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Just a hint to avoid thinking about how bad the country is being run into the ground.
If you put the top 6 CLOWNS who dominate this board, who are all on welfare, I'm sure, and could care less about the country failing, as long as their Obamaphones and EBT cards keep working, then visit this board, your posts are the ONLY ones that show up. Desert, Sox, fuguaf, Peg, Steph, and maybe one other (I forget), are the only lunatics who post on this board.
Think about that. These 6-7 morons get together ALL day every day, because they DON'T work, and they live on the backs of the taxpayers, using probably their gov't sponsored internet connections, to do nothing but say how pathetic the 85% of Americans are called the middle class, and champion all the ideas of the .01%, now being led by their teflon-king, who are doing everything they can to destroy that 85%. They want a 1% and a 99%, and these idiots (6-7 represented on this board) are too stupid to realize it. They are in the bottom feeders already, so they delight in knowing that soon they will have a lot more company as the scum in DC turn the 85% middle class into bottom feeders as well.
Just thought you, as the lone voice left here, would like to know the reality of this most pathetic board.
Six freaking morons is all it is! It's really hilarious when you think about it. Come to the Simply Politics or the Politics & Money board, and put these clowns on ignore. I feel better not reading their drivel after only one day!
Welcome away from the dark side! Not saying the other side in DC is much better, but this teflon-coated guy they all worship is on a mission to totally destroy every vestige of the REPUBLIC.
I still, after all these years, am astounded that people think so differently on so many issues. On a conservative board, one thought can be thought of as inspirational and spot on, while on this liberal, welfare-laden board, it is called foolish, ignorant, hateful. I think I have figured out that your people cannot ever be swayed to change their thought patterns at all. So, ban or no ban, this is a complete waste of time. I leave you all to YOUR people who think, act, and believe EXACTLY the same as each of you who meet here to do your best to hope the Republic will finally be crushed under the heel of a massive federal boot.
Watch it again, as I know it's like looking in a mirror, and it makes those on this board swell with liberal pride. So very sad and pathetic.
Let's stop arguing and just look at the economy and the role of the federal gov't in another year, shall we?
Once again, the point eludes a liberal who focuses on one thing that irritates them. The point was the difference in what "equality" actually means. And no matter their personal and specific religious, or non-religious beliefs, they did use the terms “Nature’s God” and the “Creator,” so they at least all agreed on a higher power when defining what they meant by "equality."
I know this is all too much for a liberal to comprehend, so I'll leave you to it to sling insults, which seems what many here do best.
Because that "hostage" will add to the deficit, ruin healthcare, and make the economic picture worse for most people in the long run. That said, how does the Teflon-King always get a pass when he says, "I won't negotiate," but the other said is called evil children? You need to look at Barry's history and see who is acting childish in most cases.
To banks. In theory, it would then be loaned to business and people, who would build business, hire more people, and grow the economy. But, after two previous rounds of this DESPERATE BS, it as NOT done that. Most of it is going into the markets, so that those who are already ultra-rich can simply get richer.
Keep believing the lies, and keep hoping for the change, but it's not coming. Only sad singing and slow marching.
I fear the US will NOT pull through if the move AWAY from a Republic and TOWARD a Socialist State continues.
A Republic demands that a Constitutional gov't be LIMITED. Citizens have more control.
A Socialist gov't only allows perhaps a citizen to vote, making them believe they actually have a choice, while the truth is that bureaucrats and those who think they are elite totally run the country.
The US was created as a free state and a free economy until the despicable Franklin Roosevelt took over.
Socialism is a sneaky way to dupe the people into thinking they are trading only BITS of freedom for LOTS of safety . . . a huge lie.
America was founded as a representative REPUBLIC, not a Democracy, as liberals today purposely fill the heads of the stupid and the young ignorant and impressionable.
When the Founding Father said "All men are created equal," they were referring to inalienable rights bestowed by a higher power, or a Creator. So they set up a gov't to try and balance freedom and equality. They were not implying that all people are EQUALS, as all you have to do is look at people walking down any street, and you will quickly see that people are indeed NOT equal in many respects.
The original gov't was granted powers by the people. They could NOT grant themselves ANY powers.
Then Roosevelt decided to completely switch this and make the gov't hold the power strings, and the gov't would grant freedoms to the people. ASS BACKWARDS!
The liberals have taken a country where people were held responsible for their bad choices and rewarded for their good choices, and they have turned it into a welfare state.
EQUALITY meant equality bestowed by the Creator, not equality in education, jobs, food, housing, income, social status, insurance, healthcare, etc.
With each new law handed down from a gov't stolen from the people to try and make people more EQUAL in every area, someone always must LOSE, and it is most Americans who have lost FREEDOM.
We now have a gov't that tells a once free people what they can and can't do in every area of their lives.
They view themselves as a benevolent dictator who knows what every person needs better than they do. And this lie has been accepted by many groups, including the least ambitious and the dimwitted . . . and championed by the most corrupt among us, the politicians!
If a dictator exists, then FREEDOM cannot!
Ronald Reagan said it well:
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable, rights are now considered to be dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as it is at this very moment!"
And ALL politicians have sold this bill of goods to the people, but especially the liberal left. They have convinced at least 1/2 of the people that they are tolerant, full of love, caring, and all they want to do is to make the peoples' lives easier and safer.
Those born before WWII know what loss is and know what freedom is, but the current generations do not, so they have eaten up these lies with no resistance.
The result? A nation moved to not being first in anything. Declining education. No manufacturing but only a service economy. A nation of many morals is now perhaps one of the countries with the least morals.
Who needs grades and competition as long as everyone FEELS GOOD? Why have an open market place where hard work and determination is all that counts when a "benevolent" gov't can make everything "EQUAL?"
The country is in decline and failing economically and every other way due to this lie of socialism that has been sold to generations with no background to understand they have been duped.
We used to say "God Bless America," but now, for those who understand the reality, we say "God Help America."
I fear the US will NOT pull through if the move AWAY from a Republic and TOWARD a Socialist State continues.
A Republic demands that a Constitutional gov't be LIMITED. Citizens have more control.
A Socialist gov't only allows perhaps a citizen to vote, making them believe they actually have a choice, while the truth is that bureaucrats and those who think they are elite totally run the country.
The US was created as a free state and a free economy until the despicable Franklin Roosevelt took over.
Socialism is a sneaky way to dupe the people into thinking they are trading only BITS of freedom for LOTS of safety . . . a huge lie.
America was founded as a representative REPUBLIC, not a Democracy, as liberals today purposely fill the heads of the stupid and the young ignorant and impressionable.
When the Founding Father said "All men are created equal," they were referring to inalienable rights bestowed by a higher power, or a Creator. So they set up a gov't to try and balance freedom and equality. They were not implying that all people are EQUALS, as all you have to do is look at people walking down any street, and you will quickly see that people are indeed NOT equal in many respects.
The original gov't was granted powers by the people. They could NOT grant themselves ANY powers.
Then Roosevelt decided to completely switch this and make the gov't hold the power strings, and the gov't would grant freedoms to the people. ASS BACKWARDS!
The liberals have taken a country where people were held responsible for their bad choices and rewarded for their good choices, and they have turned it into a welfare state.
EQUALITY meant equality bestowed by the Creator, not equality in education, jobs, food, housing, income, social status, insurance, healthcare, etc.
With each new law handed down from a gov't stolen from the people to try and make people more EQUAL in every area, someone always must LOSE, and it is most Americans who have lost FREEDOM.
We now have a gov't that tells a once free people what they can and can't do in every area of their lives.
They view themselves as a benevolent dictator who knows what every person needs better than they do. And this lie has been accepted by many groups, including the least ambitious and the dimwitted . . . and championed by the most corrupt among us, the politicians!
If a dictator exists, then FREEDOM cannot!
Ronald Reagan said it well:
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable, rights are now considered to be dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as it is at this very moment!"
And ALL politicians have sold this bill of goods to the people, but especially the liberal left. They have convinced at least 1/2 of the people that they are tolerant, full of love, caring, and all they want to do is to make the peoples' lives easier and safer.
Those born before WWII know what loss is and know what freedom is, but the current generations do not, so they have eaten up these lies with no resistance.
The result? A nation moved to not being first in anything. Declining education. No manufacturing but only a service economy. A nation of many morals is now perhaps one of the countries with the least morals.
Who needs grades and competition as long as everyone FEELS GOOD? Why have an open market place where hard work and determination is all that counts when a "benevolent" gov't can make everything "EQUAL?"
The country is in decline and failing economically and every other way due to this lie of socialism that has been sold to generations with no background to understand they have been duped.
We used to say "God Bless America," but now, for those who understand the reality, we say "God Help America."
I fear the US will NOT pull through if the move AWAY from a Republic and TOWARD a Socialist State continues.
A Republic demands that a Constitutional gov't be LIMITED. Citizens have more control.
A Socialist gov't only allows perhaps a citizen to vote, making them believe they actually have a choice, while the truth is that bureaucrats and those who think they are elite totally run the country.
The US was created as a free state and a free economy until the despicable Franklin Roosevelt took over.
Socialism is a sneaky way to dupe the people into thinking they are trading only BITS of freedom for LOTS of safety . . . a huge lie.
America was founded as a representative REPUBLIC, not a Democracy, as liberals today purposely fill the heads of the stupid and the young ignorant and impressionable.
When the Founding Father said "All men are created equal," they were referring to inalienable rights bestowed by a higher power, or a Creator. So they set up a gov't to try and balance freedom and equality. They were not implying that all people are EQUALS, as all you have to do is look at people walking down any street, and you will quickly see that people are indeed NOT equal in many respects.
The original gov't was granted powers by the people. They could NOT grant themselves ANY powers.
Then Roosevelt decided to completely switch this and make the gov't hold the power strings, and the gov't would grant freedoms to the people. ASS BACKWARDS!
The liberals have taken a country where people were held responsible for their bad choices and rewarded for their good choices, and they have turned it into a welfare state.
EQUALITY meant equality bestowed by the Creator, not equality in education, jobs, food, housing, income, social status, insurance, healthcare, etc.
With each new law handed down from a gov't stolen from the people to try and make people more EQUAL in every area, someone always must LOSE, and it is most Americans who have lost FREEDOM.
We now have a gov't that tells a once free people what they can and can't do in every area of their lives.
They view themselves as a benevolent dictator who knows what every person needs better than they do. And this lie has been accepted by many groups, including the least ambitious and the dimwitted . . . and championed by the most corrupt among us, the politicians!
If a dictator exists, then FREEDOM cannot!
Ronald Reagan said it well:
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable, rights are now considered to be dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as it is at this very moment!"
And ALL politicians have sold this bill of goods to the people, but especially the liberal left. They have convinced at least 1/2 of the people that they are tolerant, full of love, caring, and all they want to do is to make the peoples' lives easier and safer.
Those born before WWII know what loss is and know what freedom is, but the current generations do not, so they have eaten up these lies with no resistance.
The result? A nation moved to not being first in anything. Declining education. No manufacturing but only a service economy. A nation of many morals is now perhaps one of the countries with the least morals.
Who needs grades and competition as long as everyone FEELS GOOD? Why have an open market place where hard work and determination is all that counts when a "benevolent" gov't can make everything "EQUAL?"
The country is in decline and failing economically and every other way due to this lie of socialism that has been sold to generations with no background to understand they have been duped.
We used to say "God Bless America," but now, for those who understand the reality, we say "God Help America."
Let's bet. I say the US will NOT pull through, as you put it, if the move AWAY from a Republic and TOWARD a Socialist State continues.
A Republic demands that a Constitutional gov't be LIMITED. Citizens have more control.
A Socialist gov't only allows perhaps a citizen to vote, making them believe they actually have a choice, while the truth is that bureaucrats and those who think they are elite totally run the country.
The US was created as a free state and a free economy until the despicable Franklin Roosevelt took over.
Socialism is a sneaky way to dupe the people into thinking they are trading only BITS of freedom for LOTS of safety . . . a huge lie.
America was founded as a representative REPUBLIC, not a Democracy, as liberals today purposely fill the heads of the stupid and the young ignorant and impressionable.
When the Founding Father said "All men are created equal," they were referring to inalienable rights bestowed by a higher power, or a Creator. So they set up a gov't to try and balance freedom and equality. They were not implying that all people are EQUALS, as all you have to do is look at people walking down any street, and you will quickly see that people are indeed NOT equal in many respects.
The original gov't was granted powers by the people. They could NOT grant themselves ANY powers.
Then Roosevelt decided to completely switch this and make the gov't hold the power strings, and the gov't would grant freedoms to the people. ASS BACKWARDS!
The liberals have taken a country where people were held responsible for their bad choices and rewarded for their good choices, and they have turned it into a welfare state.
EQUALITY meant equality bestowed by the Creator, not equality in education, jobs, food, housing, income, social status, insurance, healthcare, etc.
With each new law handed down from a gov't stolen from the people to try and make people more EQUAL in every area, someone always must LOSE, and it is most Americans who have lost FREEDOM.
We now have a gov't that tells a once free people what they can and can't do in every area of their lives.
They view themselves as a benevolent dictator who knows what every person needs better than they do. And this lie has been accepted by many groups, including the least ambitious and the dimwitted . . . and championed by the most corrupt among us, the politicians!
If a dictator exists, then FREEDOM cannot!
Ronald Reagan said it well:
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable, rights are now considered to be dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as it is at this very moment!"
And ALL politicians have sold this bill of goods to the people, but especially the liberal left. They have convinced at least 1/2 of the people that they are tolerant, full of love, caring, and all they want to do is to make the peoples' lives easier and safer.
Those born before WWII know what loss is and know what freedom is, but the current generations do not, so they have eaten up these lies with no resistance.
The result? A nation moved to not being first in anything. Declining education. No manufacturing but only a service economy. A nation of many morals is now perhaps one of the countries with the least morals.
Who needs grades and competition as long as everyone FEELS GOOD? Why have an open market place where hard work and determination is all that counts when a "benevolent" gov't can make everything "EQUAL?"
The country is in decline and failing economically and every other way due to this lie of socialism that has been sold to generations with no background to understand they have been duped.
We used to say "God Bless America," but now, for those who understand the reality, we say "God Help America."
Only forced on those who CHOOSE to not only demand that others take complete care of their needs for life, but ALSO they insist that they be allowed to screw at will and bring MORE totally dependent TAKERS into the system. The fact that anyone disagrees with this is astounding! And, by the way, MY solution was to force them to put a birth control patch in that lasts for months to years, and as soon as they are supporting themselves, then they can have the right to give birth to another human with a chance that some other American will not be FORCED to provide everything for it.
If two people get married, and both carry a gene giving their offspring a 95% chance that the baby will grow up to mug and steal from other citizens, is it wrong to require that these two not have the right to procreate, but rather choose adoption? I think not.
It's only putting money in circulation in Wall Street and banksters pockets. How can you guys keep believing that there is a hoot of difference between anyone in DC, be they called Republican or Democrat on the largest matters?
Freaking hilarious how you post a link of support for QE from federalreserve.gov!
It's like telling me you got a glowing reco for Barry from barry.gov
The stupidity in this country is mind-boggling!
The Teflon Prince . . . and the liberal 53% cannot see for their blind devotion to the targeted collapse of the Republic. Sickeningly amazing how many morons are now roaming the streets.
The Regime of The Long Knives – Obama Fires 2 More Military Leaders, What’s He Up To?
http://universalfreepress.com/watch-the-regime-of-the-long-knives-obama-fires-2-more-military-leaders-whats-he-up-to/
Obamacare: A Parasite Intent on Killing Its Host
http://lfb.org/today/obamacare-a-parasite-intent-on-killing-its-host/
As the health care debate rages on, there is one reality that even the proponents of this hostile takeover of health care by government cannot ignore — and that is money. The government simply does not have the money for a new, expansive, public health care plan. The country is in a deep recession. The last thing we need is for government to increase and expand taxes to pay for another damaging, wasteful program. Foreigners are becoming less enthusiastic about buying our debt, and creating another open-ended welfare program when we cannot pay for what is already in place will not help. Champions of socialized medicine want to tax the rich, tax businesses that already cannot afford to provide health plans to employees and tax people who don’t want to participate in the government’s scheme by buying an approved health care plan. Presumably, all these taxes are to induce compliance. This is not freedom, nor will it improve health care. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy and, in the end, drives prices up. The nonpartisan CBO estimates that the health care plan will cost almost a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. But government crystal balls always massively underestimate costs. It is not hard to imagine the final cost being two or three times the estimates, even though the estimates are bad enough. It is still surreal that in a free country, we are talking only about how government should fix health care, rather than why government should fix health care. This should be between doctors and patients. But this has been the discussion since the ’60s and the inception of Medicare and Medicaid, when government first began intervening to keep costs down and make sure everyone had access. The result of Medicaid and Medicare price controls and regulatory burden has been to drive more doctors out of the system — making it more difficult for the poor and the elderly to receive quality care! Seemingly, there are no failed government programs, only underfunded ones. If we refuse to acknowledge common-sense economics, the prescription will always be the same: more government. Make no mistake, government control and micromanagement of health care will hurt, not help, health care in this country. However, if for a moment, we allowed the assumption that it really would accomplish all they claim, paying for it would still plunge the country into poverty. This solves nothing. The government, like any household struggling with bills to pay, should prioritize its budget. If the administration is serious about supporting health care without contributing to our skyrocketing deficits, they should fulfill promises to reduce our overseas commitments and use some of those savings to take care of Americans at home, instead of killing foreigners abroad. The leadership in Washington persists in a fantasy world of unlimited money to spend on unlimited programs and wars to garner unlimited control. But there is a fast-approaching limit to our ability to borrow, steal and print. Acknowledging this reality is not mean-spirited or cruel. On the contrary, it could be the only thing that saves us from complete and total economic meltdown. Democracy is majority rule at the expense of the minority. Our system has certain democratic elements, but the Founders never mentioned democracy in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence. In fact, our most important protections are decidedly undemocratic. For example, the First Amendment protects free speech. It doesn’t — or shouldn’t — matter if that speech is abhorrent to 51% or even 99% of the people. Speech is not subject to majority approval. Under our republican form of government, the individual, the smallest of minorities, is protected from the mob. Sadly, the Constitution and its protections are respected less and less as we have quietly allowed our constitutional republic to devolve into a militarist, corporatist social democracy. Laws are broken, quietly changed and ignored when inconvenient to those in power, while others in positions to check and balance do nothing. The protections the Founders put in place are more and more just an illusion. This is why increasing importance is placed on the beliefs and views of the president. The very narrow limitations on government power are clearly laid out in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Nowhere is there any reference to being able to force Americans to buy health insurance or face a tax or penalty, for example. Yet this power has been claimed by the executive and astonishingly affirmed by Congress and the Supreme Court. Because we are a constitutional republic, the mere popularity of a policy should not matter. If it is in clear violation of the limits of government and the people still want it, a constitutional amendment is the only appropriate way to proceed. However, rather than going through this arduous process, the Constitution was, in effect, ignored, and the insurance mandate was allowed anyway. This demonstrates how there is now a great deal of unhindered flexibility in the Oval Office to impose personal views and preferences on the country, so long as 51% of the people can be convinced to vote a certain way. The other 49%, on the other hand, have much to be angry about and protest under this system. We should not tolerate the fact that we have become a nation ruled by men, their whims and the mood of the day, and not laws. It cannot be emphasized enough that we are a republic, not a democracy and, as such, we should insist that the framework of the Constitution be respected and boundaries set by law are not crossed by our leaders. These legal limitations on government assure that other men do not impose their will over the individual, but rather, the individual is able to govern himself. When government is restrained, liberty thrives
I think I understand QE quite well. As always, you simply repeat what morons with under 100 IQ's keep telling you on MSNBC, the channel of socialist idiots.
Fed Policy Hasn’t Worked: 3 Academic Studies Show that Quantitative Easing Doesn’t Help the Economy
Quantitative easing doesn’t help Main Street or the average American. It only helps big banks, giant corporations, and big investors. (In reality, Federal Reserve policy works … just not for the average American. And a lot of the money goes abroad).
Lacy Hunt – former senior economist for the Federal Reserve in Dallas, chief economist for Fidelity Bank, chief U.S. economist for HSBC, and now Vice President of Hoisington Investment Management Company (with more than $5 billion under management) – writes today:
Academic studies indicate the Fed’s efforts are ineffectualAnother piece of evidence that points toward monetary ineffectiveness is the academic research indicating that LSAP [the Federal Reserve's program of Large Scale Asset Purchases] is a losing proposition. The United States now has had five years to evaluate the efficacy of LSAP, during which time the Fed’s balance sheet has increased a record fourfold.
It is undeniable that the Fed has conducted an all-out effort to restore normal economic conditions. However, while monetary policy works with a lag, the LSAP has been in place since 2008 with no measurable benefit. This lapse of time is now far greater than even the longest of the lags measured in the extensive body of scholarly work regarding monetary policy.
Three different studies by respected academicians have independently concluded that indeed these efforts have failed. These studies, employing various approaches, have demonstrated that LSAP cannot shift the Aggregate Demand (AD) Curve. The AD curve intersects the Aggregate Supply Curve to determine the aggregate price level and real GDP and thus nominal GDP. The AD curve is not responding to monetary actions, therefore the price level and real GDP, and thus nominal GDP, are stuck—making the actions of the Fed irrelevant.
The papers I am talking about were presented at the Jackson Hole Monetary Conference in August 2013. The first is by Robert E. Hall, one of the world’s leading econometricians and a member of the prestigious NBER Cycle Dating Committee. He wrote, “The combination of low investment and low consumption resulted in an extraordinary decline in output demand, which called for a markedly negative real interest rate, one unattainable because the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate coupled with low inflation put a lower bound on the real rate at only a slightly negative level.”
Dr. Hall also wrote the following about the large increase in reserves to finance quantitative easing: “An expansion of reserves contracts the economy.” In other words, not only have the Fed not improved matters, they have actually made economic conditions worse with their experiments. Additionally, Dr. Hall presented evidence that forward guidance and GDP targeting both have serious problems and that central bankers should focus on requiring more capital at banks and more rigorous stress testing.
The next paper is by Hyun Song Shin, another outstanding monetary theorist and econometrician and holder of an endowed chair at Princeton University. He looked at the weighted-average effective one-year rate for loans with moderate risk at all commercial banks, the effective Fed Funds rate, and the spread between the two in order to evaluate Dr. Hall’s study. He also evaluated comparable figures in Europe. In both the U.S. and Europe these spreads increased, supporting Hall’s analysis.
Dr. Shin also examined quantities such as total credit to U.S. non-financial businesses. He found that lending to non-corporate businesses, which rely on the banks, has been essentially stagnant. Dr. Shin states, “The trouble is that job creation is done most by new businesses, which tend to be small.” Thus, he found “disturbing implications for the effectiveness of central bank asset purchases” and supported Hall’s conclusions.
Dr. Shin argued that we should not forget how we got into this mess in the first place when he wrote, “Things were not right in the financial system before the crisis, leverage was too high [indeed], and the banking sector had become too large [exactly].” For us, this insight is highly relevant since aggregate debt levels relative to GDP are greater now than in 2007. Dr. Shin, like Dr. Hall, expressed extreme doubts that forward guidance was effective in bringing down longer-term interest rates.
The last paper is by Arvind Krishnamurthy of Northwestern University and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen of the University of California, Berkeley. They uncovered evidence that the Fed’s LSAP program had little “portfolio balance” impact on other interest rates and was not macro-stimulus. A limited benefit did result from mortgage-backed securities purchases due to the announcement effects, but even this small plus may be erased once the still unknown exit costs are included.
Drs. Krishnamurthy and Vissing-Jorgensen also criticized the Fed for not having a clear policy rule or strategy for asset purchases. They argued that the absence of concrete guidance as to the goal of asset purchases, which has been vaguely defined as aimed toward substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market, neutralizes their impact and complicates an eventual exit. Further, they wrote, “Without such a framework, investors do not know the conditions under which (asset buys) will occur or be unwound.” For Krishnamurthy and Vissing-Jorgensen, this “undercuts the efficacy of policy targeted at long-term asset values.”
***
The Fed’s relentless buying of massive amounts of securities has produced no positive economic developments, but has had significant negative, unintended consequences.
For example, banks have a limited amount of capital with which to take risks with their portfolio. With this capital, they have two broad options: First, they can confine their portfolio to their historical lower-risk role of commercial banking operations—the making of loans and standard investments. With interest rates at extremely low levels, however, the profit potential from such endeavors is minimal.
Second, they can allocate resources to their proprietary trading desks to engage in leveraged financial or commodity market speculation. By their very nature, these activities are potentially far more profitable but also much riskier. Therefore, when money is allocated to the riskier alternative in the face of limited bank capital, less money is available for traditional lending. This deprives the economy of the funds needed for economic growth, even though the banks may be able to temporarily improve their earnings by aggressive risk taking.
Perversely, confirming the point made by Dr. Hall, a rise in stock prices generated by excess reserves may sap, rather than supply, funds needed for economic growth.
***
The money multiplier is 3.1. In 2008, prior to the Fed’s massive expansion of the monetary base, the money multiplier stood at 9.3, meaning that $1 of base supported $9.30 of M2.
If reserves created by LSAP were spreading throughout the economy in the traditional manner, the money multiplier should be more stable. However, if those reserves were essentially funding speculative activity, the money would remain with the large banks and the money multiplier would fall. This is the current condition.
The September 2013 level of 3.1 is the lowest in the entire 100-year history of the Federal Reserve. Until the last five years, the money multiplier never dropped below the old historical low of 4.5 reached in late 1940. Thus, LSAP may have produced the unintended consequence of actually reducing economic growth. [Indeed, 81.5% of money created through quantitative easing is sitting there gathering dust, due to a conscious decision by the Fed to tie up the money and prevent it from being loaned out to Main Street.]
Stock market investors benefited, but this did not carry through to the broader economy. The net result is that LSAP worsened the gap between high- and low-income households. [Indeed, it's been known for some time that quantitative easing quantitative easing increases inequality (and see this and this.)]
No wonder even former and current Fed officials have slammed the Fed’s policies over the last 5 years.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/10/academic-studies-show-qe-doesnt-work/
For someone who espouses to hate big corporations, you certainly are in a precarious position giving support to the FED flooding those very people with free dollars while destroying the value of the dollar for you and the people who will come after you are gone. This unnatural stock market rise should be a sign for even the most feeble minded when compared with the realities of the world's economic situation.
I guess we only see what we want to, until it's too late.
So when gov't identifies a monopoly, is it beyond reason to place some limits on what they can do, rather than move toward socialism? This problem of crooked insurance companies could have been corrected with 1/100 of the funds, and without creating another federal, inept monstrosity.
In Obamacare speech, Obama makes a desperate sales pitch
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-in-obamacare-speech-obama-makes-a-desperate-sales-pitch/2013/10/21/8d47edfa-3a91-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_print.html
And liberals want to see the unbridled spending go on until the country implodes from debt. Again I ask, WHO do you think actually benefits from the $85 BILLION a month the FED keeps printing? Is it creating jobs or going into the hands of banksters on the way to Wall Street only?
There's the liberal thinking way. IF something is good for the country, but it benefits a rich person, then you simply don't do it. Liberals count that a victory. Do you realize how stupid that line of thinking is? Probably not.
Yet, liberals will defend the rich Democrats in DC all day long, simply because they promise the things the tiny liberal mind wants to hear, but never pans out in REALITY.
The liberal mind is a truly teensy thing to behold.
Ron Paul: DC Wins, America Loses
http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/10/21/ron-paul-dc-wins-america-loses/
Wall Street, and central bankers around the world rejoiced this week as Congress came to an agreement to end the government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling. The latest spending-and-debt deal was negotiated by Congressional leaders behind closed doors, and was rushed through Congress before most members had time to read it. Now that the bill is passed, we can see that it is a victory for the political class and special interests, but a defeat for the American people.
The debt ceiling deal increases spending above the levels set by the “sequester.” The sequester cuts were minuscule, and in many cases used the old D.C. trick of calling reductions in planned spending increases a cut. But even minuscule and phony cuts are unacceptable to the bipartisan welfare-warfare spending coalition. The bill also does nothing to protect the American people from the Obamacare disaster.
As is common in bills drafted in secret and rushed into law, this bill contains special deals for certain powerful politicians. The bill even has a provision authorizing continued military aid to opponents of the Ugandan “Lord’s Resistance Army,” which was the subject of the widely-viewed “Kony 2012” YouTube videos. Most of these unrelated provisions did not come to public attention until after the bill was passed and signed into law.
Members of Congress and the public were told the debt ceiling increase was necessary to prevent a government default and an economic crisis. This manufactured fear supposedly justified voting on legislation without allowing members time to even read it, much less to remove the special deals or even debate the wisdom of intervening in overseas military conflicts because of a YouTube video.
Congress should have ignored the hysterics. A failure to increase government’s borrowing authority would not lead to a default any more that an individual’s failure to get a credit card limit increase in would mean they would have to declare bankruptcy. Instead, the failure of either an individual or a government to obtain new borrowing authority would force the individual or the government to live within their means, and may even force them to finally reduce their spending. Most people would say it is irresponsible to give a spendthrift, debit-ridden individual a credit increase. Why then is it responsible to give an irresponsible spendthrift government an increase in borrowing authority?
Congress surrendered more power to the president in this bill. Instead of setting a new debt ceiling, it simply “suspended” the debt ceiling until February. This gives the administration a blank check to run up as much debt as it pleases from now until February 7th. Congress can “disapprove” the debt ceiling suspension, but only if it passes a resolution of disapproval by a two-thirds majority. How long before Congress totally abdicates its constitutional authority over spending by allowing the Treasury permanent and unlimited authority to borrow money without seeking Congressional approval?
Instead of seriously addressing the spending crisis, most in Congress would rather engage in last-minute brinksmanship and back room deals instead of taking the necessary action to reign in spending. Congress will only take serious steps to reduce spending when either a critical mass of Americans pressures it to cut spending, or when investors and foreign countries stop buying US government debt. Hopefully, those of us who understand sound economics can convince enough of our fellow citizens to pressure Congress to make serious spending cuts before Congress’s reckless actions cause a total economic collapse.
Read more at http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/10/21/ron-paul-dc-wins-america-loses/#7os5SleT6emDuJty.99
Because that, my friend, as much as it is correct and those with a brain want it, is not doable, short of an earthquake swallowing up ALL those currently in DC and closing around them. Lottery odds.
Do you really believe that insurance plans that now have been forced to go to high deductibles like $5,000, $7,500, and even some $15,000 per person, and that only have to pay 60% of costs will be better than that bottom 10% just going to the ER and leaving the other 90% out of this mess? This began changing private plans, FOR THE WORSE, about two years back, as they braced and moved things to maximize profits. Those under 40 will not sign up. And everyone else is screwed over. This idiotic plan will help such a minimum of the population, that no one should have passed it without major changes. It will be a disaster.
Three times I'll post this, because the idiots running this show don't get it. Trajectory is on course for a calamity much worse than 2008, but perhaps that IS the plan?
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/federal_reserve-qe3/money_printing-2012-2013.html
And you think the consequences of QE will have a "happy ending?"
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/federal_reserve-qe3/money_printing-2012-2013.html
And what do you think will be the REAL consequences of the lunacy going on the past 4 years?
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/federal_reserve-qe3/money_printing-2012-2013.html
Who IS "Washington?" Who was choosing to raise the debt limit? He begins with "The fact that WE . . . "
You are not as thick as you portend to be. You just need to remove those Teflon Barry Blinders once in awhile.
If this is not NOW viewed as being hypocritical, then it has to be viewed as being moronic. One or the other.
This disaster will harm way more than it will help, and it will add to the piling debt burying the country. The amount these morons collect in fines will pale in comparison to the widespread damage it will do to the economic and healthcare systems.
And what do you think caused that "almost depression," and how do you think they will stop an even worse one from occurring in the future with the moronic economic policies and reckless spending going on?
It does not take an Einstein to see that the Republicans and the Democrats, Bush and Obama, ALL live like billionaires on the backs of the taxpayers. It doesn't take a Ph.D. in Math to see when an out-of-control gov't spends the country into oblivion and screws the future generations under a mountain of debt. It does not take a brilliant mind to see that the banksters are in TOTAL control of the world's economies and governments.
AND, it does not take a high school diploma to see that anyone who gives a pass to all of this wrong can only be one of two things -- an ignorant ass or a recipient of their total living based on federal programs.
He was talking about the LEADERSHIP of the President, because if he were speaking about Congress, it would make no sense to implicate himself as having no leadership qualities at that time either. Even if you think he was speaking about "Washington" in general, it was still a statement about those in control at the time and SPECIFICALLY a dig at raising the debt limits. How you excuse him again -- the Teflon man in liberal circles -- is astounding!