Posted on 03/15/2017 5:18:31 PM PDT by PK1991
"While it may not be the very definition of irony, we do find the fact that the Atlanta Fed has just cut its Q1 GDP forecast from 1.2% to 0.9%, a number which if confirmed would be the lowest quarterly print in year, just two hours before the Fed's rate hike quite humorous. As a reminder, the number was as high as 3.4% one and a half months ago."
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
I would bet on ‘politics.’
The Fed can always be counted on to do exactly the wrong thing.
Abolish the Fed.
Every last ####ing cent.
I think the fed has always been political. The same with the courts. We really need to end the fed and revamp the courts.
In any random group of 100 people you’ll probably find 50 who want lower interest rates and 50 who can’t survive with them.
I think it has been more political to keep them low for as long as they have. This isn’t going to stop the economy. President Trump wants American companies holding money in foreign subsidiaries to bring the money home. He wants to do this with tax rates, but interest rates could help too, considering EU interest rates are negative.
and now you see why traitor Mcconnell says no tax reform this year..its a sabotage!
“He wants to do this with tax rates, but interest rates could help too, considering EU interest rates are negative.”
Bingo! I’m tired of getting nothing for the money I save. You used to be rewarded by banks for keeping your wealth with them.
Now they fee the life out of you.
And what exactly would you suggest should act as lender of last resort?
There is a way that this can work against President Trump, and that is that it will make the currency stronger. People will start earning more interest in dollars than Euros, then dollars are more valuable.
We have had exceedingly low rates dating back to 2001. In the first instance to stimulate the economy after 9-11. In the second to fight the massive deflationary effect as a billion or so in mortgage paper went up in smoke in 2008.
I marvel at people who think that rates barely cracking the 1% level are going to tank the economy. They embarrass themselves.
Keeping rates as low as they have for as long as they have is what has been destroying pension funds. Most projected making around an 8% return, but they have been getting about 1% for a decade now. There are two sides to lending, the borrower and the lender. When we think of lenders we think of “greedy banks”, but a lot of us are lenders without knowing it.
“Keeping rates as low as they have for as long as they have is what has been destroying pension funds. “
and in fact these abnormally low rates played a huge and often overlooked role in the 2008 economic collapse.
Pension funds and insurance companies need to get a certain rate of return in order to make their business model work. They used to be able to do this by investing in Treasuries or safe corporate debt. When rates fell in 2001 they began hunting for yield. They found it in subprime paper.
Wall Street accommodated them by developing and farming the formerly non-existent subprime mortgage market- that, and not all the claims about the CRA et al, is what drove the meteoric rise in subprime lending. Pension and insurance firms bought all that they could get and demanded more. The investment tail was wagging the mortgage writing dog by the peak of the bubble. Greenspan lit the fuse by holding rates so low for so long, driving these huge investors to look for somewhere to put their capital.
Being retired and having no loans and not needing any, I would do great if interest rates soared. Still remember when, under Carter, a $10K account would gain more interest than a $100K account today....
For some assets and commodities, it probably wouldn't.
How does that work against President Trump?
A strong U.S. dollar got us a price of oil in the $12-$15 range back in the late 1990s. How many Americans would complain about that?
Yellen is bringing on or continuing the recession to undercut Trump.
It makes imports cheaper compared to domestically produced goods.
The fed does whats best for its own pockets... don’t kid yourself....
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