#293 Danielle DiMartino Booth: Fed Quietly Reclassified $300B In Loans With No Comment - Is This Systemic?

Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and Chief Strategist at QI Research, joins Julia La Roche in-studio following the Fed minutes. In this episode, DiMartino Booth highlights how the Fed quietly reclassified nearly $300 billion in loans on a Friday afternoon with no comment, shifting them from stodgy commercial categories into the "black box" of non-depository financial institution (NDFI) lending now totaling $1.7 trillion. She draws parallels to Enron as First Brands bankruptcy exposes what appeared to be an auto supplier was actually a financial using off-balance sheet vehicles, with subprime delinquency rates likely double reported figures. Elsewhere, Booth warns youth unemployment hit 1988 levels but from lack of demand not supply as companies blindly adopt AI without hiring, leaving the Class of 2025 worse off than 2024. She argues gold has become a "meme stock" with Wall Street firms' price targets signaling contrarian risk, while the government shutdown leaves the Fed "flying blind" without official data for their October 29th meeting. Sponsors: Monetary Metals: https://monetary-metals.com/julia⁠ Links: Danielle's Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/dimartinobooth Substack: https://dimartinobooth.substack.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielleDiMartinoBoothQIFed Up: https://www.amazon.com/Fed-Up-Insiders-Federal-Reserve/dp/0735211655 0:00 Hawkish Fed minutes - knife in Miran's back 1:44 Fed insider on Miran controversy 2:48 Did Fed want September cut? 5:08 Shutdown means Fed flying blind October 6:04 Gold and NASDAQ flying - unusual 7:03 Gold as meme stock - contrarian warning 9:50 NDFI loans - $1.7 trillion black box 12:21 $250B loan reclassification bombshell 13:14 Fed reclassified quietly on Friday 14:17 First brands like Enron revelation 16:21 Off balance sheet financing returns 18:25 Subprime delinquencies likely double 20:15 Is this systemic? Fed doesn't know 21:28 Fed won't move without official data 22:22 Challenger data horror at Fed 24:52 Charts need gray recession bars 25:12 Fed put born October 1987 27:32 Youth unemployment demand crisis 30:02 AI adoption without hiring 32:24 Parents worry kids made redundant 33:20 First five years determine career 35:48 Not sending kids to college 37:11 Put faces on repo statistics 38:47 Markets masking K economy 39:01 Lowercase i economy concept