Take That, Congress

[DinoDoc]

http://www.economist.com/node/21530090

Republicans
Federal Reserve

If QE2 failed to accomplish its goal[s], why is QE3 expected to succeed?

[giblets]

If QE2 failed to accomplish its goal[s], why is QE3 expected to succeed?

If QE2 failed then either:
1. monetary expansion cannot acheive QE2's goals
or
2. QE2 was too small
So you really can't draw any conclusions on the merits of a QE3 from "QE2 failed".

[Asher]

This thread is hilarious. Asher, gribby, oerdin and imran are complete ignoramuses. HC is an ignoramus, but is at least asking questions rather than expressing an opinion.

Question: what's it called when there's a fed meeting and over the next 24 hours the dollar soars, the price of commodities plunges, the tips spread drops through the floor and equities prices plummet?

Answer according to the popular press and the ignoramuses previously mentioned: monetary loosening!

Knowing what you don't know is more knowledge than many people have. I don't pretend that economics is a science and that there are clear, obvious, definitive things the US can do it un-**** itself.

I move that people who are that arrogant are complete ignoramuses.

[KrazyHorse]

QE2 succeeded. It increased inflation expectations as well as expectations of NGDP

"Operation Twist" failed. It reduced inflation expectations as well as expectations of NGDP.

A number of republicans appear t be evil: they want the US economy to flounder so that they can retake the presidency in 2012. The vast majority of democrats appear to be stupid: they think that monetary policy is impotent in the current environment (due to either a claim about liquidity traps or to the claim that monetary policy can only influence nominal variables) and/or they think the fed is actually loosening monetary policy when it is in reality tightening it.

So far the only important democrat to have figured out what's going on is barney frank.

[Hauldren Collider]

It seems more plausible to me that the republicans in question are simply just as stupid when it comes to monetary policy as the democrats.

[Hauldren Collider]

By the way, KH, everyone's ignorant about things until they learn have the chance to learn them.

[Asher]

It seems more plausible to me that the republicans in question are simply just as stupid when it comes to monetary policy as the democrats.

They're politicians. If they knew anything they'd be doing something else.

[KrazyHorse]

Knowing what you don't know is more knowledge than many people have. I don't pretend that economics is a science and that there are clear, obvious, definitive things the US can do it un-**** itself.

I move that people who are that arrogant are complete ignoramuses.

The fact that the US can do a single thing to un**** itself has not been so clear since 1938.

[KrazyHorse]

For the second chart, the beta of spx vs 5yr tips should be on the order of ~4. A beta of 25 is ****ing unacceptable and indicates extraordinarily tight monetary policy.

[KrazyHorse]

Bernanke is about to cost Obama the 2012 election, and the vast majority of democrats are too stupid to realize it. The only hope I have is that the republicans really are smart and evil, so that they will put pressure on the Fed to open up the taps once they are elected in order to gain political points.

[KrazyHorse]

By the way, KH, everyone's ignorant about things until they learn have the chance to learn them.

Those who reply in ignorance with strong opinions are deliberately ignorant.

Calling you ignorant while at the same time expressing the fact that I view you as questioning is a compliment, not an insult.

[Hauldren Collider]

Bernanke is about to cost Obama the 2012 election, and the vast majority of democrats are too stupid to realize it. The only hope I have is that the republicans really are smart and evil, so that they will put pressure on the Fed to open up the taps once they are elected in order to gain political points.

Why isn't bernanke just opening up the taps? The Fed is fairly independent. My impression was that Bernanke's not actually an idiot himself.

[KrazyHorse]

1) after this move, I'm not sure
2) bernanke is constrained by the other members of the FOMC. He is also a political creature (he may be less influenced by public pressure than an elected official, but he can't enjoy reading stories about being called a traitor any more than you or I would). In the absence of political pressure from the left, he is likely to veer towards tightening monetary policy when the right puts pressure on him to do so

5 year tips spreads hit 150 bps today. 30 year tips spreads hit 200 bps, which I believe is the lowest in my lifetime.

[Aeson]

Congrats Braindead

[Hauldren Collider]

Related to the traitor thing: **** Rick Perry. I now know who I'm voting for in the primary with certainty.