The Push to Crush Private Enterprise Through Federal Reserve Policy

On Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Kim Monson examines the forces working against American free enterprise with banker and Austrian economist Jay Davidson of First American State Bank, and sixth-generation rancher Trent Loos, who exposes dangerous conservation easement legislation moving through the Colorado legislature.

Federal Reserve Policy as Economic Weapon

Start listening at 25:56 – Hour 1

Jay Davidson, founder and CEO of First American State Bank, argues that the Federal Reserve’s rapid interest rate increases represent a deliberate assault on private enterprise. Davidson traces how the Fed raised rates from near zero to 5.5 percent in just 12 months, a shock not seen since the Jimmy Carter era that crushed savings and loans. He explains that banks serve as the conduit for Fed policy into commercial and industrial America, and when margins get squeezed by inverted yield curves, lending slows dramatically.

The conversation turns to the deeper mechanism of monetary destruction. Davidson explains how the Fed printed $8 trillion under quantitative easing while simultaneously raising rates, creating a contradictory policy that stimulates liquidity while crushing economic activity. Every dollar printed, he notes, devalues existing dollars and creates offsetting Treasury debt that citizens must repay. The solution, Davidson argues, lies in returning to constitutional principles and forcing Congress to drastically reduce spending.

“What the Fed is effectively doing by raising rates so dramatically, so incredibly fast, they’re attempting to destroy the private economy. Because the banks are the conduit for the Fed’s policy into the commercial and industrial world.”

Jay Davidson, CEO, First American State Bank

Conservation Easements: Land Grabs Disguised as Tax Credits

Start listening at 72:50 – Hour 2

Trent Loos, a sixth-generation farmer and rancher from Nebraska, dissects Colorado Senate Bill 126, which expands conservation easement income tax credits. Loos questions why anyone who believes in property rights would sign decision-making authority over to a third party, particularly for income tax credits that primarily benefit wealthy landowners. The bill, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, extends an oversight commission indefinitely and allows multiple transfers of these credits.

The discussion reveals how conservation easements strip landowners of control while creating tradeable financial instruments. Loos warns that the CCP or any foreign entity could end up holding easement rights on American agricultural land. One caller, Jenny, explains how these are really “conservation servitudes” that transfer rights permanently to third parties, noting that advocates recently defeated an attempt to list natural asset companies on the stock exchange. The conversation shifts to water rights abandonment, where unelected bureaucrats can declare water rights abandoned if owners miss a protest window, forcing them to hire attorneys to defend property they already own.

“You have an easement, which I don’t like to begin with, and now you have an income tax credit, which goes to benefit the wealthy among us who own the easement.”

Trent Loos, Sixth-Generation Rancher