Thursday, March 19, 2009

Danger! Danger! Danger!

This might reassure the markets, but as monetary policy, it's a harbinger of disaster:
The Federal Reserve sharply stepped up its efforts to bolster the economy on Wednesday, announcing that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the financial system by purchasing Treasury bonds and mortgage securities.
Having already reduced the key interest rate it controls nearly to zero, the central bank has increasingly turned to alternatives like buying securities as a way of getting
more dollars into the economy, a tactic that amounts to creating vast new sums
of money out of thin air. But the moves on Wednesday were its biggest yet, almost doubling all of the Fed’s measures in the last year.
So, the Fed will print up worthless money to buy worthless debt. The fact that the Fed is buying long-term debt tells you that there is not enough spare private investment capital in the market to create a genuine demand for the debt the Treasury is selling.

Am I the only one who is inspired to horrifying visions of Weimar America?

4 comments:

  1. "Am I the only one who is inspired to horrifying visions of Weimar America?"

    Yes. The rest of us are too caught up in the two-minute hate directed againt retention bonuses for AIG–employed derivatives traders. Get with the program, would'ya?

    Besides, I'd have thought that the progenitor of Rule 5 would be looking forward to all his 'blogstress" friends prancing about the cyber–cabaret like Liza Minelli.

    Time to party like it's 1929!

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  2. I wish you were the only one having those visions, because I could dismiss you as crazy. So much for those deflation worries.

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  3. Deflation is a positive feedback cycle. Prices go down, people put off buying stuff, prices go down more. Even though the money supply has nearly doubled since January 20th, most of that new money has found its way out of the banking system (or at least out of demand deposits). This is "mattress money", which reduces money velocity, which is the same phenomenon that enabled deflation to continue despite similar increases in the money supply in the 1930s.

    However, BHO's printing presses will eventually overwhelm the mattress money. Money, BTW, is a form of information, and since information spreads a bit faster than it did in 1930, when the mattress money finally starts coming out of the cubbyholes it now inhabits, it will come out ALL AT ONCE.

    I expect draconian restrictions on the use of cash, since the Obamassiah isn't going to have time to do anything else when that happens.

    In case nobody else has noticed, Dear Leader is also trying to eliminate one of the best cash alternatives -- ammunition. He has already signed an order prohibiting the DoD from selling spent brass to ammunition manufacturers, which is designed to drive up the price of ammo. Also, he's trying to push through a law requiring all ammo to be "coded", again driving up the price, and allowing the government to more easily restrict availability. So when the sh*t hits the fan, and the marauding gangs (who aren't big on obeying ammo laws anyway) are banging on your door, you'd better hope that Dear Leader's minions are there to protect you.

    Oh, wait...
    --
    http://www.chl-tx.com

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  4. Weimar, eh? Howbout this:

    As folks are already noticing, the cost of oil, and therefore your cost at the gas pump, is going up--before the spring price increases. And as Rush pointed out today, Speaker Pelosi and the President are openly calling for illegals to be able to join unions. They claim it will push wages up, but what it will do is eliminate the population of those who are willing to work for minimum wage (or less). That will lead to small business failures, and job losses.
    Put the gas price increases together with an influx of newly-minted (via amnesty) union members and we have a recipie for short-term disaster that makes the long-term disaster these idiots are brewing look like good times.

    But first, the economy's turbulence is causing President Teleprompter to go on concert^H^H^H speaking tours to get visuals of crowd adoration.

    So before we dissolve into Weimar Republic status, it looks like we are facing another "Summer of Love" (for the President) that will precede another season of riots.

    Awesome! I hope psychedelic music comes back, too!

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