Government - MARKETS
Shifting Deck Chairs on the Titanic Won't Fix This Mess
By Dunstan Prial
Published September 22, 2011
| FOXBusiness
Reuters
Perhaps the scariest aspect of what is increasingly looking like the second phase of a major global economic meltdown is that not a single person – politician, business leader, economist or academic – seems to have a clue what to do about it.
Case in point, yesterday’s decision by the Federal Reserve to shift a significant portion of its $2.7 trillion portfolio into long-term securities, dubbed “Operation Twist,” in an effort lower long-term interest rates and give a boost to the stagnant U.S. housing market.
Forgive the use of a cliché here, but one can’t help but think of hapless deckhands shifting chairs around the deck of the Titanic. Yesterday and today’s stock market selloffs come as no surprise.
Borrowing rates are already at their lowest levels in four decades. The average rate for a standard 30-year loan stood at 4.09% earlier this week, according to Freddie Mac, an astonishingly low figure.
ROCKVILLE, Md. (MarketWatch) — Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” That’s advice for investing as much as it is advice for life.
I wonder if the current administration reads any Chinese philosopher writing?
