The whole point of our economic system to is distribute standard of living in a manner consistent with our moral value system; not some crazy ideology about lazziez faire. The fed did let hundreds of banks fail. Should they have let all the banks except JPM and Wells Fargo fail? That's where we were headed. I don't think you understand what was happening. If they hadn't done something everything could have collapsed. Even if you owned physical gold it would have been useless. You couldn't barter it for bread. The bread company couldn't get financing to pay for its flour. Things were pretty bad. What the fed did was give a sick body some blood. Overtime the banks, etc. will heal themselves. Notice how they all were able to pay the fed back quickly? It was because the fed acted as the loanshark who prevented the global margin call. The banks can and will earn their way out of their losses. It will take time and the fed is allowing the body to heal itself. We can argue the merits of why things got to where it did, but the Fed absolutely had to do what they did given that we were all in that situation. Regarding compensation, I don't think the Fed cared at all about helping the bank executives, and I think they care even less now as the gross incompetence at all banks at all levels becomes better understood. While I don't know what exactly was going on with this Iskil thing, my bet is that it started as a hedging program and the head trader decided to maximize his bonus. That or it was outright fraud (Soc Gen style). But you are seeing the implementation of new regulations to prevent this from happening again.
By your logic every single company and business in existence is a "bubble" because it has a beginning and an end... Nothing lasts forever. [/B][/QUOTE] not quite because you are twisting what i said in regard to your comment. this is your comment "Bubbles are only bubbles if the bubble bursts. Otherwise there is no bubble." my remark is a logical extension of your remark posted abovewhich you manage to twist in an attempt to justify your nonsensical statement. my remark was as follows we cannot be certain if a child is blowing bubbles unless the bubble bursts. your remark is a gem of logical thinking. i have never said anything remotely approaching or implying your 2nd remark "By your logic every single company and business in existence is a "bubble" because it has a beginning and an end... Nothing lasts forever."
One thing i've noticed is that over and over again the stock market rallies going into a Bernanke speech or Fed announcement on "hopes" for QE3 or more stimulus etc. The interesting thing about this is that gold and oil usually sell off into the same events, then continue to sell off after no mention of QE3, while the stock market initially pulls back just a smidge in comparison to the massive rally it had preceding, only to quickly recoup the initial sell on the news of no QE3, leaving it with a substantial gain when its all said and done. Which makes me wonder just how valuable having QE3 "on the table" is. How many points just having it on the table has been worth to the market... will the market rally again this coming week on hopes for QE3 with Bernanke talking again? Do they ever even need to implement QE3, maybe just keeping it on the table indefinately is better for the stock market since we can have a never ending rally on hopes for it to arrive. Its turning into a joke...
in the meantime this "bernanke mircle" is decimating the wealth of those who saved every year. And the standard of living of all americans is being eroded at a very fast clip as well. Some miracle... create massive inflation and then change the way inflation is measured. That is not a miracle its the wall street 3 card monte.
if you know the history of south america, with argentina and brazil particularly, you will see that all these QEs do not result in increased economic activity but a movement away from producing good and services to financial speculation to protect against the erosion of the currency. just look at the major decline or the $US vs. $can or $aus or $S or even the brazilian real.
So many still fail to realize the only thing supporting this global economic rebound is the tens of trillions that have been pumped into the system....I hope most of you comprehend that the economy right now is dependent on stimulus and more money printing, only a fool would think this economy is actually going to make it on its own...GDP is all smoke and mirrors PERIOD. Oh and next up is China, once China slows the entire world economy is going to slow, so what is china doing now to stimulate it, they are lowering interest rates, this can only last so long, you cannot have decades of continuous booming economic cycles without any kind of slow down, the best thing is to have a natural up and down cycle, however if you look at history there is no such thing a natural up and down economic cycles, once the economy starts to slow they try everything possible to stimulate it, how is that normal, thats not normal....let the cycle do what it needs to do. Where are the free markets....stop pushing the trillions of dollars into the system and let the economy fix itself. Enough of the fucking games!
I was eating some ice cream and thought about this thread since tomorrow is another Fed day, usually there is a few jolts up and down but by Friday I would like to see the Dow solidly higher maybe retest 13200 area.
here is quote for FED- Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
Looks like the U.S. economy is cronically on the verge of a recession. How much worse would the Bernanke Bashers like to see the economy. Do you literally want blood in your streets?