Les, I found that first link very interesting coming from the BIS General Manager and in a way telling Greenspud to GFY, you would think the US$ gets sold a little based on this
asia.biz.yahoo.com
Overly high stock and property prices should prompt central bankers to take interest rate action in the same way rising wage levels do, although most don't recognize these factors as forms of inflation, BIS General Manager Andrew Crockett said Tuesday. In other words, it's not enough for U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan to mention "irrational exuberance." He should fight it by raising higher interest rates... Crockett's job at the Basel-based BIS makes him the de facto "central banker to central bankers," and an important liaison between Greenspan and others around the world who have their hands on interest rate levers.
The inflation fight is rightly the major concern of central bankers, Crockett emphasized. But it's not enough to look only at consumer price levels. "There are numerous examples of periods in which the restoration of price stability has provided fertile ground for excessive optimism," he said.
He explained that the fast-growing financial industry is unlike traditional, self-correcting, supply-and-demand-type industries, such as manufacturing, where expanded capacity puts pressure on prices and ultimately holds back profits and development. In finance, RISKY BEHAVIOR SNOWBALLS(emphasis mine), he said, as "rising asset values encourage leverage and credit expansion - contributing to further increases in credit growth."
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