Two Faced Fed & False Rally?
Today, Atlanta Fed Head Lockhart said inflation levels are "uncomfortable", but he does expect a "fall-off" from current levels.
The Nattering One muses... with $135 a barrel oil, however does Lockhart expect a "fall off"?
In Flecks' latest he too marvels at the two faced Feds debaucherous duplicity in our economic woes.
In a speech last week, Federal Reserve Bank head Richard Fisher covered a lot of ground:
"We know from centuries of evidence in countless economies, from ancient Rome to today's Zimbabwe,
that running the printing press to pay off today's bills leads to much worse problems later on.
The inflation that results from the flood of money into the economy turns out to be far worse than the fiscal pain those countries hoped to avoid."
Of course, this is exactly the policy the Fed has pursued, will pursue and that Fisher himself has voted for.
This is a classic example of the Fed's MO: Talk tough and run the printing press at full speed.
Fisher continues: "I have said many, many times that inflation is a sinister beast that, if uncaged, devours savings, erodes consumers' purchasing power, decimates returns on capital,
undermines the reliability of financial accounting, distracts the attention of corporate management, undercuts employment growth and real wages, and debases the currency."
All of that is true. But if Fisher or any other of the incompetent, irresponsible money printers at the Fed believed that,
they would immediately stop targeting interest rates and start targeting some supply-based measure of monetary growth or create some variation of the gold standard.
But the Fed obviously doesn't care about the effects of inflation, which is a direct result of its money printing.
On the recent sucker's rally: A friend who is very knowledgeable -- specifically, about quantitative-trading types -- recently weighed in on the stock market's amazing ability to ignore all the recent bad news.
During the no-news period, which is roughly the middle eight weeks of any quarter when corporations are not reporting results en masse, the lack of data allows computers free rein.
Thus allowing the computers -- which gauge value based on price action -- to ride roughshod and help create the rallies that help produce the illusion of prosperity.
That, in turn, begets excitement on the part of more folks who don't understand the economic backdrop.
Of course, denial has a role in all this, too, as Wall Street would just as soon not see the big picture:
the major trouble that lies ahead for the consumer and the economy, as the aftermath of the housing bubble continues its prolonged unwinding.
The Nattering One muses... with $135 a barrel oil, however does Lockhart expect a "fall off"?
In Flecks' latest he too marvels at the two faced Feds debaucherous duplicity in our economic woes.
In a speech last week, Federal Reserve Bank head Richard Fisher covered a lot of ground:
"We know from centuries of evidence in countless economies, from ancient Rome to today's Zimbabwe,
that running the printing press to pay off today's bills leads to much worse problems later on.
The inflation that results from the flood of money into the economy turns out to be far worse than the fiscal pain those countries hoped to avoid."
Of course, this is exactly the policy the Fed has pursued, will pursue and that Fisher himself has voted for.
This is a classic example of the Fed's MO: Talk tough and run the printing press at full speed.
Fisher continues: "I have said many, many times that inflation is a sinister beast that, if uncaged, devours savings, erodes consumers' purchasing power, decimates returns on capital,
undermines the reliability of financial accounting, distracts the attention of corporate management, undercuts employment growth and real wages, and debases the currency."
All of that is true. But if Fisher or any other of the incompetent, irresponsible money printers at the Fed believed that,
they would immediately stop targeting interest rates and start targeting some supply-based measure of monetary growth or create some variation of the gold standard.
But the Fed obviously doesn't care about the effects of inflation, which is a direct result of its money printing.
On the recent sucker's rally: A friend who is very knowledgeable -- specifically, about quantitative-trading types -- recently weighed in on the stock market's amazing ability to ignore all the recent bad news.
During the no-news period, which is roughly the middle eight weeks of any quarter when corporations are not reporting results en masse, the lack of data allows computers free rein.
Thus allowing the computers -- which gauge value based on price action -- to ride roughshod and help create the rallies that help produce the illusion of prosperity.
That, in turn, begets excitement on the part of more folks who don't understand the economic backdrop.
Of course, denial has a role in all this, too, as Wall Street would just as soon not see the big picture:
the major trouble that lies ahead for the consumer and the economy, as the aftermath of the housing bubble continues its prolonged unwinding.
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