Is Ben Bernanke off his rocker?

Quote from shfly:

Wasn't Bernanke talking about a longer timeframe for reducing the deficit?

Our national debt was very high after WWII, and was reduced over time...

Isn't it unrealistic to believe we are going to reduce the debt load in just a few years? I know it makes for good politics, but...

We should start ASAP, but all politicians, including the Tea Party'ers talk about reducing this and that, but the American public only want cuts to foreign aid, and some military. Most of us know that Social Sesurity, Medicare etc. have to be cut to make a real dent in the mountain of debt...

Ask your friend/co-worker/neighbor what cuts they want, the answer might not surprise you...

http://zfacts.com/p/1195.html
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All throughout American history we've been in much much worse debt situations only to come out of it.

In order to come out of it, you have to have republicans in control.

Back then the democratics were more conservative, and the republicans were even more conservative as well, hence reducing the debt was feasble... now the democratics are more liberal along w/ the republicans... not so easy now
 
Both the Civil War and WW2 debts are still on the books - those wars are still not paid for - the problem was "solved" by punting down the generational line long enough to discover supplies of and uses for oil.

The biggest difference between eg WW2 and the Iraqi war is that the former used all that spending to wipe out the competitive industrial base of every other major industrial country on the planet.
 
It's also worth noting that one of the Civil War funding techniques was to create a privileged class of banks in exchange for "suggesting" these banks buy lots of gov't bonds.

That should sound...familiar.
 
Quote from ChkitOut:

Buffet came out and said that bens money printing is a bad idea. Inflation creeps up on you and you cant reverse it very easy once its here. Not saying the oracle is 100% right though.
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The only reason he says this is due to the fact he cannot get his greedy paws on any more "stimulus money". He was all for it a year ago. Relic.
 
Quote from schizo:

Is this a fact or just another personal opinion? This is completely new to me. I thought most of QE1 was handed out to the fatcats on Wall Street with what little there was afterward given to the states for various economic projects. QE2 was largely spent to buy up the Treasuries in an effort to drive down the interest rate.

Anyway, had we spent 80% overseas, it would most likely be on cheap imports from China. If so, that would indeed have a deflationary effect on our economy, considering how cheap their labor market is. However, such a scenario only works in a healthy economy. We're still in a recession. Where is the demand to suck up all that supply?
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QE is bond buying which causes the yield curve to flatten - nothing is "handed out". I'm not sure what the percentage is, but because of the amount of debt held overseas, I can see it having more of an impact abroad. Most of the govt. bonds in the US are held by the fed and frankly their balance sheet can absorb this shit.

We may import tons of cheap plastic lead-painted shit from China but never forget our biggest and most important export: our monetary policy.
 
Quote from misterno:

Money printing does not cause inflation

In the case of USD, 80% of printed USD is used overseas and does not cause inflation in US.
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What are you talking about ? Inflation is only caused by too much money printing. Even if the majority of money is outside the us it still floods the world with dollars which lowers demand which lowers the value of the dollar relative to other currencies. That's economics 101...good thing this site isn't called elite economists
 
Quote from krazykarl:

QE is bond buying which causes the yield curve to flatten - nothing is "handed out". I'm not sure what the percentage is, but because of the amount of debt held overseas, I can see it having more of an impact abroad. Most of the govt. bonds in the US are held by the fed and frankly their balance sheet can absorb this shit.

We may import tons of cheap plastic lead-painted shit from China but never forget our biggest and most important export: our monetary policy.
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QE steepens the yield curve, that is why we have artificially low short term rates. It also makes equities, many grossly overpriced, as the best option or so they say. Bubble Ben is hoping the economy some how catches up with the artificially inflated assets so jobs will be created. The Fed has become a serial bubble creator.

http://www.minyanville.com/business...easury-spreads-yield-curve/1/18/2011/id/32246
 
Bernanke is clinically insane. He is creating the biggest commodity bubble of all time which will only end in tears. What a nutjob.
 
Quote from CET:

QE steepens the yield curve, that is why we have artificially low short term rates. It also makes equities, many grossly overpriced, as the best option or so they say. Bubble Ben is hoping the economy some how catches up with the artificially inflated assets so jobs will be created. The Fed has become a serial bubble creator.

http://www.minyanville.com/business...easury-spreads-yield-curve/1/18/2011/id/32246
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We have low short-term rates because the fed has set the overnight rate at essentially zero. Purchasing long-term US bonds causes the coupon to fall, and the yield curve flattens.
 
Quote from misterno:

Money printing does not cause inflation

In the case of USD, 80% of printed USD is used overseas and does not cause inflation in US.
More...

Congrats !!
You have just joined the rank of the producers of one of the dumbest posts ever.
 
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