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

19 snips

Oct 9, 2025

Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO of QI Research, shares her insights as a former Fed insider. She reveals how the Fed reclassified $300 billion in loans with no announcement, drawing alarming parallels to Enron. Booth highlights the rising youth unemployment rates due to AI adoption and warns that the Class of 2025 is facing dire prospects. She argues gold has morphed into a speculative asset and discusses the implications of the government's data shutdown for the Fed's upcoming decisions. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation on the economy!

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INSIGHT

Gold Has Become A Momentum Trade

Gold and the Nasdaq are both showing momentum-driven rallies that feel atypical and risky.
Wall Street price targets and meme-like flows make gold vulnerable to contrarian reversals.

INSIGHT

Hidden Expansion Of Nonbank Lending

The Fed quietly reclassified roughly $250–300B of loans into NDFIs, expanding the nonbank lending “black box” to about $1.7–1.8T.
That shift hides credit risk from standard bank loan categories and complicates oversight.

INSIGHT

Off-Balance Financing Masks True Risk

Companies like Tricolor and First Brands used off-balance-sheet financing, revealing some firms were effectively financials, not traditional manufacturers.
That practice can mask true delinquency and risk, creating contagion when it unwinds.

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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