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| Jerome Powell (PBS image) |
When I was young such matters were the height of boring. The TV network news broadcasts had a little "financial news" or "business news" segment that was obviously boring to nearly all. It was obligatory. I can pat myself on the back for remembering the NBC person who handled this. It was Irving R. Levine.
What a sea change today. The "rate cut" is not some obscure routine decision for keeping our financial system on an even keel. Business news today is totally "sexy." We have "celebrities" in business news. No one knows the meaning of caution any more. It's damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead with interest rate cuts.
Does anyone pay attention to the news? Is our attention span that hopeless? I swear it was just recently that Chairman Powell talked about how "inflation hurts poor people." I did a double-take because I thought it was fascinating that the Fed chair would act like it's his job to guard the welfare of everyone in our country. I thought the Fed was supposed to be this boring and routine organization that made carefully weighed adjustments at times.
No, the Fed is this be-all and end-all for our future now. The Fed absolutely holds the keys. Or at least we have allowed this system to develop. A system where we salivate going into each "Fed meeting."
We have been through abnormally low interest rates for so long, including the whole "QE" thing which I never heard of when young. "QE" was supposed to deal with the "financial crisis" of 2008. The "financial crisis" was not an at of God.
We as a nation must have decided that we did not want the "crisis" solved through standard checks. The problem with that approach is that too many "big fish" with the "deep pockets" would have had to suffer. And you know how that goes. Then the media gets intimidated.
The people you see on TV want to keep their jobs as much as anyone. They learned to suddenly "shut up" during Hurricane Katrina rather than begin suggesting strongly there was negligence in our national leadership. The adjustment was swift and obvious. And when it came to the 2008 "financial crisis" we saw exactly the same phenomenon. We seemed to hear in effect that "pointing fingers isn't the answer." Well sometimes it is.
And how disingenuous! The same people who cackle and crow about how we need unfettered freedom in our USA financial system - where people rise and fall and accept consequences for bad decisions - suddenly clear their throat and start speaking a different language. We all ended up just getting confused. And then we just had to proceed with our own lives as we always do. Hey, the people of New Orleans were left largely on their own as a result of the hurricane, right?
And that's the American way, to be self-supporting? But not when it comes to Wall Street heavy-hitters who might be on the hook for big consequences. If some of them were to lose their shirt, well so what? Maybe they'd be forced to go out and get a common job. Oh, we can't allow that?
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| Hank Paulson (Nature Conservancy) |
World history shows what can happen when the masses get truly aggrieved. We don't want that to happen here. But we in the USA are not immune from the drastic things that might happen.
What happens when all the Trump supporters realize they've been had by a flim-flam man? I have known that for years. I am just speaking on what might happen. Christianity won't mean much anymore if a large share of the American people can no longer get enough to eat. Christianity has gotten so invested in Trump and MAGA. It may lose a lot of its footing.
Christianity has a lot to offer - it's just that ministers have become scared to quote Jesus Christ from his "sermon on the mount." He sounds too liberal. And ministers want to keep their jobs. So let's disrespect Jesus Christ Himself so we can keep waving the flag for Trump who has been found responsible in legal proceedings for sexual assault.
We have a congressperson here in western Minnesota who sympathized with Trump's effort to prevent certification of the 2020 election results. She cites "pro-life" as a top priority of hers. What exactly does that mean? Are we losing our senses?
The following is a comment I posted to Yahoo! News a couple days before the "big" Fed meting of today. This is bigger than announcing a new Pope. Here's what I wrote:
For much of my life the Federal Reserve was very obscure and certainly boring to hear about, and I and my friends could not have told you who the Fed chair was. I wonder why we have had this sea change. Can the Fed really lead us to the promised land? Powell speaks like it's his job to take care of the American people, but isn't the Fed's job just to manage the money supply? It's our elected representatives who are supposed to take care of us. Unless they want to abdicate that?
"Lazo" responded:
You have hit the nail on the head...We are now HEAVILY relying on the Fed and their monetary policy...because Congress has absolutely FAILED with respect to fiscal policy over the last 2 decades. Ironically, many members of Congress in 2008 (financial crisis)...are still there today.
"MaDaLo" responded:
I wonder the very same thing. There were no big Fed meetings in times past. The Fed would simply raise or lower rates at their discretion with no announcements or press conferences. It has gotten ridiculous. Everything is sensationalized now.
"Mildly irritated Max" responded:
I agree, but I don't feel like our elected representatives are taking care of anyone but themselves and their big-dollar donors.
"Schumard" responded:
We have never had a 35 trillion dollar national debt before. Watching people flounder in the seas of uncertainty is what we are watching. One thing is certain, taxing more to spend more is not a viable option.
"John" responded:
Obviously you weren't investing in the '90s when Fed Chair Greenspan would make his cryptic announcements and dramatically swing the markets.
"Michael" responded:
Because we are a nation and government of debt. FakeMoney.
"Big Pimpin" responded:
The Fed's job just to manage the money supply, correct which...now hear me out...helps take care of the American people.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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