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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zzpat who wrote (1036279)	11/1/2017 4:54:40 PM
From: RetiredNow	1 Recommendation Recommended By THE WATSONYOUTH Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573898

I don't agree that QE worked the way it was intended. It was intended to do two things: 1) create a vehicle to purchase treasuries and MBS as a means to driving down interest rates above and beyond the Fed's zero bound interest rate setting, and 2) it was intended to create a trickle down wealth effect through the elevation of the stock market. The idea was that it would simultaneously help to recapitalize banks by handing them free money, which they could reinvest in treasuries and then they keep the interest, and it was thought that increased stock wealth and easy money generally would decrease unemployment. So if that was your metric for success, then I think it did what the Fed intended, although I don't agree that the employment picture has much correlation with Fed activities. But recapitalize the banks? Check. Toxic asset mop up, transferring from big banks to Fed balance sheet? Check. Elevate the stock market? Check. But at what cost? * They single-handedly destroyed the pricing mechanism that capitalism requires. Interest rates are the price of money, which underlies every transaction in the US and arguably across the world, since the USD is the reserve currency and 70% of all global transactions are settled in it. * Moral hazard - they rewarded the criminal bankers who were caught red handed laundering money, selling products that were designed to implode, and then creating and buying insurance against the implosion, so they benefitted in all scenarios. * Destroyed capitalism in another way, but taking money from savers and giving it to borrowers, as a result of their interest rate manipulations. This has put a huge damper on capital formation, which is why businesses have been so slow to recuperate and restart large scale business investment growth. * Killed the 99% by driving inflation in everything that counts: health care, housing, food, and all other big ticket items that most normal people consume, even as the Fed and bureau of statistics engages in fakery in the compilation and manipulation of statistics to make it seem as if there is no inflation. In addition, even the headline unemployment figure is so manipulated as to be totally fake. If you've been unemployed longer than 6 month, they stop counting you in the workforce and other such manipulations make the unemployment figure worthless. * Though almost free money money (really stolen from the store of wealth of American people), they've emboldened a completely feckless and irresponsible Congress to spend to their hearts content, bringing our total debt to above $20 trillion and guarantee slow growth and a lower standard of living for future generations. Bottom line is that the natural checks and balances endemic to Capitalism have been torn asunder, leaving nothing but corruption and destruction in its wake. I was going to go into what I would have done differently, but I see my post has run long. Maybe next post, I'll tell you what I would have done, if you are still interested.