Poll: With the end of Fed's QE in sight, U.S. public says 'Huh?' (1 Viewer)

[Erod]

Yahoo News Canada - Latest News & Headlines

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve this week is expected to start winding down an epic economic stimulus that is credited with helping the United States claw back from the deepest slump since the Great Depression.

The Fed's $2.8 trillion "quantitative easing" program has, among other things, lifted stock prices to record highs, driven interest rates to record lows and put a floor under what had been a reeling housing market.
Yet barely a quarter of Americans even know what it is.

A poll leading up to the Fed's pivotal decision, expected Wednesday afternoon, found just 27 percent of U.S. adults could correctly pick the correct definition of quantitative easing from among five possible answers.

Quantitative easing, or QE for short, is when the Fed buys bonds in order to push down interest rates and boost the economy.

The so-called "recovery" is built on masking tape and Elmer's glue. There's nothing real behind it, other than this constant pumping of federal money into the bond market to make money cheap to borrow and investments artificially inflated.

I fully expect the fed to keep superficially floating the market so we can all pretend everything is OK (and so billionaires can continue to take advantage of unsuspecting and inexperienced investors with no inside knowledge.) When taxes increase from the healthcare fiasco and total tax revenue collapses under the weight of those burdens, the first dominoes will begin to fall.

One day pretty soon, the pumping will end, and the music will stop. Millions won't have a chair to run to. People are going to get hurt, and the trickle down is going to be disastrous.

Then what?

 

[Samhain]

Except they didn't.

Fed sticks to stimulus, worried about growth soft spots | Reuters

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would continue buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace for now, surprising financial markets that were braced for a reduction in the central bank's economic stimulus.

Citing strains in the economy from tight fiscal policy and higher mortgage rates, the Fed decided against the tapering of asset purchases that investors had all but priced into stock and bond markets.

When it does stop, however, expect the markets to shed about 10-15% over 30 days.

 

[Erod]

Except they didn't.

Fed sticks to stimulus, worried about growth soft spots | Reuters



When it does stop, however, expect the markets to shed about 10-15% over 30 days.

I suspect they'll continue through the midterms next year.

 

[WCH]

The IMF has similar worries.

IMF's Lagarde Warns Against Rush To Exit QE | Fox Business

 

[Erod]

The IMF has similar worries.

IMF's Lagarde Warns Against Rush To Exit QE | Fox Business

Basically, the gangrene is set in, but we're just putting off the amputation as long as we possibly can.

 

[WCH]

Basically, the gangrene is set in, but we're just putting off the amputation as long as we possibly can.

'Fraid so. A market crash will finish off lots of investors and people with 401s.

 

[Erod]

'Fraid so. A market crash will finish off lots of investors and people with 401s.

Yep, and notice how the good ole money market funds aren't available anymore in the 401K plans. There's nowhere to hide.

Might be better off taking the 10 percent hit and all-at-once tax rate now, rather than hanging around for the bloody carnage.

 

[WCH]

Yep, and notice how the good ole money market funds aren't available anymore in the 401K plans. There's nowhere to hide.

Might be better off taking the 10 percent hit and all-at-once tax rate now, rather than hanging around for the bloody carnage.

Even though it's comparatively safe, I've mentions to my Wife about divesting half of her 401.

[Taking it out as a loan she could pay back in time]

 

[Erod]

Even though it's comparatively safe, I've mentions to my Wife about divesting half of her 401.

[Taking it out as a loan she could pay back in time]

I've done that before, and it makes sense because you pay interest to yourself. In a growth period in the market, it hurts you; but in a down cycle, not only do you pay yourself interest, you buy back in at a lower per-share rate. It's like a short sell.

Then, if you think the market has bottomed, but you can pay the loan off in full and gain shares in the overall exchange.

 

[Erod]

This, from our lying laughingstock of a president today:

"Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy. All it does is it says you got to pay the bills that you've already racked up, Congress. It's a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved." - See more at: Obama: 'Raising the Debt Ceiling...Does Not Increase Our Debt,' Though It Has 'Over 100 Times' | CNS News

 

[Ockham]

It would be one thing if we increased the debt ceiling and the increase was never used. Sadly, that's not the case. How the media and citizens of America still put faith in such a statement is amazing.