Ben Bernanke’s Unintended Consequences The good news? Ben Bernanke has confounded naysayers, and proven that The Federal Reserve really can resuscitate (levitate?) the stock market — now up 85% from The Crash of ’08 lows. How? By printing money — lots and lots of money — and driving interest rates into the toilet (and keeping...Read More
An Open Letter to the Federal Reserve Chairman Dear Ben Bernanke (er, Santa Claus): Speaking for millions of my fellow investors, I want to thank you for all your efforts to date, uh, “supporting” stock prices. I/we are certainly better off for it (at least in the short run; in the long run, direct federal...Read More
“Certificates of Confiscation” Once Again? Certificate of Confiscation: 1970’s term for bonds, certificates of deposit (CD’s), etc. yielding less than (rising) inflation. How do you get people (and corporations and banks) to stop hoarding cash, and put it to work, stimulating the economy? Reduce interest rates to zero. But what if that still doesn’t do...Read More
Strapped Governments Look for “Honey Pots” “Because that’s where the money is.” –bank robber Willie Sutton, explaining why he targeted banksFor the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks, financially strapped governments (federal and state) inevitably are going to revisit the home mortgage interest deduction as they seek to close record deficits. (Also getting scrutiny: deductions...Read More
