First, if we really are entering a global bear market worldwide, this must be said up front:
That sound you hear could be the air finally being let out of the bubble blown by the world's political elite. #TheFatalConceit #BlackMonday
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) August 24, 2015
The Fatal Conceit aside, here are my 2 Bitcoins worth of thoughts in the wake of today’s market convulsions:
1) People ought to stop thinking The Federal Reserve can drop manna from the heavens.
The Fed is not G-d. It is a group of very mortal central planners who control the cost of money. Unfortunately now, they control so much more, in an attempt to manipulate the prices of financial assets and prop up whole industries.
The Fed is all pseudoscience and no substance. http://t.co/o18e2OP2qP
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) August 23, 2015
We should pray for a world in which people’s lives do not hinge on transcripts of Fed minutes.
2) The Fed has zero incentive to raise rates and extricate itself from financial markets.
It will always find an excuse (turbulence in the markets, tepid growth, political uncertainty) to follow the path of least resistance (in this case keeping the Fed Funds rate at 0% ad infinitum). What political reason could it possibly have to allow interest rates and prices to normalize?
But seriously, the Fed ain’t raising rates anytime soon. https://t.co/yAGnsUVhXn
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) August 24, 2015
Peter Schiff agrees:
The Dow Jones drops 1,000 points on the open. Is Janet Yellen getting ready to blink on rates yet?
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 24, 2015
