Last August, Runnymede Capital warned our readers that a financial hurricane was coming. Over the past six months, the stock markets around the world tumbled and the US has followed suit in 2016. Our clients, who gave us permission to raise cash reserves, were fortunate and their assets were protected.

Today, we are sounding off another BIG alarm that the banks are planning to take principal out of your bank deposits. Most Americans don’t know that the Central bank is not an agency of the US government but a privately owned banking cartel. It is owned by the banks which are members of the Federal Reserve. No one knows how much of the system each bank owns because it is a deep dark secret. Their actions and assets are never audited by anyone.

The Fed's number one priority: Bank Profitability

The Federal Reserve has power over the U.S. banking system and it makes certain that the banks make lots of money. The depositors (you) are not the Central Bank’s number one priority. The Fed controls the money supply, sets the interest rates and hands out bailouts to the big banks by asking the banks not to pay depositors any interest payments. Billions of dollars in taxpayer money allowed banks that were on the brink of collapse in 2008 from underwriting low quality subprime mortgages and gambling in derivatives, not only to survive but to flourish. These banks collected $1 trillion in revenues mainly from funds out of our pockets by not paying interest to us and made billions in profits. Are they still in trouble eight years later? The answer is YES because they are still gambling with trillions of derivatives and moreover, the energy loans are going sour.

Expect negative rates in 2016 or 2017

Once you understand the Central Bank is not your friend, you can predict their next move: say goodbye to zero interest rates and say hello to its evil twin negative interest rates. The “den of thieves” is coming to take your principal straight out of your bank accounts. You and I will soon have to pay the bank interest as a “patriotic” way to stimulate the economy. A negative interest rate means the banks will charge you fees based on the size of your deposit; instead of receiving interest on deposits, depositors must pay regularly to keep their money with the bank. They say this is intended to incentivize banks to lend money more freely and businesses and individuals to invest, lend, and spend money rather than pay a fee to keep it safe. Do you really believe their line of reasoning?

The second argument is that our “allies” are doing it and therefore, you have nothing to fear. The Bank of Japan is the latest central bank to enact negative rates on January 29, 2016. The European Central Bank and the central banks of Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden have had negative interest rates for over a year. The Swedish just cut their rates today to -50bps. The central banks and media may present this as a stimulus to economic growth, it is in fact the opposite. Negative interest rates are extremely deflationary because it is taking money out of our pockets which could be spent on goods or services. It is clear from the last year that negative interest rates have not helped the economy, nor the financial markets, of these countries which enacted NIRP (negative interest rate policy). Have these central bankers lost their minds or are they just helping the banks to take away your savings?

Desperate measures from central banks

Richard Koo, the chief economist of the Nomura Research Institute recently wrote in Barron's 2/3/16 issue: “In my view,” he wrote, “the adoption of negative interest rates is an act of desperation born out of despair over the inability of quantitative easing and inflation targeting to produce the desired results.”

“The failure of the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank to meet their inflation and growth goals is shared by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. None of these central banks understand that their textbook solutions don’t fit the real economy,” Koo asserted.

Guess who gets hurt from all this? The savers and retirees. By contacting Runnymede, we can help you to take protective action and to navigate this challenging environment.

“COMING SOON” by Peter-Ashley is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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