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What "Car Salesman" Ben Bernanke Said At Dinner Last Night
From Simon Black of Sovereign Man
What Ben Bernanke Said At Dinner Last Night
Last night I attended a private function put on by the National Economists Club where the guest of honor was none other than Ben Bernanke. You can read his full speech to the attendees here.
Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out how a guy with my views was even allowed in the room.
But since I was already scheduled to be in the US this week to speak at a conference in Miami, I jumped at the chance to enjoy Bistro Filet and economic doublethink.
I've always wanted to find out for myself-- does this man actually believe that printing money is the path to prosperity?
As it turns out, he does believe it.
At one point during the evening, when pressed about whether his Quantitative Easing program was good for Wall Street at the expense of Main Street, he flat out denied it, saying that such a premise is "simply not true".
He defended his printing $85 billion per month, suggesting that fixing interest rates at zero is beneficial for society because, among other things, it allows people to 'buy cars'.
I saw these words coming out of his mouth and thought to myself, "Is this guy f'ing serious?" Cars. Wow. As if going into debt to purchase a rapidly depreciating consumer item is somehow a victory for the people.
Fixing interest rates at zero screws responsible people who save.
My mother, for example, is completely risk averse. She holds the entirety of her savings in a bank account, and nobody can convince her otherwise.
What she doesn't realize is that the interest rate she receives is below the rate of inflation. So year after year, the purchasing power of her savings declines.
This point seemed completely lost on the Chairman.
He also dismissed the Fed's role in the growing wealth gap here in the Land of the Free.
As we've discussed before, recently published data show that the US wealth gap is at its highest point since 1929.
For this, the chairman blames trade globalization, saying that the wealth gap is a 'complicated phenomenon'.
He also stated flat out that there's ‘not much the Federal Reserve can do about long-term trends like [the wealth gap] that don't have much to do with monetary policy.'
Right. Keeping interest rates at zero so that bankers and the ultra-wealthy can see their portfolios rise to record levels while the middle class gets hosed by rising costs of medical care, education, food, and fuel has nothing to do with monetary policy.
This may have been the most intellectually disingenuous thing I heard all night.
Mr. Bernanke also made it quite clear that they were going to keep printing no matter what.
In his own words, he told the story about how they had tried issuing forward guidance... first suggesting that Quantitative Easing would last through 2013. Then they changed it to 2014. Then 2015.
Finally they changed the target altogether, announcing that they had set a threshold for the unemployment rate of 6.5%... but that this figure was just a 'threshold', not a 'trigger'.
In other words, even if the official unemployment rate moves below 6.5%, the Fed isn't going to end QE. They will at that point START to look at other data, like the Labor Force Participation Rate (which is at its worst level since 1978).
He also hinted that their unemployment threshold was not set in stone... which I took as a sign that they would probably lower this threshold even more, paving the way for several more years of printing.
And even if they do let up on Quantitative Easing, he stated very plainly that the Fed would still likely keep its target interest rate at zero.
Bottom line, it's not going to end... at least, not voluntarily. It's going to take a full-blown currency crisis before the Fed gets a whiff of reality.
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everyone at the Fed is an enemy of the state
Dear God,
Save us from the true believers.
desn't sound quite right, does it?
Dear God, save us from the Bitcoin tricksters. Once these mad men begin collapsing the US global reserve currency, you’ll be asked to be chipped to protect your Bitcoin assets. Once this entire plan is set to play by the media handler, watching people lose their entire wealth will be conning.
[Quantitative Easing ] Long Division song.
Cars depriciating too much? The Spiritual Leader of the FSA can just run another used-car buy-back scheme to lower the supply again.
I'm always amazed at the lack of any emotion when they speak. Their faces are always blank. Great poker faces. Sociopaths all. Only sociopaths can lie so well. No place in society for them. Only hope that the new leader cannot assume control from the chaos that follows the fall.
And, for christmas, i wanna see banksters heads roll.
interesting and a confirmation of what we already know. there will be no taper. but there will be no currency crisis- that can only happen when and if there is an easily identifiable alternative global system with major differences from what we have now. and given the torrid pace at which the Fed is hoovering up 10yr equivalents the only question is what happens when the Fed and other government entities hold so much of Treasuries that all the meaningful duration risk is held domestically.
There is a new economic law !!!!
It is called: BULLSHIT WILL BLOWUP .
Bernanke's Bubble! Get out now while the getting out is good.
Liars. Manipulators. Damned Make-Believers.
Money for nothin' and chicks for free.
Know when to hold them. Know when to fold 'em.
He also disagreed with the premise that real estate could decline nationally. In fact, most of the time, he is wrong.
Michael Snyder: Next Great Wave of Economic Crisis - Gold And Silver
Greg Hunter is hosting Michael Snyder this time, who provides a lot of very well researched facts for your own consideration about the state of the economy. With latest reports about tampering the all important employment numbers at Census Bureau our quest for Gold and Silver manipulations acknowledgement and confirmation can be assured in the not so distant future.http://sufiy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/michael-snyder-next-great-wave-of.ht...
Let them eat cars!
...and iPads.
I don't need to buy a fuckin' car....
If Mussolini had a central Bank, it would smell like the Bernank.
So the retirees and old folks are watching their retirement dwindle away because they refuse to put their life saving in the stock market ,and Ben is happy because he made it so people can buy cars while others who need income are frightened to death .......this guy is plain evil
In the end, the banks will own everything.....
lol Buy fucking CARS!
loooool
Janet said low rates would help retirees work longer. Ben is giving them a ride to the office.
"Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out how a guy with my views was even allowed in the room."
The author sure puts on the tough guy front when penning an article, doesn't he? Why not confront our fascist monetary policy with everyone in the room Simon? Too big of a pussy? Maybe you were invited to the dinner because you don't have the balls to do something about it, and they know it.
I'm sure the food was good though, right? People like Simon Black are just as much as part of the problem. Always acting like they are outside of the system, but still just a pawn in our monetary ponzi scheme.
Get back to us when you actually do something about this, instead of staring in your fucking soup while Bernanke tells us to buy cars with MOAR QE.
I've stopped trying to figure out whether Bernanke is deluded or dishonest and have accepted that those choices are not mutually exclusive.
WTF, Helicopter Ben? ABOLISH THE FERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, now!!! Lock and load, bitchez. The time has never been so right.
Just call him Lee Iacocksucker