I call it the “Monetary Industrial Complex.”
The Fed, the Treasury, banks, and now Big Tech (and its boundless AI capabilities) are part of it.
But it’s not some conspiracy… There’s no secret group of all-powerful agents conspiring to control the world forever.
The banks, the tech firms, and the government simply want to keep consumers spending. The private sector cares about profits; the government wants to see economic growth so that whoever is in charge gets re-elected.
In the meantime, they are unwittingly pushing the 18.6-year real estate cycle to its dramatic turn.
And they will use new tools and methods that will create a torrent of new credit and leverage the likes of which have never been seen before.
Let me explain.
They Already Know You Want That Boat
It recently dawned on the tech-shy banks… But Silicon Valley juggernauts have known it very well for a while.
Your true asset is not your checking account. It’s your personal information.
Think what Apple, Google, or Amazon knows about you. Your financials, your shopping habits, how and where you drive to and from work. Every article about fishing you liked… The location of every travel photo you posted… Your probable income level based on where your house is…
(And you thought you just wanted to share that picture of your family on social media…)
This data is a goldmine. And the tech giants have now mastered how to monetize it.
In the previous article, I talked about Paze, a mobile wallet that a consortium of U.S. banks is working on. It will link to credit and debit accounts of about 150 million consumers instantly.
To make Paze the killer app that banks hope it will be, they will have to allow it to connect directly to customers’ bank accounts.
Imagine now that you use your phone to search for your very first home.
Suddenly, Paze sends you a notification with mortgage offers from JPMorgan and others.
Can’t quite afford them? All of a sudden, you see an ad on Facebook inviting you to try driving for Uber.
Social media companies have shared personal data with third parties in the past.
In this way, fintech becomes more bank-like, and banks add data and AI capabilities that make them more like another Silicon Valley data harvester.
Forewarned, though, is forearmed. This is the time when lending standards become extremely lax. And now banks compete with Big Tech for your personal information.
And what if you start getting text messages and notifications from the banks who lent you money demanding some or all of it back? Simply because they can tell via your digital wallet that you’re struggling to make ends meet…
Then imagine this scenario during the incredibly violent and emotional period you and everyone else will go through during the inevitable bust that marks the end of the current cycle.
If the banks partner up with the government, which wants to introduce digital currencies (or CBDCs), they will be able to debit your accounts AND have that event recorded in your credit history instantly. There’s nothing you can do about it.
What You Should Do
My point is… Soon, you will never find it easier in your life to secure credit.
As I said in the previous article, our society is drunk on debt. And it’s about to get served the longest flight of tequila shots it’s ever seen.
And you’ll never be so exposed in your life to the whims and wants of those same banks.
They will give you virtual access to limitless credit, but the payback will be very real.
Stay alert. Instead of “investing” in debt, listen to the cycle. And the cycle says now is the time to trim down your debt, not add more.
Get creative if you have to… and do your best to own your home outright. That way, no bank can kick you out of your home…
Regards,
Phil Anderson
Editor, Cycles Trading with Phil Anderson
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