Larry Lindsey, one of the greatest economic minds in the nation, and author of “Conspiracies of the Ruling Class,” a New York Times bestseller, said on this week’s Pickens Podcast that “we’re in the 7th year of a slow expansion. We may be running out of time before the next recession – maybe not next week, but it’s coming.”
Larry, a senior economic advisor to both Presidents Reagan and Bush, was a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and he has a new, important book out called, “Conspiracies of the Ruling Class.”
“Everyone loves the party,” Larry said. “The party is being held up by a $4 trillion Fed balance sheet and zero interest – but we’re just postponing the hangover.” Adding to the “hair of the dog,” he said, “We printed money for the dot-com bubble in the 90s; printed money to fund the housing bubble; and now we’re printing money to fund the credit bubble.”
We talked about energy. I said that “the market is oversupplied by a million-and-a-half barrels a day. All over the world, drilling is being reduced. In the U.S. we’ve gone from 1,609 rigs in November 2014 to 350 rigs today.”
Larry agreed, saying: “Globally there are supply cuts and there will be demand growth to take up that 1.5 million barrel over-supply, so prices will inevitably go up.”
I asked him if rising oil prices could kick off a recession. “Usually,” Larry said, “the problem comes not from mistakes made in the market place, but mistakes made here in Washington.” In his new book, Larry said he started researching the reasons why voters – especially Republican voters — are angry at the way things have been going.
“Most of it is people in the establishment don’t understand what’s happening, much less why,” he said. Larry decided to write the book to show that “people in charge have turned the Constitution on its head. They’re taking power the founders never gave them and are using tax money to pay for it. “The ruling class thinks the government should run our lives and they should run the government.”
With the Presidency hanging in the balance, this is one of the most important discussions you may listen to all year.
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