laugh sometime at the speculation that abounds, when all you have to do is look at prior events to form some plausible speculation.

I am sure it is more complicated than what I am about to suggest, but it seems to be a classic David and Goliath situation.

MoneyGram and Uber released the news that there is an offer to Uber Drivers for a discount for remittances. Where and how do you think the current majority of Uber drivers are transferring money back to there families? Well statistically it has to be Western Union as Western Union is the behemoth in money transfers.

Now Western Union is flexing its Goliath muscles and threatening a hostile takeover of MoneyGram. (At least that is the rumor, no official statements are found) This move is not because they want to use RippleNet or XRP or because they see value in acquiring MoneyGram, it is because MoneyGram stands to take a sizable portion of Western Unions market share. (Their Uber Drivers which are consistent, repeat customers.)

Business is Business and this is one logical reason for the rumors.

May 27, 2020

https://www.pymnts.com/news/cross-border-commerce/cross-border-payments/2020/moneygram-uber-offer-discount-on-digital-money-transfers-to-drivers/

June 1, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/western-union-makes-an-offer-to-buy-moneygram-1.1444151

So a month has gone by and a few new articles to update on the Start page I created for easy navigation to articles of interest. Remember that currently in Coil Posts are listed in submit date order.

Well, I was going to just copy/past the contents of the Start Here Page and then delete the original. Interestingly the copy past does not include the pictures or links to the articles. That took a long time to create and to do it over again is frustrating me.

Solution I think is to just Post a new article with a link to the original Start Here article that is easily updated with the new posts and links. So next month I will have just a short intro and link to the original.

(See below)

*Start Here*

https://coil.com/p/mirrae/START-HERE/mdyx6vdfm

Welcome new readers.

For those that are new, take a look around. You could start at the earliest post and read through till the most recent post, however I decided to organize my posts so you could pick per your preference.

The banking system seems to always get a bad rap in the cryptocurrency and gold bug world. But I think this is a misguided judgement.

Our banking system is one of the keys to american inginuity. The banking system perovides the essense of life to our manufacturing, agriculture, businesses and professions. If you opened your mind to what all the services banks provide, you would never entertain the ignorant minority that protest with phrases like “down with the banks” or the all too familiar “Wall Street” memes.

Lets say you have a great idea and want to start a business. Unless you are fortunate to have an Angel investor back your startup or your Uncle Vinney, that can get some financing (not sure how ;–), where can you turn? Banks. If you have put together a viable and profitable business plan, a bank is always an option. A business loan based on a sound business plan and your sole credit, how wonderful.

I know there will be a lot of people that get triggered by this post. But if you think logically and wiegh the risks to your capital. Would you lend to someone that doesn't have a sound business plan and potential to return your principal with some interest?

Then there is the government. If you are well-informed regarding how our system works, you understand America has a twin system of goverment. Politics in Washington DC and financal in New York. When these two align, America is very prosperous. When they are not aligned, well you have not such good times.

Banking, governemnt and businesses would not exists without each other. No business (which employs people) could exist without a supply of cash or credit provided by Banks.

So let me ask you ... have you hugged your bank today?

Chicago Fed Museum – $1 Million Dollar Cube