Negative Rates Are the Tools of Our Elderly Oppressors http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...rates-are-the-tools-of-our-elderly-oppressors
You can look at it from another angle... Negative rates are the tool by which the mkt will force our elderly oppressors to lower their standard of living (work longer, invest in riskier assets, etc).
Yes,agree. I'm not presenting personal opinions, just problems people should be thinking about. Solutions are the answer, not finger pointing and blame. What's done is done, we now need solutions. http://wolfstreet.com/2016/06/13/de...rgest-asset-class-to-haunt-economy-for-years/
the only solution is to go to free markets, you bear the initial pain as markets and prices and currencies go to their natural levels after being distorted by the government. after the war idiot americans wanted Germany to go to price controls because goods were scarce and shelves were near empty. chancellor Adenauer said no. he didn't want black markets. within 3 months the shelves in Germany were full. take a look today at oil rich venezuela today. everything is controlled by the government. the people are starving. Venezuelans Ransack Stores as Hunger Grips the Nation <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/w...-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0>
I don't understand why zero or negative rate is a "TOTAL DISASTER". As an individual, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. For the majority of us (65% of the household own their homes) our mortgage payment is now much reduced: From the 8% interest rate of the early/mid 2000 to 3.5% today. If I had a $200K mortgage, my interest saving would have been $9000 per year, more than made up for stagnant inflation adjusted household income of ~$50,000 since the mid 2000. Yes, the saving rate is close to zero but how many of us have significant cash in our bank? It is true that some folks were hurt by the low rates, especially seniors with most of their assets in cash, but for the middle class stable career families, this period is a chance to recover our financial disasters of the Great Recession. Those who do nothing and just complain would have missed a great "get well" opportunity. Another thing I am puzzled is that economists/government with macro economic policies encourage us to spend vs save saying spend benefits the overall economy even as we go more and more into debt. As individuals it is a disaster in the making especially those who are close to retirement and need saving to sustain their lifestyles. If us individuals ignore those policies, we are better off but the economy suffers. Right now I think many of us are ignoring those encouragement to spend and spend and spend (I for sure) and perhaps that is why the negative rates do not work. I am not an economist so there must be something I don't understand or don't know.