I caught much of his commentary on CNBC. His vitriol was focused on the Federal Reserve's policy of holding down interest rates. It has led to the inflation of stock prices, which benefits the wealthy. It is well known that printing money creates asset bubbles. His point was that this asset bubble benefits the wealthy because they own the majority of stock market value. He is definitely correct about the flaw in the Fed's policy. What he neglects to mention is that low interest rates also significantly benefit debtors to the detriment of creditors because they are holding rates down artificially. So it is not as simple as wealthy vs. poor. It also has a big impact on savers/fixed income retirees vs. debtors.

I am not an Obama guy. If you follow my posts, you know I lean toward the Ron Paul camp. In any case, you can't blame Obama for the monetary policy of the Fed.

You can definitely blame Obama for a lack of sound fiscal policies and for addressing long term financial concerns with entitlement programs. Bush the Republicans are a big part of the long term fiscal issues.

I also think the Affordable Care Act will be another market distorting disaster. You can't have rating bands that overcharge the healthy and undercharge the sick, while having only minimal penalties for the healthy if they don't buy. A take all comers mechanism requires that you allow insurance companies to charge an adequate rate for the risk. Risk sharing requires that the pool being insured is collectively charged an adequate rate. Otherwise, long term, the insurance mechanism will fail.

The problem is not Obama, solely. It is a collective effort of a short term thinking Congress, a weak President, and a Federal Reserve that is bending all rules of sound economic policy.

I caught much of his commentary on CNBC. His vitriol was focused on the Federal Reserve's policy of holding down interest rates. It has led to the inflation of stock prices, which benefits the wealthy. It is well known that printing money creates asset bubbles. His point was that this asset bubble benefits the wealthy because they own the majority of stock market value. He is definitely correct about the flaw in the Fed's policy. What he neglects to mention is that low interest rates also significantly benefit debtors to the detriment of creditors because they are holding rates down artificially. So it is not as simple as wealthy vs. poor. It also has a big impact on savers/fixed income retirees vs. debtors.

You couldn't be more correct. People were outraged when depositors' money was taken in Cyprus, but essentially you have had a similar, but stealth, confiscation of wealth in this country thanks to Fed policy. Savers have been brutalized and borrowers rewarded. So while it is true that the wealthy who have been willing to risk their money buy buying stocks, real estate, and commodities have flourished, people (especially older folks who should be reducing risk exposure) who have depended on an income stream from interest on their balances have been absolutely fucked.

Agreed on most. Certainly agree that to blame a single president for America's economic policy is ridiculous.

Exactly. I have a political philosophy, but I see the hypocrisy of the Republicans. They love fiscal discipline unless it involves military spending and tax cuts. Then it's ok to bust the budget. I am more than willing to pay more taxes to balance budget annually. In fact, if everyone was required to pay enough taxes to balance the budget, then we could have an honest discussion about the size and role of the Federal Government. Are you really willing to spend that much on fighter jets and troops if you have to actually pay for it each year? Instead we pretend we can borrow into infinity.

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If that tax bill came due every year to all American's and we had to go into next fiscal year with zero debt, everyone's tune would be changing VERY quickly.

That's also why we have the current pension mess. Promises were made based on faulty actuarials (8-10% investment returns in perpetuity, etc.), and elected officials aggravated the issue by not making proper payments. If these pensions had to be properly funded each year, our taxes would have to be quadrupled or more...and that would not have been tolerated at the time these pension promises were granted.

This thread has gone the opposite direction of most on topics such as these. We have gone from "Because Obama", to rational discourse.

Well done, CSFMB.