A year ago this would have sounded insane. The Treasury Secretary openly pointing the finger at the Federal Reserve and saying the two tier system we live under is their doing. Not implied. Not hinted at. Said directly. That alone tells you something big has shifted behind the scenes.
For decades the Fed was treated like a sacred cow. Untouchable. Above politics. Above blame. Every crisis somehow happened around them, never because of them. Now you have a sitting Treasury Secretary essentially saying what regular people have been feeling for years. That monetary policy has created winners and losers by design.
The two tier system is not subtle anymore. Asset owners live in a different economy than wage earners. If you owned stocks real estate or hard assets you were rescued over and over again. If you lived on a paycheck you got inflation and higher bills. Same country. Two completely different realities.
This did not happen overnight. Zero rates endless liquidity and backstopping markets trained capital to flow one direction. Upward. Wealth compounded while purchasing power eroded. That is not an accident. That is policy working exactly as intended.
What makes this moment shocking is not that it is true. It is that it is being admitted. Publicly. On the record. A year ago even suggesting this would get you labeled unserious or conspiratorial. Now it is coming from the top of the financial hierarchy.
Once officials start blaming each other in the open it usually means the system is under stress. This feels less like accountability and more like positioning. When the consequences finally hit hardest nobody wants to be holding the bag.
It also tells you confidence is cracking. Institutions only speak this honestly when the narrative no longer holds. Inflation exposed too much. People noticed the disconnect between markets screaming higher and daily life getting harder. That gap could not be spun forever.
The real question is what happens next. Admission does not equal reform. Saying the Fed caused a two tier system does not mean it will be dismantled. Historically these systems double down before they change. They protect themselves until they cannot.
Still this moment matters. Once the curtain is pulled back you cannot fully close it again. People heard it. And they will not forget it. That alone makes this statement one of the most revealing things said in years.