What is Digg?210 Comments
- inactive, on 02/17/2008, -6/+90He knew all along. All Bernanke was doing was to try to boost confidence so that the big investors could have a few more months to take their profits and get out.
- iching, on 02/17/2008, -6/+83You're doing a heck of a job Benny!
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -12/+84The US Federal Reserve: a bad idea.
- deepdiggdude, on 02/17/2008, -12/+74Fellow Americans, it is time we all come to terms with the fact that the U.S.A. is in an inexorable decline. When the federal reserve removed gold as a backing for our currency it created the biggest expansion in history. Unfortunately, it was based on a an illusion. You see, money is now backed by the debt owed to the banks in the form of the loans we citizens have promised to pay back. This scheme worked brilliantly for several decades, but, like a family that continues to get new credit cards to pay the interest on their older maxed-out credit cards, the system will eventually implode under the weight of our obligations. Money from debt is, in actuality, a pyramid scheme. Like the market bubble or the housing bubble or the tulip bubble centuries ago, it will pop. Poor Bernanke has an impossible task. First he and the Fed tried out right lying about the problem in hopes that the consumer would somehow just keep on spending, but thanks to his predecessor, who lowered interest rates to stave off the inevitable, the housing bubble was created. The result was a country who's middle class was instantly eliminated from being able to borrow the money to buy homes. No borrowers equals no money supply. The scheme has completed its course and if you are worried about recession, you'd better toughen up, because a depression is going to be the final phase of this disastrous policy. The future of this country is bleak. It will be a country of super-wealthy and ultra-impoverished. If you're you not at the clubhouse, you will likely be working at a Wal-mart (currently the countries largest employer). The future now favors Asia and South America.
Move over England, we'll be joining you on the bench soon. Our time is up. - AlexLibman, on 02/17/2008, -3/+33Don't you just hate it when idiots are in charge of your money?
- krnldmp, on 02/17/2008, -0/+30Half the US government is complete ***** and most of that half is at the top. I blame citizens that don't care.
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -4/+30We don't know if he's really clueless or if he's a liar. What we do know is that he's not a reliable source of information.
- inactive, on 02/17/2008, -2/+27He has it figured out now though iching. Really.... trust him, he has it figured out now.
It goes ike this: our trade deficit and government budget deficit along with ridicoulously low interest rates have caused this recession - So (now try to see the logic here) what we need to o is increase the budget deficit by 150B at the same time that we lower interest rates below the level of infletion so that people can buy a bunch of Chinese crap at Walmart.
Do you understand his strategy now? Quit worrying - yogurtslinger, on 02/17/2008, -2/+25Naw, nothing wrong with the economy but our government can't afford to keep the economic indicators website up because of budget constraints.
http://www.economicindicators.gov/
We'll keep delivering the news as long as you keep buying our *****. - reeder, on 02/17/2008, -6/+28Just like there is no recession, right Bernacke?! I can't wait until Ron Paul slams him again with real questions from someone who actually understands Monetary Theory. The brow sweat is coming, Bernacke.
- inactive, on 02/17/2008, -2/+24"By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose".
- John Maynard Keynes, economist and author of "The Economic Consequences Of The Peace" - a6n28f, on 02/17/2008, -2/+23It's like bizarro world - they actually think these lies are vital to national security in the economic sense, just like our economy as a whole has a vested interest in being constantly at war. It's our largest industry (oh sorry, "defense" industry) and we are the world's largest arms dealer. I have no trouble picturing Cheney, Rummy and the rest of the gang sitting around convincing themselves that lying to start wars is in the best interest of the American people. And it just happens to be a coincidence that this is also in line with their personal financial interests. This is what our perversion of capitalism has come to, Plato's Golden Lie.
- goldentofu, on 02/17/2008, -0/+20The article also mentions that Alan Greenspan said there was no bubble too.
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -1/+19Maybe the Defense Secretary should now be called Attack Secretary.
- jdh24, on 02/17/2008, -8/+25i wonder if bernanke realizes that he and his federal reserve cronies control the 'housing bubbles'
- Richandler, on 02/17/2008, -7/+24I'm sorry but with that white beard I believe Ben Bernanke is the most clueless man on earth.
- iching, on 02/17/2008, -2/+17I'm gonna lower you a quarter point or maybe a half point for that comment...
Just kidding, I was just doing a Benny and dugg you up.....LOL - wilhoitm, on 02/17/2008, -2/+16Let me give you a little hint! Whenever the Government emphatically states something, usually the opposite is true.
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+13In that respect, the Digg comment system has a big advantage over the Federal Reserve. They can't cut the rates below zero :)
- blorc, on 02/17/2008, -3/+15I heard he waved his hand in front of everyone when he said "There is no housing bubble" and tricked everyone with his Jedi mind powers.
- 955701, on 02/17/2008, -1/+13my favorite part of the article:
"But if Bernanke is confirmed as Fed chief, and if the housing market slows more than he expects, he would be unlikely to use the central bank's power over short-term interest rates to prop up falling housing prices for the sake of individual homeowners, according to comments he has made in numerous speeches and statements in academic papers."
This shows you just how bad it really is - he's had to do an about face on his previous assessments. Either that or he's just another face-saving lying monkey like the rest of them. - inactive, on 02/17/2008, -0/+12Since we have both a defense department and a homeland defense department we could get confused. Now I refer to the defense department as the "Foreign Excursions And Retribution" department or F.E.A.R.
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -2/+13Your musical chairs analogy is excellent. Now, the question is should we run the economy like a game of musical chairs? I don't think that's wise.
Actually, when people talk about going back to the gold standard (at least when I do), it is just a simplification. What we mean is having currencies backed by some hard assets, it doesn't all have to be gold. - magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+11Lots of money available at a low interest rate is an opportunity that the banks wanted to make use of. They had already loaned money to all responsible loan takers, and now they wanted to go look for everybody else to take a loan. They thought that a variable interest rate was a good way to hedge their risk.
So, the problem started with the Fed making too much money available. - PeppermintPig, on 02/17/2008, -2/+12But they can still suck the value out of our savings.
- temjrpgh, on 02/17/2008, -0/+10The age of the story has no relevance to it's value. It's value is in the examination of past claims on the part of people in power that are contrary to their current claims, which we in the USA ignore or give license to as 'expected behavior'. The 'old story' complaint makes me angry when a story puts a current event in perspective. I almost said 'elected officials' rather than 'people in power' in that first sentence, but Bernanke is not an elected official.
- lucutus, on 02/17/2008, -0/+9Personally I am getting screwed a bit by the housing market in that I am now stuck in a house we planned to sell after 5 years and now it will not sell so I can not move. Still I think it's about time for a price correction in new and used homes.
- iching, on 02/17/2008, -2/+11Its a shell game.
- freezeout, on 02/17/2008, -1/+10from the people who brought you "There Is No Housing Bubble" now comes "There Is No Recession" and "There Aint No Problem A Nice Rate Cut Can't Fix".
- seaotter02, on 02/17/2008, -1/+9"But if Bernanke is confirmed as Fed chief, and if the housing market slows more than he expects, he would be unlikely to use the central bank's power over short-term interest rates to prop up falling housing prices for the sake of individual homeowners, according to comments he has made in numerous speeches and statements in academic papers"
Unlikely, huh? That was the first thing he did. - inactive, on 02/17/2008, -3/+11That could be.........
- Notasheeple, on 02/17/2008, -8/+16The guy is a controlled scum. Seriously, what do expect him to say? He knows "the market" does this from time to time, in order to provide order out of chaos. "They" have been playing this game for years now. Private banking and interest notes from England were probably the main frustrations of the people who started the 1st American Revolution. They made the great depression happen by decreasing the money supply, forcing the people to withdraw their money causing the banks to go bankrupt. "they" then bougt those banks and required them to become "licensed". Countless people lost all the money the had.
The FED answers to no one. Not the president, not congress, not the house, not the senate - no one.
The FED charges us interest for every dollar they "loan" to us, so we pay it back with income tax.
We The People must be in charge of the money supply by representation. Not by private interests who answer to no one! - Wookie, on 02/17/2008, -2/+10isn't it time to ditch the central banking cartel yet?
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+7Just like the President, the Senate and Congress represent the people. and they do what the people they represent want them to do?
If you look at the history of the world, that has never happened. And I see no reason why it would ever happen. Democracy is not the solution.
The solution also isn't to the right or to the left, nor the center.
The solution is to make sure all government (central or local) is as small as possible. - Look4Truth, on 02/17/2008, -1/+8When are people going to wake up to the fact that the establishment lies to us? Hello?
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -1/+8"That would make sense if Bernanke wasn't one of the single most accomplished economists in US history. His textbooks are used in schools across the country to teach basic economic theory.": when the Fed lowers the rate they end up taking away value from the money you already have. So, in a sense, you're being robbed. What you're saying is "You're being robbed by somebody who understands money very well, don't worry, he knows what he's doing".
- lifeasariver, on 02/17/2008, -1/+8"Now the question is should we run the economy as a dynamic system?"
Sure, let's! What dynamics are you talking about? After the WWII the British came up with the idea to create a world currency but the idea met with US opposition (UK owed $4bn at the end of the war therefore it wasn't in a good position to argue). Instead, they went with the US idea: give us all your gold, we peg the USD to gold and you peg your national currencies to USD. Until Vietnam when the expenditure went so out of hand that the gold standard was removed, and yet national currencies remained pegged to the USD because of its oil currency status. It sure is a dynamic system - USD pegged on the whims of profiteers in the banking cartel and a global economy pegged to the US economy. When a bunch of crooks take down the US economy, inevitably they take down the world economy. - magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -2/+9"Do you even know the definition of recession? Quick, go look it up on Wikipedia." and "A recession is negative growth for two or more consecutive quarters in a fiscal year. Exactly which two fiscal quarters have experienced negative growth since 2003?": that's when you officially declare you're in a recession, of course the recession started at the beginning of those two quarters.
- d3lta, on 02/17/2008, -2/+9Well he's also optimistic about avoiding a recession, so are there a few big investors who haven't pulled out of the economy? I dunno, maybe the guys just the eternal optimist... I'll tell you what he shouldn't be, "Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve"
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+7"He eventually got caught growing weed in it and is now in jail". So, in this particular case, the guilty party is not the Federal Reserve but the federal government with their stupid war on drugs :)
- inactive, on 02/17/2008, -1/+8How do we tolerate an unelected official with no sense of accountability being in control of the money supply? And we allow them to make all their decisions in secret to boot? We deserve what we get.
- magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+7Lots of money available at a low interest rate is an opportunity that the banks wanted to make use of. They had already loaned money to all responsible loan takers, and now they wanted to go look for everybody else to take a loan. They thought that a variable interest rate was a good way to hedge their risk.
So, the problem started with the Fed making too much money available. - consonance, on 02/17/2008, -1/+8This may seem hard to believe, but Bernanke is doing what he should. Yes, he is SUPPOSED to lie and say the economy is not going into a recession, if he has to lie. Why?
Well, let's say Bernanke doesn't lie. Let's say he comes out and says, "Our economy is going to hell in a handbasket because the corporations screwed us over and everyone got greedy and now we're paying the price." Ouch. That would almost certainly cause a recession, because the economy listens very closely to Bernanke, and a statement like that would alarm businesses, alarm investors, and cause everybody to pull back operations and business--causing a recession.
This is called the Expectations theory of economics; what people expect is what will happen if enough people believe it. By fearing a recession, businesses will scale back their activity, which is what causes recessions. It's the ultimate self-fulfilling prophesy.
So you can call Bernanke a liar. But as the chairman of the fed, he has to. We'd be a whole lot worse off if he told the truth. - wachter1, on 02/17/2008, -2/+8What is a bubble in the hosuing context? Is a 10% correction a bubble? If housing prices go up 25% over two years and then drop 10%, that is still a significant net increase. I would not call that a bubble.
If you read the article Bernake says that prices may come down. - yodaj007, on 02/17/2008, -0/+6A strain on your mental capacity, perhaps? I suggest you read a few books. His post was not that long.
- LenBaird, on 02/17/2008, -1/+7"We don't know if he's really clueless or if he's a liar. What we do know is that he's not a reliable source of information."
He's definitely a liar. You don't get his job by being clueless. - magoghm, on 02/17/2008, -0/+6There is always fraud. You usually find out about it when you have financial problems and take a really close look at what's happening. Fraud is easiest to hide when everybody believes they are making a lot of money, but when they start to lose money then they will discover it. Sometimes, people discover fraud when there was none: sending some innocent people to jail in an attempt to keep your job as CEO.
- MrFlesh, on 02/17/2008, -0/+6I knew there was an issue when a friend of mine making $10 an hour gor a $250,000 house. He eventually got caught growing weed in it and is now in jail, but still you'd think the bank would have asked him how he was going to pay for it.
- pimpofpixels, on 02/17/2008, -6/+11As usual, Bush's sole criteria in choosing his appointment is loyalty, and since loyalty to Bush in and of itself demonstrates a profound lack of intelligence, Bush has yet again chosen nearly the worst person for the job.
- sanman, on 02/17/2008, -2/+7Economist and columnist Paul Krugman was the Bush critic who started hollering loudest and earliest about the tremendous danger of the housing bubble looming on the horizon. Ironically, Krugman considers Bernanke to be his mentor, as a fellow whom he has great respect for. So when Bernanke was appointed as Fed Chief, then suddenly Krugman shut up about the housing bubble issue.
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