8.05.2011

Out of Bullets

The Government Can’t Save the Market This Time

Excerpt:

But there are also several very important differences between this market crash and the ones a few years ago:

  • The Fed has fired most of its bullets (interest rates are already at zero)
  • Our budget deficit is already out of control, and Congress has had it with "stimulus"
  • The public has had it with bailouts
That means the government's ability to do anything about this market crash is severely limited. Yes, we'll almost certainly have a "QE3." And maybe that will prop things up a bit. But it won't fix the fundamental problems clogging the economy, just as QE1 and QE2 didn't permanently fix anything. (The only thing that will fix our economy is debt-reduction, discipline, and time.)
To get a good sense of how hamstrung the government is, you need only look as far back as last week, when Congress was so paralyzed that it almost put the country into default rather than raise the debt ceiling. And you also need only note that, when the 2000 crash began, the US federal budget was running a surplus, and when the 2007 crash began, the deficit was only $200 billion. Now, the deficit's about $1.4 trillion.
Comment: Image source. The problem:

  • Debt-reduction? Does anyone see that happening?
  • Discipline? Time? Congress and the President are more interested in their own political fortunes!

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