Author Topic: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!  (Read 5077 times)

dungoofed

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forummm

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2015, 07:18:36 PM »
He doesn't quite have the fun read of Krugman yet...

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If you asked the person in the street, “Why are interest rates so low?”, he or she would likely answer that the Fed is keeping them low.

Maybe on your street, Ben!

dungoofed

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2015, 08:27:38 PM »
That's the exact quote I was going planning on quoting!

DavidAnnArbor

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2015, 09:20:04 PM »
I enjoyed reading Paul Krugman's blog post about Ben Bernanke's defense of keeping low interest rates while there was disinflation and high unemployment. It's disturbing that the Federal Reserve was getting so much pressure to raise interest rates by groups for whom the welfare of the US economy was not the main priority. It's the same pressure that Janet Yellen must be facing now, but she is reluctant to raise rates until there's clearer proof of labor inflation. God help us and our stock portfolios if  Yellen is replaced in February 2018 by a hard money hawk, who wants to get us back to the gold standard, as well as raise interest rates, and is an Ayn Rand follower.

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2015, 09:49:33 PM »
... and is an Ayn Rand follower.

Alan Greenspan (known as A.G.) was a no bullshit member of the Rand "Collective."  It isn't too far fetched to get a Randian Fed Chairman.

a1smith

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2015, 10:15:13 PM »
The Fed is planning on raising interest rates by the end of the year.  Yellen only promised to not raise them for at least two more Fed meetings (monthly.)  I was at a conference last week where Dennis Lockhart, President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta was a speaker and even though he waffled a bit it seemed pretty clear we were getting a rate increase by EOY.  He mentioned July or August more than once.

Another interesting comment Dennis Lockhart made is that no current FOMC member has ever had to vote to increase rates.

forummm

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2015, 11:12:20 AM »
I hope we don't raise the rates too quickly. When the other large economies are struggling and taking central bank action, we don't want to be the only ones tightening without a bunch of caution.

forummm

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2015, 11:13:38 AM »
He doesn't quite have the fun read of Krugman yet...

Quote
If you asked the person in the street, “Why are interest rates so low?”, he or she would likely answer that the Fed is keeping them low.

Maybe on your street, Ben!

That's the exact quote I was going planning on quoting!

It's interesting how people get stuck in their bubbles. Washington is famous for thinking a certain way--and thinking everyone thinks that way--when they are out there in their own world.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2015, 12:32:01 PM »
I thought his first couple of articles were great. I can't wait for more.

forummm

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2015, 12:43:37 PM »
I thought his first couple of articles were great. I can't wait for more.

I generally like him. Will read more.

gimp

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2015, 01:20:10 PM »
For all the flack he has gotten, I think the man has done a fantastic job during one of the hardest times in recent history, for everyone and for anyone holding that post. Not perfect, no, but pretty damn solid. He deserves a lot of credit.

forummm

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2015, 01:25:32 PM »
For all the flack he has gotten, I think the man has done a fantastic job during one of the hardest times in recent history, for everyone and for anyone holding that post. Not perfect, no, but pretty damn solid. He deserves a lot of credit.

Yeah. We went from "the world is going to end" to "the market is back where it was at the peak, even with all the bubble-inflated valuations" in a few years. The market is not the best measure of the economy of course. Unemployment is only now under 6% for example. But he and many others did pretty well at managing that crisis and not turning it into another Great Depression. I'm not excited about all the taxpayer money that went to all the bankers. But I don't think he had much control over that.

Cowtown2011

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Re: Ben Bernanke has started blogging!
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2015, 04:19:51 PM »
I would have to disagree with the views of Mr. Bernanke. The Fed reserve under Greenspan was one of the primary reasons for the housing bubble, interest rates were systematically reduced leading up to 2007 even though housing prices were trending way above historical norms. The Fed ignores all signs of asset inflation and instead only focuses on price inflation which are two very different things. It's primarily asset inflation (bubbles) which lead to economic recessions and financial difficulties and not price deflation which is a boon to consumers, savers, etc. (technology is price deflationary)

The Fed is particularly skilled in blowing asset bubbles which some would argue we are in again for both bonds and equities.

I’d say economics is more of an art than a science, especially when considering that the Krugman’s of the world ignore banks and money in their economic models. There’s a big contrasts in how some central banks operate around the world, take the US Federal reserve, they state that bubbles cannot be spotted but in other places such as New Zealand, they watch for bubbles and take action to prevent them from getting out of hand.

See below for some counter arguments to Mr.Bernanke’s recent post.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.ca/2015/03/ben-bernanke-confused-as-ever-starts.html   

Just providing some additional view points.

 

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