The coming (already here) recession appears to be acutely sensitive ahead to the decisions of Jay Powell, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, described by one of the broadsheets as ‘the most important person in the world right now.’ “Money makes the world go round —- and he has his hand on the most important lever.” Central banks are stuck between rock and a hard place forced to choose between increasing interest rates to bring inflation down but in so doing suppressing chances of economic revival.
Decades back in the worst recession since WW11, Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US FedRes raised interest rates from 11.2 per cent in 1979 to 20 per cent in 1981 and drove the US economy off the cliff with global repercussions. There was a recovery after three or more years, as there always is, though long-term effects contributed to the Latin American debt crisis, long-lasting slowdowns in the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan African countries, and the later failure in the US savings and loans businesses.
“ Will Powell change direction too early, too late or, by some miracle, at just the right time? The health of the US economy (and by extension that of the rest of the world) depends on the answer to this question.”
Powell, 4 February 1953, Washington, DC, is a steady and stalwart Sun Mercury in Aquarius opposition Pluto, trine (Moon) Neptune (Saturn) in Libra. He has a Yod of Saturn Neptune sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars in Pisces. His Mars is being sucked into a swamp by tr Neptune conjunct from mid May 2023 onwards into early 2024. That is usually accompanied by a sense of panicky failure.
Tr Pluto will continue to square his Saturn from 2022 till late 2023 which is an uphill slog and usually discouraging. With his Solar Arc Mercury and then Sun opposition his Saturn now till 2025. And 2023 also sees tr Uranus square his Sun, Mercury and Pluto from now into 2024. All in all a white-knuckle ride ahead for him with no signs of great success.
His relationships with other top economic and political figures also reflect high anxiety. With Joe Biden, panic will set in through February and will peak as tr Pluto moves into Aquarius in late March through April.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, looks very fraught and aggravated with Powell in March and onwards; as well as mighty confused by his decisions.
Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, is equally floundering vis a vis Powell at the moment and throughout 2023 and stuck in late January.
Kristalina Georgieva, IMF chief, is at odds with Powell from April onwards into 2023.
Andrew Bailey, chairman of the Bank of England, is in turmoil with Powell from February onwards, descending into devastating confusion from late March as tr Pluto squares their composite Neptune. UK PM Rishi Sunak, himself a financier by background, will be hopping up and down from March onwards in his relationship with Powell and that extends through the year. UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is not looking too supportive either throughout 2023.
Transits to composite charts can show up splits in relationships and pressures; or a challenging situation both are facing jointly. But one way or another it looks like a rocky road ahead economically.
See previous post: Pluto into Aquarius – shock waves through central banks. 10th September 2021.
I think the difficulty for all these people is that they cannot control markets or the economy even though we expect that of them and perhaps they even believe that they can, given their roles. The economy is essentially a virtual system of exchange largely driven by the collective unconscious. We have seen in China how too much control stiffles innovation and expansion. As you have noted, it’s all very cyclical and perhaps that’s also something we need to understand and accept without allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by the ebb and flow of material prosperity. Economic setbacks also bring opportunities for personal exploration and growth. I envisage a new system of exchange emerging but it will take some time and releasing the old one will not go smoothly.
As I remember it the economist Schumpeter coined the idea of creative destruction. In nature the occasional woodland fire to burn material can boost the eco system. Not allowing that to happen leads to a build up of so much debris that when a fire eventually does happen the results are catastrophic. Unfortunately since the dot.com bust there has been an attempt by Central Banks encouraged by politicians to eliminate all boom and busts that has actually distorted the world economy in dangerous ways which means that has stifled true innovation, encouraged malinvestment and encouraged an economic model dedicated to controlling natural resources, bidding up asset prices and extracting rent in all its forms from wage earners. When trouble eventually happens as in 2008 it can potentially wreck the whole system.
The big Wall Street firms are pretty well connected in the Federal Reserve. The fact that Goldman Sachs are planning to lay off 8% of their staff in January 2023 is probably a pretty good indicator of what is coming. Politicians won’t like it but it is going to be hard to replace an existing Chairman. In addition there are possibly geopolitical reasons why the USA might want to afflict some pain on the world economy. The EU, the ECB, the British government and the BOE might not like it but then they are in a mess in part of their own creation.
Financial astrology is a very difficult area of prediction. The Aries Ingress for Washington DC has Virgo on the Ascendant with its ruling planet Mercury in the 8th House of shared resources together with the Sun and Jupiter in Aries. Venus is in Taurus which is favourable. Saturn in Pisces in the 6th House of work suggests restrictions and endings in the world of work. My guess is that while the financiers continue to get rich the ordinary worker may be heading for the dole queue. Historically financial markets often rally as the layoffs are announced.