Death of The Refi Boom

[snoopy369]

A lot of the problem is that they're not doing a very good job of managing expectations; to a large extent the market just doesn't believe them. Lacking those specific details as you say, the market has to guess based on vague statements, which means you end up with massive swings for little apparent reason (other than vague statements). Bernake is either a genius or the worst fed chairman in many years, depending on what happens in the next ~5-10 years to prove his 'don't tell them anything' strategy right or wrong.

[Spaced Cowboy]

They can't keep up QE forever, at some point in time the QE has to go away and let the economy stand on its own. They could have planned a better exit strategy though; something to ease out of QE...not a suggestion that they might cut the rope entirely all at once at some point.

[Elok]

I understand basically none of this, but will any of it, somewhere down the road, possibly lead to the availability of savings accounts that give decent interest? BB&T is offering some .05% rubbish right now. Dunno what they used to be like, but .05 is just sad.

[snoopy369]

They can't keep up QE forever, at some point in time the QE has to go away and let the economy stand on its own. They could have planned a better exit strategy though; something to ease out of QE...not a suggestion that they might cut the rope entirely all at once at some point.

Frankly I think this was the plan - both to force a small market correction to lessen the impact of the eventual large market correction, and to see how the market reacts. The moment QE ends the market will crash, with the only question being 'how hard and how long'.

[snoopy369]

I understand basically none of this, but will any of it, somewhere down the road, possibly lead to the availability of savings accounts that give decent interest? BB&T is offering some .05% rubbish right now. Dunno what they used to be like, but .05 is just sad.

The problem is that it's quite trivial to get a decent return if you have some money, it's the people with very little money that can't get any return right now. As long as you have enough to put the money into a S&P ETF, you can get several percent return with no problem. Of course, you can't have free easy access to that money, but still; you are probably best off opening an account like a Fidelity Cash Management Account or the various equivalents, putting the excess money into ETFs or similar to earn a decent return, as long as you're not regularly needing access to that money - it's still easy to access, just with some cost to trade so you don't want to be doing it monthly or whatnot.

[Sava]

Not that most of you guys really seem to care about the huge change in the U.S. economy over the last week,

If my caring mattered, or had any effect whatsoever, I might do so.

[PLATO]

I understand basically none of this, but will any of it, somewhere down the road, possibly lead to the availability of savings accounts that give decent interest? BB&T is offering some .05% rubbish right now. Dunno what they used to be like, but .05 is just sad.

Yes...in time, but there are a lot of other factors that go into this. Since the liquidity crisis in 2008, banks have had access to a large amount of low rate money so they really don't need to chase the individual saver. As the fed tightens money and lending expands, then your savings account will start to pay more. That is still a ways off though. If you are looking at longer term investment, then see snoopy369's post. Good advice (historically speaking, that is. )

[PLATO]

If my caring mattered, or had any effect whatsoever, I might do so.

It is not so much how you can change things by caring, but how things changing can affect you and your personal financial position.

[Sava]

Since the liquidity crisis in 2008

the great bush depression

[PLATO]

A lot of the problem is that they're not doing a very good job of managing expectations; to a large extent the market just doesn't believe them. Lacking those specific details as you say, the market has to guess based on vague statements, which means you end up with massive swings for little apparent reason (other than vague statements). Bernake is either a genius or the worst fed chairman in many years, depending on what happens in the next ~5-10 years to prove his 'don't tell them anything' strategy right or wrong.

The prophets themselves could not have put it better.

[Sava]

It is not so much how you can change things by caring, but how things changing can affect you and your personal financial position.

Mine is stable. All this stuff doesn't affect me personally much.

My ability to motivate myself to produce content is a bigger issue for me personally.

Any advice on how to not be a lazy bastard?

[PLATO]

the great bush depression

Indeed...the inevitable outcome of the Clinton/Reno implementation of the community reinvestment act. Take a look at what they did in 1998 and let me know if you see things differently. Let's also not forget Bush's push to reform Fannie/Freddie that was shot down by Charlie Rangel's group as being "bad for the poor".

All that being said...Bush was very much a lightweight in financial matters and did not try to use his political clout as President to push harder for change. Treasury just didn't have the ear of the White House at that time. They did try to do things, but no one really understood how deep the rabbit hole was.

[PLATO]

Any advice on how to not be a lazy bastard?

Wish I knew that one myself!

[Sava]

Indeed...the inevitable outcome of the Clinton/Reno implementation of the community reinvestment act. Take a look at what they did in 1998 and let me know if you see things differently. Let's also not forget Bush's push to reform Fannie/Freddie that was shot down by Charlie Rangel's group as being "bad for the poor".

All that being said...Bush was very much a lightweight in financial matters and did not try to use his political clout as President to push harder for change. Treasury just didn't have the ear of the White House at that time. They did try to do things, but no one really understood how deep the rabbit hole was.

Yeah. It's a shame Clinton needed to pander to the right in order to seem center due to all the partisan crap during the 90's. I've long maintained the right wing in American should be completely ignored. They don't want to solve problems. They just want to turn this country into a conservative bumper sticker talking point circle jerk. Tell them jumping off a cliff is freedom and they'll do it.

[Sava]

was that post too mrfunny?