Our economy is in dire straits, but we shouldn’t forget how every decision we make affects our allies overseas. This article reports on European leaders sounding the alarm about the negative impact the Fed policies are having in their nations. As we are adjusting the value of the dollar through rate changes, other nations have to respond to the impact on their currency, facing no-win decisions. Let’s pray.

From ZeroHedge. As a result of the Fed’s relentless tightening blitz, which on November 2 will have hiked rates by 75bps on four occasions in just 96 trading days, the fastest tightening campaign since Volcker, both US capital markets (the S&P 500 is down -24%, for the 4th worst year on record, only 1931, 1974, and 2002 were worse; and 10Y TSYs are down -17% for the worst year on record … 1987 second worse, and bonds were down -10%) and the US economy have been left reeling.

View Comments (2)

Get prayer updates from IFA.

However, the damage in the US … [is] nothing compared to the devastation unleashed by the Fed in the form of the soaring dollar and exploding interest rates. And yet the outcry … has been relatively muted. …

At least that was the case until now: because today, in a startling outcry breaching the unspoken protocol of “no dissent, never dissent”, Josep Borrell, the high representative of the 27-member EU bloc, lashed out all too publicly at the Fed when he said that central banks (across Europe where the recession will be far, far worse than in the US) are being forced to follow the Fed’s multiple rate rises to prevent their currencies from slumping against the dollar, and compared the US central bank’s influence to Germany’s dominance of European monetary policy before the creation of the euro. …

“Everybody has to follow, because otherwise their currency will be [devalued],” Borrell said to an audience of EU ambassadors, the FT reported. “Everybody is running to increase interest rates, this will bring us to a world recession.”

The comments … came in a wide-ranging speech in which he also criticized the EU for failing to listen to foreign countries and seeking to “export” its governance model and standards on to others, and admitted that the bloc failed to anticipate Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine despite what the FT called “warnings from Washington.” …

Borrell’s carefully chosen words on US monetary policy followed the World Bank’s warning last month that rate rises by multiple central banks could trigger a global downturn in 2023, as it argued the “degree of synchronicity” by central banks was unlike anything seen in five decades.

Yes, the artificial façade of calm agreement propping up the world’s most aggressive tightening cycle in history is starting to crack. …

Borell’s warnings come as the World Bank and IMF kick off a week of joint meetings in Washington, where officials will discuss the multiple threats to the global economy. The fund is expected to downgrade its global economic forecasts for the fourth consecutive quarter.

And as a growing chorus of angry voices rises to warn the Fed against even more aggressive tightening, it appears that the message is finally seeping through: top Fed officials have recently more directly acknowledged that their campaign to tighten monetary policy risks creating “spillovers” that could jeopardize weaker economies, and all other economies too. But they underscore that their chief concern remains bringing US inflation under control, suggesting that the global ramifications of their plans are secondary considerations. …

How are you praying for the economy, both locally and globally? Share your prayers and scriptures below.

(Excerpt from ZeroHedge. Photo Credit: Canva)