This is Current Yield, the Grant's Interest Rate Observer podcast, and I am Jim Grant, and

welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Joining me today, as always, Eric Whitehead to my left, at the

controls. Phil Grant, across from him, Phil is the editor of almost daily grants, which you should

read almost every day, and city directly across from me is the editor of almost daily grants, which you should read almost every day.

And, see directly across from me, is the great Evan Lorenz deputy editor of grants.

So ladies and gentlemen, today what we got is not one guest.

We haven't got any paid commercials, although you'll be hearing from our own John Delgado later on the necessity of subscribing to grants.

And so the plan is evident, I don't know,

the plan is just keep talking to. We say something smart, right? Yes. So we could be here for a long time.

This could be a protracted episode of grants podcast, the current yield podcast. Trial and error. Right,

correct. So what I want to start with with something entirely substantive, which has to do with

interest rates, such as they are. And text from which

I preach today is a tweet. Thanks to you, Jesse Felder for this. And Mr. Felder writes, normally when

unemployment is this low and consumers feel this good, and I must say parenthetically, they feel

about as good as they felt in many a moon, the Fed Funds rate is positive

in real terms by at least 300 basis points or three percentage points, not today. So, Evan, this is a test.

So the Fed Funds rate today is 175 to 2%. No? Correct? That's correct. And the inflation rate,

you make it to be over 2%. Yeah. So that would say that the real Fed funds rate is a big fat goose egg, no?

Yeah.

As opposed to the three percentage points of Fed funds rate that we would have if things were hunky-dory,

as we at grants would define that.

I think that's fair.

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