Archive for February 18th, 2010

Want To Get Banks Lending?

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Stop running with the inflation hawks, and lower the discount rate to (your choice, Ben, perhaps -5?) percent…

Hoarding zombies won’t be too keen on piling up more losses, so they might decide to be good, but courage, like unemployment, apparently is no longer in the Fed’s remit…

Ben wants to be seen as winding down, preparatory to being really semi-tough, so up goes the discount rate, markets think uh oh, the party’s over, and the economy tanks for another year (or three or four)…

Gorilla says: “Break through the zero bound and save America from itself!”

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“Um, No, Ben, It’s Still Not Over”

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Whoops, back up go the jobless claims!

Back on the K Street Ponderosa, nobody’s doing a damn thing about it, they’re still crying about deficits, non-existent inflation, and not reforming health care.

Brad de Long puts all the stimulus numbers in perspective, as usual.

Imagine how well off the Cartwrights and their fellow Americans would be if the stimulus had been 3-5 times larger!

Gorilla says: “Hoss has left the barn for a green job in nuclear power!”

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This Week’s George T. Platter And Bait

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The tidetime folklorist wonders why systemic financial risk would have been addressed by a council headed by those who never saw it coming.

The Platter: “Beat City” by the Raveonettes (want to bail out banks who’re set on stun?)

The Bait: The Leech Tamer (you could print some cash when things go too slow)

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Demand Goes Wanting

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Always the low demand, says Wal-Mart in a less than cheerful retail forecast.

It’s the same problem in many industries: very little demand means very little growth means very little hiring means very long jobless recovery.

Gorilla says: “Our leaders are still asleep at the switch, and there’s no blue light special!”

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Contract: Deflation

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Bank lending is contracting at the fastest rate in US history.

Does this mean the Fed’s withdrawing the punch bowl when the party hasn’t even started?

Possibly, since it’s clear that the banks are doing little more than hoard whatever lending the Fed provides through quantitative easing.

And the Fed seems to be obsessively concerned with its inflation hawk reputation, while doing essentially nothing at all about unemployment.

Gorilla says: “The zombies can’t do anything more than sleep!”

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