who knows maybe they are right though even on that count
September 21 2011: Reckless Abandon
"Fire at Washington docks of Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Co."
Ilargi: I'm not even sure if it's right to claim that it's unique to our societies, but it's certainly something like a token sign. We do a lot of stupid and useless things, but this one is right up there with the cream of the crop of them.
For days now, the entire financial world seems to be holding its breath waiting for Ben Bernanke to issue a statement on what his Federal Reserve aims to do next, a statement to be delivered today, Wednesday, around 2.15 PM EDT.
What makes this so remarkable is that it should be clear to anyone with a pulse and some control of any of their senses left, that Bernanke's upcoming speech is completely inconsequential for more than a very short and fleeting moment in time. The Fed can't save our economies or banks from the upcoming recession slash depression anymore than it can send a rocketship to Andromeda.
The Federal Reserve is impotent when it comes to saving the economy, even if it tries with all its might not to show it. It flaunts its fictional capacity and ability to come up with new and creative well-calculated measures to influence everything from A to Z like once upon a time the emperor flaunted his new clothes. And no matter how badly any and all of its previous measures have failed, the vast majority among us still praises the subtly elegant materials and their dream-provoking shine. We don't want reality, we want to believe.
Oh, but you say, the Fed did succeed at times: didn't QE1 saved the economy?! No, I say, it did nothing of the kind. One might argue that it saved the day, perhaps, but all it really accomplished was to make the crisis more opaque. And granted, that may well be what it was designed for. So in that light, yes, one can argue that the Fed has been highly successful.
But that is not what we are looking for in a central bank. What we are looking for is for it to, indeed, save the economy, in order that, in the case of the Federal Reserve, ordinary Americans can look forward to decent paychecks, and homes they can keep living in, and bright futures for their kids.
Well, neither QE1, nor for that matter any other of the Fed's measures of the past few years, have done anything at all to stop housing prices from plunging, to make sure people get hired again, or to make our children's futures look less bleak. And it has failed to accomplish all of this while spending on and lending to the global financial system some $10-$20 trillion in American "wealth", public funds.
It’s simply not true that with different policy decisions, the day could be saved. The choices lie elsewhere: are we going to use the people's money to "save the financial system", or will we use it to alleviate the misery of the people themselves? To date, the choice Washington, Brussels et al have opted for is abundantly clear: not one choice has been made based on what is best for the people. Instead, the people are told that it’s in their best interest if their money is used to prop up failed and bankrupt institutions. And so far, the people buy this baloney.
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