This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Ben Bernanke: "My Head Hurts"
This article originally appeared in The Daily Capitalist.
I would like to feel sorry for Ben Bernanke because of his bumbling and confusion about what to do about the economy, but I can't. Every time he turns around he does the wrong thing. Today the Wall Street Journal is reporting that he wants the federal government to engage in more fiscal stimulus because he believes that his quantitative easing will be insufficient to revive the economy.
The Journal report borders on the bizarre. Apparently the Fed is slipping the message out in speeches here and there. They border on cognitive dissonance:
Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen, in a speech on Wednesday, amplified Mr. Bernanke's call. "We need, and I believe there is scope for, an approach to fiscal policy that puts in place a well-timed and credible plan to bring deficits down to sustainable levels over the medium and long terms while also addressing the economy's short-term needs." She didn't elaborate on the latter.
Let me translate into plain English what she is saying:
We will continue to print money (i.e., quantitative easing) which will devalue the dollar and create inflation which will fool folks into thinking that the economy is expanding when it really isn't so they will spend, spend, spend, and at the same time we want you guys to spend, spend, spend, run up the deficit and we'll worry about it later. As we Keynesians know, in the long run we'll all be dead, so let's just be expedient and take care of now. Screw the grand kids. P.S. We hope this works because we don't have a clue. P.P.S. I like power. Who wouldn't?
Cognitive dissonance is when one brain holds two opposing ideas and believes both.
»
- advertisements -
"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it."
"Fiscal Stimulus" , "Quantitative Easing"----these terms should be retired if not taken out back of the barn and shot to death.
The government may want to wash its actions in Greenspan-speak and force into the narrative innocuous sounding gobbleygook, but reporters, the righteous critics, and we do not have to put up with this obfuscation.
Call these actions precisely what they are: "Quantitative Easing" and "Fiscal Stimulus" are in reality giving trillions of dollars to banksters for continuous failure, which they use to pay themselves bonuses and not to people whose lives they are destroying. This is nothing but EXTORTION.
What else can the usa do?
Debt of this magnitude has only ever been dealt with in 2 ways.
Inflated away or default.
Take your pick.
The great legacy of WW2 has been pissed away with stupid foreign policy, dumb wars and supporting israel of all places.
By printing dollars its china and the debt holders who are getting the primary shaft. sweet.
my gold goes up and oil becomes expensive - SO you get off it - not buy more of it from arabs who hate you.
i'm not a yank, but i like the usa - do you guys feel he is shaming the country by weakening its currency - who gives a shit?
i think bernanke is a F*cker because he loves banksters and wall st, not cos of QE.
IF the EXTORTION that The Ben Bernank and his odious comrades are perpetrating on the people would put clamps on how the money can be used it wouldn't be as bad, could do some real good.
But Hank and Ben giving Lord Blankfein, Jamie Dimon and their henchmen the keys to the Treasury and allowing them in turn to give trillions to the scum that passes for our financial elite to pay themselves a trillions in bonuses every year is monstrous, in our face, robbery and fiancial assaut.
Some several people at the top need to be laid to rest.
My wallet hurts.
Midlife crisis. Soon he will be wearing a diamond earing and driving a miada.
While it may be true that he has no clue, I still believe those that are in control are still in control. The freaking Dow is still about 4-5k above Fair Value based on on q calcs, any attempt at a significant correction is crushed, and the worse the headlines and snarky comments the more reason shorts are buried. Its absurb but theyve been able to first defend 10k and now 11k. Until any of these breakdown the powers that be in are still absolutely in control.
It matters little whether Ben is a tool of the big banks, a saboteur, or merely an arrogant fool. The results are what they are. We are on the path to a Soviet Central planned financial melt-down.
It is vital that Ben spend the rest of his life in prison, not just because revenge is sweet, but because he has hijacked the world economy and trashed the constitution. We need to make an example of his sorry ass for all future generations.
I am that I am.
Shakespeare and Yahweh
He's faking it.
You rang? :>)
The only thing more dangerous than a madman is a man who believes himself to be utterly correct and justified in what he's doing. This is why the real power behind the scenes use people like Bernanke to push their agenda. I feel quite certain that Bernanke really does, or did, believe in what he is/was doing. But after three plus years of grinding away with no real progress, I suspect he's beginning to allow self doubt to creep in.
This is when the very dangerous ideologue becomes even more dangerous. The ego is so huge and controlling that Bernanke will become a quiet and desperate man. This is when he will do things he either never would have considered in the past or he considered as last resort types of things. Now it's about saving the world from himself and his policies.
The best patsies are those who really do believe in what they're doing. Bernanke and many around him really do believe. Or at least they did.
Rationality and evidence doesn't apply to priests.
You are totally correct, they love men and women like this. Because they truly believe the propaganda that has been told and taught to them. And he may be slowly beginning to sense that he may have been doing the wrong things for a long time. I feel sorry for Ben also, because he will most definitely go into the history books. He will be the one that caused hyperinflation in the US.
Many years ago I used to play poker on sunday nights with a few friends. There was one guy who would try to bluff with nothing, even after it got to the point it was obvious he couldn't win he kept throwing money in the pot. He couldn't quit, he had gone past the point of no return. I feel nowthat the Bernank is in that situation, there is no turning back. If this were poker and the Bernank was playing with his money I wouldn't care. Unfortunately he is playing with my money, and everyone else's. When it's all over he will walk away with no skin off his ass. We will be left to pay for this experiment....... Will somebody please tell him to fold!
I have a different interpretation:
We (The Fed) will print trillions in order to bailout/enrich the "owners" of this (formerly) great country.
YOU, schmucks who are not high net worth individuals, will have to tighten the belts: deep cuts in social security and other programs to balance budget, and higher taxes to pay us (the Fed and member banks) interest on the existing Treasury debt that we own.
This will not have a happy ending. My only hope is that they don't let Binny and the Boyz out of the country when this collapses.
My head hurts me.
Hey Ben, we have a surefire cure for that headache.
It's a pill guaranteed to ease all your pains ---- and ours. It takes effect instantly, will be totally free of charge, and you don't even need to swallow it. We will even let you choose which size of pill you like: .45 caliber, or .38.
Our treasury officials should be hanged for treason and the Fed disbanded.
All we get is double talk.
BAH.
double post
Here, here!
Amen to that..Time to abolish the FED