Thursday, September 22, 2011

Further Thoughts on the Fed Move

As the Dow is down 400+ points today, I can't help but sit and wonder about the Fed decision yesterday and what it really means.  The lead Republicans of Congress had the mindless yet ballsy idea to send a letter to Bernancke on Monday stating that he should abstain from doing anything to monetary policy.  They took it a step further and said that by doing anything else the Fed president would risk hurting the economy.  I'm sure Bernancke would have gotten a chuckle out of this letter if the economy wasn't in such fucking terrible shape no thanks to the theatrics that these men have been responsible for, what with the debt ceiling fiasco and subsequent downgrade of US debt, along with their lunacy laced thoughts that now is the time for government to pull back and take care of its books at the expense of the citizens of the country.

In my opinion, it wasn't so much what Benancke did in implementing Operation Twist 2.0 that should be the headline of yesterday's events but what was said in the statement after the meeting.  In this statement the Fed changed its wording about downside risks when compared to the August 9th meeting.  In yesterday's statement the Fed said:
...there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets.
While back in August the excerpt in the section of the announcement read:
...downside risks to the economic outlook have increased.
The increased clarity that the Fed provided yesterday with this statement is not common as their intentions usually are not to rattle markets.  It almost seems as if Bernancke is throwing in the towel and saying look I've done all I can do, it is up to you jokers in Washington to stop bullshitting, put politics and party aside, and start worrying about the country that you've been elected to serve.

Based on today's market reaction I think it's safe to say that investors around the globe are saying we're screwed.

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