Wells Fargo Advises trust central bankers

I went with the boss* to hear Wells Fargo Advisors CEO Danny Ludeman speak at Olin Business School last week. This began with a 20 minute long circle jerk of self congratulatory introductions between Wash U administrators, United Way spokesman, and our Wells Fargo community outreach specialist. If I transcribed every word spoken into the microphone that morning, highlighting every instance of the word "support", the page could be confused for a point blank blood splatter.
Ludeman's topic was pointlessly vague and content rife with platitudes. "We have to prepare for the future... without forgetting our roots in the past... which are rooted in the community... success comes from honesty and integrity..."
Typical corporate speaker tour patter. There were a few morsels of substance to be found. Ludeman commented that his company was getting more clients actively concerned about their retirement than ever before "because Social Security might be bankrupt in 20 years." Also Danny was pleased to report that the Great Recession is surely drawing to a close, as all economic indicators are up, up, including the savings rate now up to 5%, from 0% at height of the bubble.
After a lukewarm conclusion, again with redundant philanthropy cheerleading (why not tell us how you actually produce wealth before crowing about how great it is to give it away?), the floor was opened to questions. After going to dozens of these speeches and being used to having scruffy libertarians carefully screened out, I was shockingly called on first, amongst the packed auditorium.
I asked, verbatim, "What do you tell your clients when they ask about inflation risk? Its great that the savings rate is up to 5%, but if the government spends it for you and devalues your account, the economy is no better off."
Ludeman deferred to his "analysts and experts" but assured me the Wells Fargo team does not predict any dramatic inflation acceleration.
Oh. We're done here.
So SS is predictably going to be completely bankrupt by 2030 (optimistic), but down the street at the Federal Reserve, restraint will be maintained? What politician is going to tell the AARP, "sorry, no checks this month" and expect to be in office 31 days later? They will print whatever they have to! SS will be bailed out, and then bailed out, and then bailed out again, forever. And yes, this means inflation, hyper-actively.
Upon some further research, WF is no stranger to bailouts. Chairman Kovacevich refuses the crown three times, but in the end takes $25B of public money.
This guy Ludeman is thick with the central banking cartel and is taking his clients on the same long con.






*

I take grandma to one of our jobsites for progress pictures and scold some workers. Sorry John.