The David Copperfield School of Economic Recovery
The Federal Reserve performed another empty magic trick yesterday to the tune of $1 trillion.
While the Kabuki Theater of AIG outrage played out in Washington, the Fed was pulling its David Copperfield School of Economic Recovery routine. They’ll be printing up a trillion buck and “pumping it into the U.S. economy”…by buying up bonds and mortgage securities…sold and backed by the government. Voila:
The Federal Reserve sharply stepped up its efforts to bolster the economy on Wednesday, announcing that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the financial system by purchasing Treasury bonds and mortgage securities.
Having already reduced the key interest rate it controls nearly to zero, the central bank has increasingly turned to alternatives like buying securities as a way of getting more dollars into the economy, a tactic that amounts to creating vast new sums of money out of thin air. But the moves on Wednesday were its biggest yet, almost doubling all of the Fed’s measures in the last year.
The action makes the Fed a buyer of long-term government bonds rather than the short-term debt that it typically buys and sells to help control the money supply.
The illusion melts:
“In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability,” the central bank said.
As expected, policy makers decided to keep the Fed’s benchmark interest rate on overnight loans in a range between zero and 0.25 percent.
But to the surprise of investors and analysts, the committee said it had decided to purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities on top of the $500 billion that the Fed is already in the process of buying.
In addition, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months. That would tend to push down longer-term interest rates on all types of loans.
All these measures would come in addition to what has already been an unprecedented expansion of lending by the Fed. The central bank also said it would probably expand the scope of a new program to finance consumer and business lending, which gets under way this week.
In effect, the central bank has been lending money to a wider and wider array of borrowers, and it has financed that lending by using its authority to create new money at will.
Mike Shedlock weighs in on Bernanke’s “grand experiment:”
Note the losing battle Benanke is fighting: attitudes. The Fed has become the lender of only resort as opposed to the lender of last resort. Bernanke cannot force banks to lend nor can he force companies to hire or if they do hire the wages that will be paid.
Wage destruction continues unabated, and if Bernanke does succeed in driving prices higher, he just might ask himself, how anyone is going to pay the bills.
Deflation is a Benefit, Not a Curse
Deflation is a benefit, not a curse. It only appears to be a curse through the myopic eyes of Bernanke who is worried about the destruction of debt on the balance sheets of financial institutions. However the time to worry about balance sheets is not now. The time to worry about balance sheets was in 2002 when something could have been done about it.
Now the best thing to do is let things play out. The economy will bottom on its own once prices fall far enough.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Fed to pump another $1 trillion into U.S. economy “from thin air” « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Jules Crittenden » Bush Book
- Good News: Help Is On It’s Way « Richmond Tea Party: The Blog
- Jim Wallis, Obama’s newest spiritual advisor - the new Jeremiah Wright? « Jim Blazsik
- Bernanke’s Magic Show: Watch Me Make $300 Billion (and What’s Left of Our Economy) Disappear « Grand Rants
- AIG Lies; Bonuses for Fannie & Freddie; Fed Explodes Money Supply, Risks Stagflation | OpenMarket.org
- The Political Circus continues - House to vote on 90% tax bill for bailout bonuses | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- Fed to pump another $1 trillion into U.S. economy “from thin air” « Conservative Thoughts and Profundity
- Professor Athena: What’s with the $300 Billion Fed Loan? « Temple of Mut
- Michelle Malkin » The David Copperfield School of Economic Recovery, Pt. II
- Unintended Consequences - MYSTERY SOLVED VIDEO UPDATE « Designated Conservative
- Mark-To-Market Accounting Rules Driving Banks To Bailouts–Change The Rules–Fed Chair Bernanke Explains!–Videos « Pronk Palisades
- The Monetarization of The Debt and Quantitative Easing: The Federal Reserve is printing $1,000,000,000,000!–Run-Away Inflation Coming Soon! « Pronk Palisades
- Vampire Vulture Ventures: Geithner’s Government Gamble–Heads The Vermin Win–Tails The American People Lose! « Pronk Palisades
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So what is my dollar worth now?
Printing money always works out well. Right?
Lets ask the wiemar republic and zimbawae how that worked for them.
“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.” James Madison
Our federal government has, indeed, become a farce AND a tragedy. I am constantly amazed at the brilliance of our Founding Fathers. My God, must they be watching in horror.
Treasury Notes hit 20% once Carter was done with us. DemocRATS LOVE inflation, it allows them to borrow and spend to pay back with cheaper tax dollars.
Hoard cash.
OK, got another appropriate quote for you.
See if this reminds you of any particular group of
Congressmenpeople:Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing – Shakespeare
Oil just passed $50 a barrel. We’ll see how the Teleprompter Jesus stimulus plan handles that bump in the road.
My guess, not too well..
And ammo. Lots & lots of ammo. They’re coming for the cash.
Actually we could use this to generate electricity in a green sort of way.
Wrap the dead bodies of our Founding Fathers in copper wire, and put magnets at the ends of the graves. As they spin in their graves at what the liberals are doing to our country it should generate more energy than all of our nuclear, coal, water, and wind assets combined for years to come.
At what point will the ink and paper be too expensive to buy with the money printed with it ?
Borrow as much as you possibly can and buy hard goods: something with resale value. Your debt is going to get washed away in the coming torrent of inflation, just as these idiots hope will happen to the trillions they’re borrowing. Soon we’ll be able to settle our debt to China with a loaf of bread.
It is now clear to all but the profoundly stupid or brain injured, that the Democrats and many Republicans are totally incompetent and unqualified to lead. Americans everywhere are waking up to the fact that this is a tyrannical, out-of-control government that the Constitution is not equipped to manage.
If we survive long enough to regain control of Congress and the Executive branch, we must have a Constitutional Convention to mend things. For Democrats, the Constitution of the United States is just an inconvenient speed bump on the way to complete statist domination.
Where are the Franklins, Jeffersons and Monroes?
You think we are going to experience hyperinflation and your advice is to “hoard cash”?
Pray tell why?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123741378746277081.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
In another bold move today, AG Holder said they will be releasing gitmo terrorists
drum roll please
In the USA!!!!
Thats right, these hardened anti-american terrorists who want to kill americans, are to be “resettled” in the good old USA.
Another bold move from obamas guys. Change indeed.
By the time Obama is done, there will be 3 classes of people:
1 – Welfare recipient (voter)
2 – Government employee (voter)
3 – Poor rich ba$stard funding 1 & 2 (voter in minority)
Gold or silver will hold value better.
Good news is, I will be able to pay off my house with a days wages. Bad news is a loaf of bread will cost 100,000 dollars.
err wrong. Number 3 now lives in another country.
one word – Revolution.
Everywhere I go, people are talking about our out of control congress and our dumber than dumb President. I had a doctor’s appointment the other day, and my doctor (of all people) brought up the subject. Though I have been going to this man for over 10 years, never has he discussed anything remotely like this. At church last night, conversations sprung up all night long. I walked into one building and everyone is discussing revolting. I go in another area and it was the same thing. They are ready to march on Washington and take back our country.
The other day, while working out the same thing happened. A man comes in and starts talking about revolution. This man was easily in his late 60s and he said he had never in his life, seen it this bad. He said congress is out of control and didn’t even want to to talk about Obama! Grocery stores, gyms, gas stations, work…everywhere people have had enough and I truly believe the silent majority will no longer be silent. FINALLY – it took a moron liberals like Obama, Pelosi, Reid et al. to wake us up.
Our voice is getting louder and louder as we hold tea parties across this country. Let Pelosi talk to the only audience that will stand still for her – illegal immigrants. Let Obama go to California, the land of the fruits and nuts and pander to the “Late Night” crowd, while grass roots American does the job of cleaning up our country on their watch, under their stuck up noses.
Hey at least now we all have debit cards and won’t have to push wheelbarrows full of money to the store for a gallon of milk!
Let’s see if this actually challenges people to think before they vote in 2010 & 2012. I’m not holding my breath.
And the stock market is crashing.
jangar – I agree, but with Acorn fabricating people, I think our bigger problem isn’t the IQ of a small percentage of voters…we got bigger fish to fry.
You do understand that if the value of the doller shrinks you are losing money just the same as if the stock market tanks don’t you? Or is that a little to difficult for you?
While Obama & company, and the MSM have ginned up all this anger over the economy, other plans for hope and change go on behind the scenes…the usual social change policies that are practically impossible to reverse. He’s selling us out to UN-type laws while we twitch over AIG bonuses.
a lesson in democrat economics for the people too young to remember the 70’s. i bought a small house after the service in 1975, 20k. i sold it in 1978 for 50k, i bought a house in 78 for 60k, sold it in 1999 for 375k. in 1972 started the women to work rage, which effectively increased home incomes by a significant margin. this was reflected in the inflation rate of houses and everything else, but because we now had 2 income earners to pay the bills, we were able to keep up. what saving device will we use to manage the inflation of the next 35 years?
LGM, economics isn’t your strong point is it?
Just to flip around your point. They are probably wondering why they heck we are still standing around. The writing is on the walls. Waiting for politicians to reign themselves in … Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
That said – I am praying for a miracle.
I don’t think lgm was old enough to feel and see the effects of the Carter administration. Too bad, because this will be worse!
Hillarious!!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/19/duke-coach-obama-worry-economy-ncaa-picks/
Thank you Michelle …
I now feel like my David Copperfield references to Obama and his minions across the last several months have been deemed valid … Glenn Beck picking up on it was one thing but to have my favorite blogger Michelle chime in with the same comparison really makes my day …
In my opinion there has not been a single thing come out of this administration that showed a lick of common sense … everything they do is convoluted, excessive, biased and cloaked in secrecy …
2010 and 2012 … the revolution starts now …
“Smoke and mirrors in the dark of night do not an open process make” …
DesertLover
HAHAHAHAHA…. Really. Hoarding cash is stupid. Pay off your mortgage with inflated dollars is better. My salary will be a million dollars a week soon.
“March Madness”
This year, the Fed’s “March Madness” is printing $1 trillion out of thin air.
Last year, the Fed’s “March Madness” was taking a company that should have gone bankrupt, and forcing the sale of its assets at a firesale price to a favored company while passing the $30 Billion debt off to taxpayers.
Now, Obama is actively encouraging the distraction of NCAA “March Madness”, while the Fed and the Democratic Socialists pull off their own “March Madness”.
Don’t denigrate the term “March Madness” RedPill. It is pure and good and beautiful.
Misscheryl,
Thank you for the Coach K quote. I didn’t see it before I posted my last comment, but the two go together very well.
As your soon-to-be Feudal Lord, I will have free fresh bread daily for all work in my fields.
/sarc
Good point 30pcs! As they do look on in horror, they are also shaking their fists and telling us to get off our rear-ends and fight.
Chap: Please stop, you’re making me cry.
On March 19th, 2009 at 9:54 am, chapoutier said:
Listen chap, as a Duke alum I enjoy NCAA “March Madness” as much as anyone.
But the Democratic Socialist Communists are counting on us being distracted by it.
It’s like the circuses of the Roman times…
Bread and circuses
Behead, eviscerate, and THEN
ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE.
I want these bastards and their CFR toadies OUT of my government.
I think Krzyzewski better worry more about how he is going to match up against Dante Cunningham in the Sweet 16 and less about sour grapes over Obama not picking his precious team.
Oh wait. No I don’t. I have Duke losing to Villanova. So go right on Mike. Spout all you want about politics and the economy.
And to think I used to like you….
Anybody even know anymore how much obama has spent?
i have lost count.
Down 20% since election day.
Down 10% since inauguration.
Would you call that a rally?
Further, even if a company tries to hire, why should an employee trust they will get paid what was agreed upon and not have it taxed to oblivion?
Other than my obligation before GOD, remind me again why somebody should work.
John,
NASDAQ is up since being elected.
I know I am.
My conservative pea brain is unable to fathom numbers with that many zeros behind them.
I’m sure from reading many of his other post that the concept you are referring to is waaaay over his head.
March 19th, 2009 at 9:23 am, sonofdy said:
Treason n
The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of one’s country or of assisting its enemies in war
But that’s not how the market works. Nasdaq is down starting from the point where Obama became the Democratic nominee and the polls consistently showed him the winner by a large margin.
My calulator tried to figure it out, showed me its middle finger, and defected to china.
Was it chanting “There’s no place like home?” as it flew away?
On March 19th, 2009 at 10:07 am, chapoutier said:
You can’t get over me, baby!
(Isn’t that what you usually say?)
Yes I do believe this will be MUCH worse that Jimmy Carter. While these Socialist/Fascist thugs pile up trillions in debt they are cutting the feet from under any hope of anyone accumulating wealth to some day pay off that debt–except through phony “must buy” bonds and or hyper-inflation.
The Eurotrashing of America is here. The weaklings, the fools and the cowards THINK we will now get Eurotrash Socialism not realizing now Europe can now finally go all the way Left without an America to protect capital.
Soon perhaps totalitarian China will be the lone Capitalist giant on earth and Representative government will be but a memory. But Dear Leader Obama and the cult of personality will be firmly entrenched here. It remains to be seen if the American people can rise above it.
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
Exactly why do you think the stock market is crashing?
Hyperinflation, deflation, debt, deficits, carbon taxes, bonus taxes, class envy, defeat, despair and no hope.
Whew! Not bad for two months.
See, the stimulus IS working! There is now a legitimate need for 16 digit calculators.
BRILLIANT!
/sarc
Here’s NASDAQ
Down 18.67% since election day.
Down 8.19% since inauguration.
S&P 500
Down 21.98% since election day.
Down 11.32% since inauguration.
I don’t know where you got your numbers.
On March 19th, 2009 at 9:58 am, southsideironworks said:
There’s the bread to go allong with the NCAA Tourney for the “bread and circuses”.
But as for daily bread, I prefer this:
This move by the Fed was in response to the troubled Treasury auctions of the past two weeks. There is no appetite in the world for our debt and the only option the Fed had was to simple “print” the money. Gold is already up over $60 today and the dollar is falling again.
And yet, our entrenched criminal class of weasels is determined to impose obscenely expensive job-killing programs on top of all the bailouts.
Get ready for it folks. Hyperinflation combined with economic stagnation are heading this the way.
On March 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am, jjmurphy said:
And Obama’s Global Poverty Act is still on the way…
Who would have thunk it???
Did you see this? I literally got dizzy and my stomach dropped when I read this. Reality bites, so they say.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123742149749078635.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
Buy anything but US dollars.
Hell I am starting to consider sending money to New Zealand. There is no way that would have been a good idea 10 years ago.
No. On January 20, the NASDAQ closed at about 1440. Where is it now?
So the question is where did YOU get yours?
on the news this morning, dear leader was obfuscating to a california audience, so of course they didn’t understand and cheered loudly, when he said he was going to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term, and cut it way back in ten years. point 1 to female shoppers and california cheeres: tell me the amount of discount you want, and i will tell you the advertised price. ie, if i raise the deficit to 3 times what it was under bush, then cutting it in half merely gets it to 1 1/2 times bushes deficits. like a 50% off sale of a blouse you bought for 5 bucks and put a price tag of 50 bucks on it on the store floor, but you are going to sell it for 25 bucks. ladies, this is why mens shirts cost 15 bucks and women’s blouses cost 80 bucks, or mens shoes, bigger and with leather over the whole thing cost half as much as womens pumps. not knocking women, but math is usually not their strong suit. so a 50% reduction in the stock market will require a 100% increase in the stock market to get it back to where it was. so obamanomics shows, and chap and lgm pay attention, that the stock market has gone up 10% this last week, but the reality is that the stock market (dow) was at 9200 when he was sworn in, and it is at 7500 today.
Please start reading this if you want to know what is coming:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
Here’s a clue, it’s hairy, brown, and is wiped regularly with 100% recycled content, environmentally correct, unbleached hygienic paper product.
It opened on Jan 20th at 1529.33 and closed at 1440.86.
Yes, it is up 3.84% since the close on Jan 20th, but down from the open on inauguration day.
Way to split hairs.
MarcoPolo: it’s worse. Having witnessed the democratic process bypassed in getting us into this mess, many are already declaring that democracy has failed in calling for “something else”.
For instance, global warming initiatives, the various forums Obama is creating to prepare us for the next “comprehensive
immigrationamnesty reform” cram down, nationalized health care, and so on.It is absolutely imperative that all of us get out there and attend these Tea Parties. It is what is spooking the Obama admin into being in perpetual campaign mode.
Keep in mind that Obama is getting everything he has asked for. No one is saying no on spending bill after spending bill after spending bill. If Republicans have no power and the MSM are working OT on his behalf, then who exactly is he fighting? Who is his “boogie man”? Simple. He is fighting us, the chattering “need to be silenced” majority. As I write this, he is promising amnesty to Hispanic groups in CA and guess who the “enemy” is?
We need to get out and show America exactly who the Obama’s boogie man is, it is all of us, people who work, pay taxes, buy things, volunteer and so on.
WOW if that comes about, get ready to lock and load.
The collapse of the US government in DAYS????
Why yes, I do
chapoutier!
It’s pretty clear that the
ChiComs aren’t going to buy more American paper, so by doing this they are really going to mess up this economy at least…this is similar to what third world economies like Mexico have done to themselves over the years whereas more fiscally responsible countries like the US bailed them out.
Everytime I have looked at Henry Paulson, Tim Geithner, Bernanke, G.W. Bush and Obama I see nothing but circus clowns who somehow managed to get a hold of our economy
Ugh, that really cheered me up. Got any more good news for me?
It was 1484.43 at 12:00pm. So still up under Obama.
And in any case, even if you took the opening price and the amount it drpped during the Bush presidency, that means it is down 2.5 percent or so, nowhere near your 8.19% claim. So I am still curious where you got your numbers.
After reading the market-ticker piece, can anyone here explain how hyperinflation will happen? If I read it right, the market-ticker piece warns of deflation. You can only hyperinflate if people can still buy things.
Dang, I picked a lousy time to quit drinking.
That is why one must never stop.
Love2rumba: I don’t include Bernanke on the rogues list. He is doing the only thing he can do and is getting no help at all.
Last Sunday, he was interviews on “60 Minutes” where he cautioned that we are on the brink of a great depression and if we don’t find the political will to address, we may never recover from. What did everyone report? His statement that the economy could (if we find the political will which we haven’t) bottom out by year end and reporting it as a prediction.
There is plenty of blame to go around but right now, the only adult of any influence in DC is Bernanke. The various heroic congressmen who are carrying on the fight just don’t have any power.
Excellent advice, Chap.
The closer we get to the expiration of President Bush’s tax cuts, the more in danger we become of a total collapse; sometime mid-late third quarter, this will start to become evident. Like I said a few weeks back, I think there’s still some money to be made in the market while the tax cuts are there to ease the burden, keeping the market at or above 6800 until the early fall; but after that, it’s gonna be a free for all in early 2010.
jjmurphy: the deflation scenario is short-term. We are a pace to be “printing” new money on a scale of $10-13 trillion in the next 2-3 years. The GNP last year was about $14 trillion. The world banking system lost $50 trillion last year (the world economy is about $52 trillion). Explosive growth of non-productive government spending sopping up much-needed job creating capital for the private sector, more money chasing fewer goods and services,…
Hyperinflation baby. Put your microscope away and take a few steps back to see the “elephant”.
Pasadena Phil – Thanks for the lesson. We. Are. So. Screwed.
Google
World-wide hyperinflation is too scary to think about – historically, it preceded WWI & WWII.
So its not a matter of you having bad numbers, its a matter of you doing bad math?
The Fed doesn’t have any tools left in its arsenal. It can’t lower interest rates any lower than they already are, and all it can do is print money. This is all that’s left.
The Fed can lower the interest rate to negative 5% and pay me to loan money…
The chart does the math for you. Look in the upper right hand corner.
I’m sure if you really wanted to, you could find a few stocks that have done well over the last few months.
Either way, Obama has not been good for the markets and our economy is in worse shape because of his actions. The Consumer Confidence Index was at 25 in February, down from 37.4 in January and trends similar to the Dow. The other thing that hasn’t risen is Obama’s approval rating.
The point is that we are going to hell in a handbasket and all the Dems and Obama see is an opportunity to further their agenda.
My ending date was on March 16th, not today.
There we go.
Laughing Out Loud at the suggestion to generate electricity from the spinning of the forefathers in thier grave.
Nice one JHSII
Well to me it doesn’t matter all that much if it is down since 1/20 or up.
What matters is what happens next. And right now it is down 10.
Won’t be long before we’ll need $100 trillion to buy a loaf of bread, just like Zimbabwe.
Is it too much to ask for you to cut off the crusts for me?
A peso. Invest in Rubles and Iraqi Dinars as a hedge against inflation