[quote author=“Tommo_UK”]Zeke, agreed - but at least when he decided he wanted to act, he did so imaginatively, with conviction, and with confidence (as displayed in the minutes today). it was a tricky situation, and at least the Fed did the best thing possible, albeit with the benefit of hindsight and a little bit late.

Yes, I do applaud him for the decisiveness and boldness of the move when the Fed finally did react. I take back at least part of my rant back in July about the Fed where I used language similar to “incompetent buffoons”.

[quote author=“Zeke”][quote author=“Tommo_UK”]Zeke, agreed - but at least when he decided he wanted to act, he did so imaginatively, with conviction, and with confidence (as displayed in the minutes today). it was a tricky situation, and at least the Fed did the best thing possible, albeit with the benefit of hindsight and a little bit late.

Yes, I do applaud him for the decisiveness and boldness of the move when the Fed finally did react. I take back at least part of my rant back in July about the Fed where I used language similar to “incompetent buffoons”.

Absent a 50 basis point cut, there would have been huge pressure for a Federal bail out of homeowners facing foreclosure. The pressue is off and the economy has responded nicely.

However, from an economic standpoint there is nothing being done to cure the American addiction to cheap credit. Until that illness is addressed, the economy will remain at risk.

[quote author=“DawnTreader”][q
However, from an economic standpoint there is nothing being done to cure the American addiction to cheap credit. Until that illness is addressed, the economy will remain at risk.

It might also help to address some of the underlying factors in that addiction, including rapidly rising costs of healthcare, college tuition, energy, etc, plus declining real wages for something like half of Americans.

[quote author=“gslusher”][quote author=“DawnTreader”][q
However, from an economic standpoint there is nothing being done to cure the American addiction to cheap credit. Until that illness is addressed, the economy will remain at risk.

It might also help to address some of the underlying factors in that addiction, including rapidly rising costs of healthcare, college tuition, energy, etc, plus declining real wages for something like half of Americans.

Let’s just call it the declining American quality of life masked for a short while by access to cheap credit. The US is not investing in itself and the nation’s people are by and large chasing the lowest cost providers of goods and services at the expense of the nation’s industrial and service infrastructure.

These problems are temporarily addressed through a falling dollar. The moment interest rates begin to move higher or a push is made to raise the value of the dollar the economic growth is put at risk. Not a pretty picture.