--- title: "Welcome to the Winter of Our Discontent" type: "post" post_id: "23741" slug: "welcome-to-the-winter-of-our-discontent" canonical: "https://axisofeasy.com/oftwominds/welcome-to-the-winter-of-our-discontent/" markdown_url: "https://axisofeasy.com/oftwominds/welcome-to-the-winter-of-our-discontent.md" json_url: "https://axisofeasy.com/oftwominds/welcome-to-the-winter-of-our-discontent.json" txt_url: "https://axisofeasy.com/oftwominds/welcome-to-the-winter-of-our-discontent.txt" published: "2021-03-23T23:27:00+00:00" modified: "2021-03-29T13:09:33+00:00" author: "Charles Hugh Smith" categories: - "Of Two Minds" tags: excerpt: "If you think this scale of stimulus is sustainable and consequence-free, you must be mainlining. Wall Street's euphoria knows no bounds, so how can this be the Winter of Our Discontent?" site_name: "" publisher: "" language: "en-US" license: "" generator: "easyPress AI Discoverability" generator_version: "2.0.14" --- *If you think this scale of stimulus is sustainable and consequence-free, you must be mainlining [Delusionol](https://www.oftwominds.com/blogapril12/delusionol4-12.html).* **Wall Street’s euphoria knows no bounds, so how can this be the Winter of Our Discontent?**We all know the source of Wall Street’s euphoria: $1.9 trillion in stimulus, followed by another $3 trillion for corporate welfare, oops, I mean *infrastructure*, and a Federal Reserve whose solution to destabilizing wealth and income inequality is to make the rich even richer because, well, *that’s what we do here at the Federal Reserve.* **An old adage holds that *what everybody else already knows has little value.*** So everybody knows about the Fed’s endless spew of monetary giveaways to Wall Street and the federal government’s endless trillions in *borrow-and-blow* stimulus, but does everyone already know that **the stimulus-based economy and all the Fed-inflated asset bubbles are completely phony?** **Yes, phony.** Does everyone already know that *none of the promises that have been made to you can possibly be kept?* “Free” (to you) healthcare: no. Future Social Security payments with an equivalent purchasing power to the checks issued today: no. A national currency that holds its value into the future: no. High-functioning public infrastructure: no. A working democracy in which citizens can affect change even if the power structure defends a dysfunctional, corrupt status quo: no. An affordable higher education system that prepares its graduates for entrepreneurial jobs in the real-world economy: no. Cheap, abundant fossil fuels and reliable surpluses of electricity: no. High returns on low-risk savings: no. A government that can borrow endless trillions of dollars with no impact on interest rates or the real economy: no. Pay raises that keep up with real-world inflation: no. Ever-rising corporate profits: no. A status quo that actually ends privilege instead of cloaking it with PC PR: no. (Recall I wrote an entire book about institutionalized privilege and inequality: [Inequality and the Collapse of Privilege](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1539567338/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1539567338&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=ce026aa3ba3bc32eb89114bed507fbca).) A system that encourages the launching of new real-world businesses: no, no, no, a thousand times no. **A status quo that has some realistic plan to impose *Cold Turkey* withdrawal on all of Wall Street’s junkies addicted to Fed smack: you must be joking.** The junkies are running the entire financial system. **The faint glimmerings of reality leaking through the public-relations blitz is the first light of The Winter of Our Discontent.**The Federal Reserve’s apologists and lackeys are speaking 21 times this week, all to reassure the Wall Street junkies and dealers that the Fed’s supply of smack is infinite. **Why don’t we just rename the Fed *The Ministry of Propaganda*?** Wouldn’t a dash of *calling it what it really is* be refreshing? **If you think this scale of stimulus is sustainable and consequence-free, you must be mainlining [Delusionol](https://www.oftwominds.com/blogapril12/delusionol4-12.html)**. According to the Fed’s apologists and the political class, *Spring is here and will last forever*. This chart says The Winter of Our Discontent has yet to start, but the first signs are visible to those willing to look past the PR. ![](https://www.oftwominds.com/photos2021/stimulus3-21.png) ***If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by [becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com](https://www.patreon.com/charleshughsmith)**.* ***My new book is available!***[*A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet*](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HJWR4VC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08HJWR4VC&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=d59f979f9ce8528a4e1fb991b155758f) 20% and 15% discounts (Kindle $7, print $17, [**audiobook now available**](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PQ4FYPV/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08PQ4FYPV&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=39f4ad82c7b1a6c6a6044daa3b6790bd) $17.46) [*Read excerpts of the book for free (PDF).*](https://www.oftwominds.com/AHT-sample2.pdf) [The Story Behind the Book and the Introduction](https://www.oftwominds.com/hackers-teleology.html). ***Recent Podcasts:*** [AxisOfEasy Salon #40: Subprime Attention NFTs](https://axisofeasy.com/podcast/salon-40-subprime-attention-nfts/) ((1:01 hrs) –NFTs–non-fungible tokens… [The Coming Deflationary Tsunami ](https://youtu.be/cmk75nO67Ko) (53 min) *[**My COVID-19 Pandemic Posts**](https://www.oftwominds.com/pandemic-posts2020.html)* ***My recent books:*** *[A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HJWR4VC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08HJWR4VC&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=000dd63f47205f26b52a959cb4769242) (Kindle $8.95, print $20, [audiobook](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PQ4FYPV/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08PQ4FYPV&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=39f4ad82c7b1a6c6a6044daa3b6790bd) $17.46) [*Read the first section for free (PDF)*](https://www.oftwominds.com/AHT-sample2.pdf).* [Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082VLQBQ3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B082VLQBQ3&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=87deea89ddfe8dbf52738aebbf7f7ef4) (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) [*Read the first section for free (PDF)*](https://www.oftwominds.com/Richer-Poorer-sample.pdf). *[Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KMKWQWZ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07KMKWQWZ&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=c75aa078c89424fde33f09985292e73a)($5 (Kindle), $10 (print), ([audiobook](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MH3LR64/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07MH3LR64&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=afb78438bd34d85bff7cb38f76456985)): [*Read the first section for free (PDF)*](https://www.oftwominds.com/Pathfinding-Our-Destiny-sample2.pdf).* *[The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G7R9Y9B/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07G7R9Y9B&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=f2eedd137f2f10768d49846b931e6f21)$1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); [read the first chapters for free (PDF)](https://www.oftwominds.com/TCP-sample2.pdf)* *[Money and Work Unchained](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077S8PJ5Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B077S8PJ5Y&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=d3a935e067cb9a216e52fce67fa627b6) $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print)*[*Read the first section for free (PDF).*](https://www.oftwominds.com/Money-Work-free.pdf) *[Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com](https://www.patreon.com/charleshughsmith).* --- *NOTE: Contributions/subscriptions are acknowledged in the order received. 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