Bernanke Throws Hail Mary

So the head of the FED just said that inflation/price increases make people feel richer, which will make them spend more.

Does anyone think that is sound logic?
 
What a ******* buffoon! Sounds like the Reuters reporter didn't ask the canned question most MSM reporters ask and helicopter Ben stumbled around trying to articulate a response, but he visualizes the Reuters reporter seeing his nose grow and grow like Pinnochio.
 
Mortgage rates are keeping people from buying houses? Really? Or maybe its because they dont have a job or have no faith in the market.
 
...it's Bush's, no, wait... Romney's fault.

How long do the markets hold the upward movement? Do signs of a pending crash/severe correction show before or after the election?
 
What this will primarily do is debase our currency and encourage price inflation, especially in commodities like oil and gold, which trade internationally.There has been plenty of cheap money out there since late 2008 for anyone who wants it and can reasonably qualify to get it. We have been down this path before. This is QE 3 after all. Did either of the previous two efforts substantially resolve our problems, especially with job creation, which this current infusion of cash is purportedly intended to address? No. And neither will this.I appreciate that Ben Bernanke and the Fed are trying to do everything they can within their mandate to try and help with job creation and economic growth, but these measures are like spraying Bactine on a broken leg. It just does not do anything to help the actual problems that we have.There are no quick fixes for us at this point. The fundamental issues that need to be addressed to get us back on track are:Entitlement reform: Medicare, Medicaid, SS, etc. - Entitlements make up over 60% of our federal budget, and that % is on track to increase substantially in the years to come. If we do not reform entitlements, our country will go bankrupt. This must be addressed and nothing can be done to avoid this necessity.
Tax reform: Remove loopholes, broaden the base, and lower the marginal rates to make us more competitive internationally. The FairTax would be better still, but no point in discussing wild hypotheticals at this juncture. In the short term, a repair of our current tax system is probably the best we will be able to do.
Healthcare reform: Repeal Obamacare, pass measures designed to lower healthcare costs, make healthcare service delivery rational, efficient and effective)
Energy reform: Relax drilling restrictions, drill baby drill. Energy costs are enormous in this country. Lowering energy costs by increasing supply will help everyone's bottom line.
Regulatory reform: Simplify and modernize regulations, especially those that impact small businesses, which is where the vast majority of new jobs come from. More regulation is not automatically better. Just because a regulation may have once been helpful does not mean it still is. Regulations should be trimmed down as much as is reasonably possible.
Federal budget reform: Federal spending is out of control and must be reigned in. That will at a minimum require hard limits on spending that cannot easily be circumvented by our legislators. The Clinton era restrictions (passed by a Republican Congress) worked well. Perhaps something like that again. We must eliminate budget deficits and pay down the national debt.
Education reform: More choice and more competition are needed, especially in areas where public schools have been ineffective for decades. It is amazing how the threat of obsolescence focuses the attention and raises the standards. No point going into the weeds again on this. The point is that we cannot succeed individually and as a country the way we should as long as so many people are so uneducated and unskilled.These are the kind of reforms that must be undertaken to resolve our current fiscal, governmental and economic problems in this country. The periodic money printing operations by the Fed do nothing to address our fundamental problems, and they cannot fix our fundamental problems. As a result, the crisis will continue.
 
Mojo, that's a good list, and all of those things require political decisions; which is the heart of the problem. Our political system (and I don't mean just Obama but nearly the entire structure) is infected with corruption and cronyism. To make any of the changes you listed means that someone with skin in the game will lose their share. With the power structure as it is, special interest groups, corporate money, etc., I'm not holding my breath for someone to come in and buck the system.

You might add to the list restoration of the Rule of Law. The erosion of the Constitution, and the failure to enforce laws equitably is a bigger problem than people realize.
 
Thanks, Musburger. Yes they are political decisions. But as hard as those decisions will be, that is our path to substantial job creation. If our government were able to complete work on that list by March 2013 (effectively impossible), job creation would rapidly soar as a result. And Ben Bernanke could once again focus on controlling inflation, which ideally should be his only job.
 
Good grief. Bernanke and Obama are just so lost. Instead of continually inflating the currency, why not try some business friendly policies that would encourage growth - eliminate regulation and reduce taxes.
 
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