Unchanged.....looks like GS didn't know diddly... I should have listened to Brickman's call on his show.
Quite the contrary. The FED is cognizant of the economy slowing even FURTHER ( as reflected in the commodity sell-off ) . . . and as a result, spoke in rather "dovish" language this afternoon. And people here are talking about the FED raising rates during a Recession??? That has NEVER happened. Put down the "crack-pipe" guys! Anyone notice where mortgage rates are lately? What has happened to Global markets the last couple of months? The commodity sell-off? Of course not. You guys are too busy smoking "crack". As Bill Gross said, "You don't pull down the umbrella during a Monsoon."
An inflated currency is of great use to a nation with intractable debt so long as their creditors will put up with it. The question remains as to how much more abuse our creditors will stand as we inflate away the Bush war debt. My guess is that eventually the US may be forced to issue bonds denominated in a basket of currencies as were some Latin American Countries in the past.
I couldn't agree with you more on inflated debt, the problem that is reality in this situation is that the inflation created is now greatly hindering the ability to pay debt and thus we are starting a massive debt default spiral. With all the cheap labor and outsourcing of jobs, the average American houshold's pay has not kept up with the rate of inflation. Now with large asset deflation (housing), and a retreating stock market and rising unemployment, the loss of paper wealth and loss of jobs are also adding to the shit-storm.
Man you sound really smart! You know what really sounds smart? How about we pour more money into banks that don't know what the fudge they are doing so that they don't fail! I mean, they have to be smarter this time, right? Sometimes you just need to flush the toilet and start over. Some of these "banks" need to know what pain means. But I forgot, the banks can cry to mommy to make it all better.
You still don't get it, do you? They ARE starting over. There are ( and will be ) a TON of regulations that will limit severely "limit" the banks from here on out. You act as if everything happens in some sort of an "if, then, else . . . " binary vacuum. Very naive.
The Fed and the government are bending over backwards to prevent these pathetic banks from going under when they aren't worth saving. Show me some regulations coming out of this. Maybe there will be, maybe there won't be. All I know is that these jackass banks deserve death but since we are turning into a socialistic country, they continue to survive. Part of capitalism is the cleansing of stupidity, which is not being allowed to happen.
Aren't worth saving? Just because you say so? And what evidence do you have of this? Please be specific. Do you have any idea why Bear Stearns got taken "over" by JP Morgan? Ever hear of counter-party risk? Guess not. Which banks (in your opinion ) should be allowed to go under? BofA? Wachovia? WAMU? Merrill? Lehman? If large money center commercial banks are allowed to go under, where will CAPITAL FORMATION occur that facilitates business capital investment, job growth, etc.? I'm still waiting for someone like yourself to answer that question . . . because none of you have been able to answer THIS question for months now.