No my friend, you are the IDIOT. And Chairman Bernanke will be the first one to tell you himself ( as he did week before last in front of Congressional Subcommittee in response to Ron Paul's questions ) that his mandate at the FED does not involve placing a "value" on the US Dollar . . . it's Paulson's job at the Treasury. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4kxTkhwR_Q Perhaps you should send a letter to Bernanke telling him that he doesn't understand his mandate at the Fed very well.
Your all pointing the finger at the WRONG person. Bush got you into this mess financially with the deficit and his war spending that only lined the pockets of his daddies rich oil buddies pockets. All you have to show for it was a rat in a hole. Now your going to have to pay the price of 8 years of the worst government that the US has ever seen. It won't be pretty... Don't make the same mistake next election with more of the same or your goose is cooked.
So in your opinion, every other central bank in the developed world is pursuing a foolhardy policy, risking plunging their countries' economies into Depression? If that is the case, why is it the US that is in trouble, whereas the inflation hawks in Europe, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland seem to be presiding over far more stable situations? Isn't it just possible that the overwhelming majority of the world's leading central bankers are right, and you and helicopter Ben are wrong?
If their strong dollar policy had any more impact than King Canute's attempts to stop the tide coming in, that might be relevant. But it hasn't, so it isn't. Until they decide to do some currency intervention, the Treasury has very little influence on the price of the dollar.
Joab wrote........Excellent Post Your all pointing the finger at the WRONG person. Bush got you into this mess financially with the deficit and his war spending that only lined the pockets of his daddies rich oil buddies pockets. All you have to show for it was a rat in a hole. Now your going to have to pay the price of 8 years of the worst government that the US has ever seen. It won't be pretty... Don't make the same mistake next election with more of the same or your goose is cooked. ................................................................................................ And what is further unbelievable is that Bush and Cheney are walking away.....scott free....
The UK raised rates to 15% during that period (which was stupid - but served as a good experiment for economic history), and did not having anything remotely resembling a banking meltdown, let alone a depression. Why then do you think that US rates holding steady during that period would have caused a catastrophe? Please, just show me one case where letting the free market set the price of money resulted in a multi-year depression.
Assets are offset by a pesky little thing called 'Liabilities' - 385 billion, in fact, for Bear. Bears sheet was the exception rather than the norm - QoQ losses with low RE. Other banks are much stronger. Go look for yourself. As for this "meltdown" fear mongering. Absurd. There are over 100 Banking Institutions in the United States. The top 15 ALONE could absorb Half-A-Trillion in CDO losses, if thats what it came to. Projected fallout is ~400 Billion. The Europeans, Japs and Chinese took over 150 Billion. Do the math. Yet again, you failed to articulate - in any meaningful way - how a few banks going under spells complete financial ruin for the entire planet. Banks have failed many times in the past, yet here we are? Amazing, isn't it? Do you not honestly think Banks haven't politicized the issue to spread losses via the Fed? And you call me naive.
What happens if the FED provides all the liquidity that banks ask for. But the problems don't go away? So far, that's been the case with this market. The FED thinks it can change things by throwing money at the problem. But the emergency rate cut was only good for getting the market to be in the same levels for next meeting... after a failled takeoff attempt... ...And the market is already considering a 75 basis cut to be almost a fact... Such a cut would mean no surprise... How long is the steam going to last after this cut? What happens when Ben goes to 0% ? WHat if the problems continue? Where do you go from there? Ohh yeah, of course, the plan is to have Obama and/or Hilary get the credit for the melt down. They don't care for fixing the problems, they only care to have the whole thing crash AFTER the election.