Governor Greg Abbott Delivers a Vote of No Confidence

Texas Governor Greg Abbott gave up on the Biden administration doing much to secure his state’s border with Mexico.

An estimated 6 million people, including large numbers of fighting age men, have been pouring illegally into border states over the past 3 years. Abbott is using the Texas national guard and state police to put up barriers.

Gov. Abbott issued a declaration in which the opening sentence reads: "The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States."

Abbott claims the federal government is derelict in its duty to protect the border and that Texas has a sovereign right to defend its territory and people. Governors in 25 other states have expressed their support.

The constitutional crisis brewing over the border could be historic. For investors, the most pertinent fact may be that 26 state governors are delivering a vote of “no confidence” in the federal government.

Confidence has been shaken a lot in recent years. When it finally breaks, investors may want to be out of the way.

Confidence is the intangible force helping to hold markets up. It keeps depositors from fleeing the banks. It underpins the Federal Reserve note. It prevents periodic bouts of selling in the stock market from becoming disorderly.

Rivers of capital from both here and abroad flow into U.S. debt and equity markets because investors believe in America.

When trouble arises, such as during an economic downturn, or something worse such as the 2008 financial crisis, investors might sell stocks or bonds rapidly.

This is what makes the times we are living in more perilous for investors. Determining which assets can serve as a safe-haven is getting harder.

If an asset’s value depends on confidence in the federal government, many are thinking twice.

Confidence is waning across a broad spectrum of institutions, with the federal government very prominently among them. The next crisis of confidence might not be limited to publicly traded companies. It could include U.S. debt and the fiat Federal Reserve note itself.

There is a portion of the population whose disdain for the federal government goes deeper than mere dislike for Joe Biden.

They view corruption as pervasive throughout federal agencies.

Anyone paying attention knows that federal debts and unfunded liabilities cannot be paid in honest money.

Investors would be wise to get prepared for market volatility to ramp up. If the selling starts, it won’t necessarily be limited to stocks.

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