Image by Justin Ortega.

Here’s the terrifying moment in the American system. The economy exists for one thing, and one thing only: access to cheap (or close to free) currency which it may borrow from through the Federal Reserve whenever banking and corporate America “needs” it. That’s what drives the system. Everything else—politics included—is irrelevant to American economic success.

The list could be longer, but let’s start with the obvious. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s house was raided by the FBI under the claim that he may have stolen state secrets, yet the consensus appears to be that this is just payback for Bolton criticizing the policies of Donald Trump. This comes on the heels of Washington, DC being occupied by masked ICE agents and members of the National Guard, supposedly to deal with a surge in crime in DC that does not appear in any crime statistics. In the Texas legislature, there will be a change in the congressional mapping to advantage Republicans and take away representation for People of Color, countered by a ballot proposal in California to try to add Democratic seats to balance out what Texas is doing.

Where’s democracy in all of this? Seems like the United States is careening toward some form of authoritarian rule, certainly far removed from how a functioning democracy should work. From pure political payback, to inventing a problem that doesn’t exist, to manipulating district boundaries to give advantage to one party over another, this is not democracy.

But in the middle of all this stands the Federal Reserve, led by its Trump-appointed chair, Jerome Powell. Trump has advocated for a reduction in interest rates as a means by which to stoke the economy with easy-to-get money. The problem, as Powell, has pointed out, is that this can stoke inflation as money sloshes around in the economy in ample amounts but does little to help the economy at large. Sure, small borrowers might get a cut in mortgage rates, but they will also see interest rates on deposits go back down again. For the ordinary household, that bank account means nothing when the bank can get way more money from the Fed at low interest rates.

Powell has been reluctant to lower rates because inflation is still with us and might well increase even more as tariffs raise the cost of goods everywhere, from home improvement stores to supermarkets. But in his speech at the annual Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (22 August), Powell hinted that borrowing rates might go down without indicating exactly when. That hint was enough to send stock prices shooting higher at the NYSE. He claimed to be doing this in spite of Trump’s pressure to lower interest rates, but who can know?

Banks and corporations want free money. And if it’s not free, cut the rates so that they can get their mitts on money as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The lesson here is that the US may well tumble into autocracy, but it does not matter as long as the big corporations make money as quickly as possible. Moreover, note that it’s no longer a real capitalist system driven by production for a marketplace where certain goods and services are a necessity for survival.

What exists today, is a system built on finance capital, where the mere possession of money allows financiers to make still more money by investing in things that are not necessarily productive at all. There may be a shortage of housing, for example, but it’s really about affordable housing, hence the paradox of having a housing occupancy rate in downtown Los Angeles of about 91% but block upon block of people living on the streets in tents and cardboard boxes. Build expensive lofts and people will move to experience the grit of co-existing with a guy ready to pee on your front door, but do not do anything to give that guy an apartment to live in. That’s socialism, you see.

The stock market is not an indicator of financial well-being, at least not in the big scheme of things. It does show, however, that the wealthy are overjoyed with even the whiff of accessible money in the air.

For the rest of society, nothing really changes except that the individual freedoms supposedly protected by the constitution are being ignored. As Trump goes after displays in the Smithsonian museums, he has wondered aloud about slavery not being so bad. But don’t complain about what Trump is doing; masked soldiers may be waiting for you, now with guns.

As for Texas, it’s not about following the will of constituents living in different districts. Instead, it’s about moving the boundaries so that Black and Brown votes get diluted and (mostly) white Republicans get elected instead. Political issues have been pushed out of sight.

But no one really cares about that. The bankers just want lower interest rates. That’s all.

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