Paul Farrell On The One Thing Buffett, Gross, Grantham, Faber, And Stiglitz All Agree On: “Bernanke Plan A Disaster”
by ilene - November 2nd, 2010 2:50 pm
Paul Farrell On The One Thing Buffett, Gross, Grantham, Faber, And Stiglitz All Agree On: "Bernanke Plan A Disaster"
Courtesy of Zero Hedge
By now it is more than obvious except to a few economists (yes, we realize this is a NC-17 term) that QE2 will be an absolute and unmitigated disaster, which will likely kill the dollar, send risk assets vertical (at least as a knee jerk reaction), and result in a surge in inflation even as deflation on leveraged purchases continues to ravage Bernanke’s feudal fiefdom. So all the rational, and very much powerless, observers can do is sit back and be amused as the kleptogarchy with each passing day brings this country to final economic and social ruin. Oddly enough, as Paul Farrell highlights, the list of objectors has grown from just fringe blogs (which have been on Bernanke’s case for almost two years), to such names as Buffett, Gross, Grantham, Faber and Stiglitz. And that the opinion of all these respected (for the most part) investors is broadly ignored demonstrates just how unwavering is the iron grip on America’s by its economist overlords. Which brings us back to the amusement part. Here are Farrell’s always witty views on the object which very soon 99% of American society will demand be put into exile: the genocidal Ph.D. holders of the Marriner Eccles building.
From Paul Farrell’s latest: Sell bonds now, Fed’s QE2 is doomed to fail.
Warning, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s foolish gamble to stimulate the economy will backfire, triggering a new double-dip recession. Bernanke is “medding” too much in the economy, say Marc Faber, Bill Gross, Jeremy Grantham, Joseph Stiglitz and others.
The Fed is making the same kind of mistakes Japan made that resulted in its 20-year recession. The Washington Post says Larry Mayer, a former Fed governor, estimates that to work it would take QE2 bond purchases of “more than $5 trillion …10 times what analysts are expecting.”
Bernanke’s plan is designed to fail. And, unfortunately, that will make life far more dangerous for American investors, consumers, taxpayers and voters.
“I’m ultrabearish on everything, but I believe you’ll be better off owning shares than government bonds,” said Hong Kong economist Marc Faber at a recent forum in Seoul. He sees a repeat of dot-com-bubble insanity today. Faber publishes the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.
And Warren Buffett agrees,
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Bloomberg News is still after the Fed for more disclosure
by ilene - September 19th, 2009 6:33 pm
Bloomberg News is still after the Fed for more disclosure
Courtesy of Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns
Bloomberg News editor-in-chief Matt Winkler wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday explaining why he is after the Federal Reserve to come clean about its secret lending program during the height of the financial crisis.
Bloomberg has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve to force the Fed to reveal the name of the banks it lent money to in this operation, something I first blogged about last November. Last month, Bloomberg won its case in District Court. The Fed is now considering whether to appeal.
At issue is transparency in our financial system. In the Op-Ed, Winkler puts it thus:
The law doesn’t allow the government to get away with secrecy based on a mere claim that some sort of damage would result if it released the information in question. To prevail, the Fed must "provide evidence that if the requested information is disclosed, competitive harm would be ‘imminent,’" Judge Preska wrote. The Fed must show that competitors would use against a bank the fact that it received federal dollars—that running to the government trough for sustenance would become a competitive disadvantage.
That isn’t an easy test, and with hundreds of billions poured into financial institutions, it shouldn’t be. What’s more, the Fed didn’t come close to meeting this test. All it offered in court were sworn statements from Fed employees speculating that borrowers might be labeled as losers. They said nothing about how competing banks might use the information.
The issue at stake here is understanding the financial crisis and its aftermath. The information Bloomberg is seeking is vital to that, and it belongs to all Americans. Bloomberg isn’t alone in saying so. Dow Jones, the New York Times, the Associated Press, Gannett Newspapers, Hearst, Advance Publications, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have all expressed support for Bloomberg’s efforts and may join a friend-of-the-court brief if the decision is appealed.
Below is a Bloomberg News video in which Winkler discusses the case with Betty Liu. In his opening remarks, Winkler says the Fed was taking on an unprecedented role and that this requires transparency.
I agree because the Fed has been politicized through these actions. Its independence is now threatened because of it as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 attests.
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.