Take That, Congress

[KrazyHorse]

Go away, you boring ****.

[Kuciwalker]

Back on-topic, does nobody want to defend the assertion that inflation expectations and commodity and asset prices are not indicators of monetary policy?

But, gold!

[KrazyHorse]

Gold has been a very good indicator of monetary policy, along with oil, copper, aluminum, etc

[Asher]

Speaking of the GOP...at the Republican debates, a gay soldier serving in Iraq was booed, the death of uninsured people was celebrated, and an execution was cheered.

Family values?

[KrazyHorse]

Who cares about any of that petty nonsense? The important question of the day is the actions of the Ben Bernank.

[Dinner]

They booed Ben Bernank at that debate too.

[Ben Kenobi]

Asher, you are literally the most arrogant and overconfident person wrt economics on this forum.

Word. You're a compsci major.

[MikeH]

Speaking of the GOP...at the Republican debates, a gay soldier serving in Iraq was booed, the death of uninsured people was celebrated, and an execution was cheered.

Family values?

Pro-life?

[Ben Kenobi]

The only difference between him and me is that I want to improve output and employment ASAP, while he wants to suppress them until he wins the presidency.

Which is why Fed policy has been growing jobs like gangbusters the last 4 years? Oh wait...

They need to raise interest rates, not lower them. Lowering them isn't going to help anybody because it doesn't cover the risks of lending. No incentive for the banks to lend out again.

[Ben Kenobi]

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

QE2 failed. Had it not been done, the US would be out of the recession already. The best thing for the Fed to do is to not intervene at all, and let the malinvestments get destroyed.

[KrazyHorse]

Which is why Fed policy has been growing jobs like gangbusters the last 4 years? Oh wait...

I'm not sure why you think this is going to help anybody. Just pissing away more money.

I don't expect you to understand this, you ****ing buffoon, but both of the plots I provided show how terifically tight monetary policy has been since oct 08. Also, when the fed loosens monetary policy it almost always creates money; it doesn't "piss it away".

[KrazyHorse]

QE2 failed. Had it not been done, the US would be out of the recession already. The best thing for the Fed to do is to not intervene at all, and let the malinvestments get destroyed.

What evidence of this do you have, you imbecile? You also seem to lack an understanding of the distinction between monetary and fiscal policy.

[Ben Kenobi]

I don't expect you to understand this, you ****ing buffoon, but both of the plots I provided show how terifically tight monetary policy has been since oct 08. Also, when the fed loosens monetary policy it almost always creates money; it doesn't "piss it away".

Uh, I'm all in on the USD. I'm pushing deflation all the way. Money is going to naturally be tight for awhile, regardless of what the Fed does and does not do.

The only way the Fed can reverse this, is to step it up an order of magnitude higher than QE2 which isn't going to happen.

[Ben Kenobi]

What evidence of this do you have, you imbecile?

That interest rates are too low? If banks could recoup their loans, they would be lending. That they cannot, means they are sitting on their cash. Which is what we do see. Interest rates go up, and the loans will start to come out.

You also seem to lack an understanding of the distinction between monetary and fiscal policy.

Well, sorry, I'm just sitting back watching you spin QE3 which will save the system (it won't), and proclaiming QE2 a success (it failed). There are good structural reasons for a tight money environment that have nothing to do with Fed policy. As you said, it's unclear whether the US can get itself unstuck.

The problem is that what the Fed has done isn't going to help things in the long run. The kings under a deflationary environment are going to be the folks with little to no debt. Taking on debt as the Feds have done is just brutal.

What evidence of this do you have, you imbecile?

Things were already getting better prior to QE2. QE2 hits, the 'recovery' stagnated, which brings us to where we are today, with the recession persisting and jobs still being lost.

[giblets]

Asher, you are literally the most arrogant and overconfident person wrt economics on this forum.

I don't know why Krazyhorse is trying so hard to prove this statement wrong.