Posted on 11/14/2015 7:59:42 AM PST by BenLurkin
While most U.S. data has been relatively upbeat, retail sales rose less than expected in October, suggesting a slowdown in consumer spending that could temper expectations of a strong pickup in fourth-quarter economic growth.
In the meantime, Britain's Bank of England was once pegged as likely to be the first major central bank to tighten policy but prices fell again last month, data will probably show on Tuesday.
With inflation so far below its 2 percent target the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee won't be raising its benchmark rate from a record low 0.5 percent until at least April, a Reuters poll found, putting it several months behind the Fed. [ECILT/GB]
British retail sales numbers on Thursday will offer clues as to how consumers are faring.
"While inflation looks odds on to post its lowest rate since March 1960, we do not think this decline will worry the MPC too much, with weak price pressures driven largely by lower energy prices rather than domestic economic weakness," wrote Ruth Miller at Capital Economics.
ASIA
No change in policy is expected from the Bank of Japan on Friday but it could ease monetary policy further early next year, according to nearly half the analysts surveyed by Reuters, as consumer prices fall short of central bank forecasts. [ECILT/JP]
GDP data on Monday will probably show Japan fell into a technical recession in the third quarter, maintaining pressure on the BOJ and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to support the world's third largest economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
The economy has sucked for years under ObaMao...and they think raising interest rates in a suck a$$ed economy will do anything other than finally destroy the country? Maybe that’s what they want.
That title gives me a cluster headache. I had to check that you posted it accurately. You did.
Savers have to get interest on safe savings. If they don't almost no one in the future will be able to prepare for retirement.. It's one of those things that was put in place after the Depression to get the economy working again.
They aren’t going to raise rates during the election year, they will wait until a Republican is elected to throw the nation into a recession for the midterm elections.
It is better we should go quickly, go into Asia
Or any other tunnel where the world recedes.
Keynesian economics believes all money is government money, all wealth is government wealth, so every dollar you have is not your dollar, but government dollars they allow you to keep.
Keynesian economics claims government spending has a “multiplier effect”, meaning if the government spends a dollar it is better than you spending a dollar, that government knows best how to spend the dollar. The multiplier is 1.6 times, meaning, if you spend a dollar it is only one dollar spent but if government spends a dollar it generates another 60 cents in spending.
Contrast that to the higher rates people will be paying on adjustable-rate mortgages and credit card debt; I don’t expect any meaningful rate hike for years. They may inch up, but a lot will fall apart with real increases.
The way you phrase it sure makes Keynesian economics seem like socialism...yet Keynes is on record of hating socialists.
Keynes lived in a time when socialism and communism were dirty words, yet, socialism by other means is still socialism.
Keynes was a socialist. He believed government was the answer to a healthy economy and that all markets must be controlled by government. THAT is socialism.
This is one of those cases where what is good for the economy as a whole is bad for the individual.
Both history and my personal experience demonstrate that we do not have much to worry about. Very, very few people have the will to save anything at all. And, even fewer have ever considered the difference between short-term and long-term savings.
The whole idea of paying interest to a lender makes no sense if the economy is not growing. That’s true regardless of whether the lender is a bank underwriting a mortgage or a customer depositing money in a savings account.
Us little folk who follow the laws and take responsibility for our well-being didn't cause the problem. So how come we're the only ones being screwed?
You know what? With interest rates being so low for so long, anyone who hasn't paid off their debts deserves financial ruin.
Maybe I’m not understanding this clearly. I’m not sure exactly how you are “being screwed” here.
The same is true for people over 50 (or so) who are concerned about having enough savings for retirement. The only way to grow those savings is to spend less, save more.
If you think the economy is bad now, what's going to happen then most of the population retires into poverty?
China and Japan hold the mortgage on our country, since they own so many of our bonds, and they will continue to determine what our interest rates will be.
At present, China and Japan are willing to buy our debt at 2% interest, since our current government supports free trade, so that China and Japan can continue to flourish economically.
However, the two leading candidates for the 2016 presidency — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — are anti-free trade, with Donald Trump having already attacked China as our economic enemy for exporting more to us than we export to them.
If Hillary and the Donald become the two candidates with the possibility of leading the U.S. during the next four years, expect China and Japan to rethink their generous policies of accepting our Treasury notes at a mere 2% interest rate.
And if Donald Trump, who apparently has no ability to control his outbursts, starts excoriating the Chinese with even a tenth as much venom as he’s been attacking Ben Carson with, who knows what Xi Who Must Be Obeyed will do in retaliation?
Will China demand 3%, 5%, 10% interest rates to buy our Treasury bills, which we must sell week in and week out or go bankrupt?
This is much more interesting to contemplate than whether Janet Reno will raise bank deposit rates 0.25% next month. But don’t expect any economists to do so.
In any environment (high-interest or low-interest), there are always some people who will do well and others who will not. This doesn't mean that anyone is being "screwed."
What happened to a simple declarative sentence?
These countries are perfectly happy with a 2% rate of return because their own currencies aren't nearly as strong as the U.S. dollar. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.