|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
The Fed's Double-Bind (September 17, 2013) The Federal Reserve is in a classic double-bind: as its policies to boost growth bear fruit, interest rates rise, threatening the very recovery the Fed has lavished trillions of dollars of quantitative easing (QE) to generate. Higher growth naturally leads to higher interest rates, which then choke off growth. The Fed's goal was a self-sustaining recovery, in which growth reaches "escape velocity," i.e. is strong enough to support higher interest rates. But the pursuit of that goal via trillions of dollars of asset purchases has inflated asset bubbles in stocks and real estate. The Fed's goal was to push speculative and institutional money into risk assets such as stocks, generating a "wealth effect" that was supposed to spill over into the real economy via higher borrowing and spending. The pursuit of "the wealth effect" via inflating asset bubbles has created another double-bind: now that markets have become dependent on Fed money and liquidity pumping, the Fed cannot reduce its QE money-pump (currently $1 trillion a year) without tipping the stock market into free-fall. If the Fed continues its massive monetary easing programs, asset bubbles will only inflate to speculative extremes, to the point where violent bursting becomes a matter not of "if" but of "when." (This is also known as "the music stopping.") If the Fed cuts back its money-pumping and asset purchases, interest rates will rise, as interest rates will seek a market level that isn't pushed to near-zero by the Fed's financial repression. Higher rates will choke off tepid Fed-induced growth. We already see home refinancing rates plummeting to 2009 recessionary levels. So the Fed risks blowing asset bubbles that will devastate the economy if it continues the QE pumping, but it risks killing the tepid recovery if it cuts back its pumping. Darned if you do, darned if you don't.
Put another way: if growth is needed to boost corporate sales and profits, but growth leads to higher interest rates and reduced central-bank suppport of markets, this is a double-bind with no exit.
The Nearly Free University and The Emerging Economy: The Revolution in Higher Education Reconnecting higher education, livelihoods and the economy With the soaring cost of higher education, has the value a college degree been turned upside down? College tuition and fees are up 1000% since 1980. Half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, revealing a deep disconnect between higher education and the job market.
It is no surprise everyone is asking: Where is the return on investment? Is the assumption that higher education returns greater prosperity no longer true? And if this is the case, how does this impact you, your children and grandchildren?
The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy clearly describes the underlying dynamics at work - and, more importantly, lays out a new low-cost model for higher education: how digital technology is enabling a revolution in higher education that dramatically lowers costs while expanding the opportunities for students of all ages. The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy provides clarity and optimism in a period of the greatest change our educational systems and society have seen, and offers everyone the tools needed to prosper in the Emerging Economy.
Read the Foreword, first section and the Table of Contents.
Kindle edition: list $9.95, for one week only, $7.95
(20% discount)
Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart: 
1. Debt and financialization
2. Crony capitalism 3. Diminishing returns 4. Centralization 5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy Complex systems weakened by diminishing returns collapse under their own weight and are replaced by systems that are simpler, faster and affordable. If we cling to the old ways, our system will disintegrate. If we want sustainable prosperity rather than collapse, we must embrace a new model that is Decentralized, Adaptive, Transparent and Accountable (DATA).
We are not powerless. Once we accept responsibility, we become powerful.
NOTE: gifts/contributions are acknowledged in the order received. Your name and email remain confidential and will not be given to any other individual, company or agency.
"This guy is THE leading visionary on reality.
He routinely discusses things which no one else has talked about, yet,
turn out to be quite relevant months later."
Or send him coins, stamps or quatloos via mail--please request P.O. Box address. Subscribers ($5/mo) and contributors of $50 or more this year will receive a weekly email of exclusive (though not necessarily coherent) musings and amusings. At readers' request, there is also a $10/month option. What subscribers are saying about the Musings (Musings samples here): The "unsubscribe" link is for when you find the usual drivel here insufferable.
All content, HTML coding, format design, design elements and images copyright © 2013 Charles Hugh Smith, All rights reserved in all media, unless otherwise credited or noted. I am honored if you link to this essay, or print a copy for your own use.
Terms of Service:
|
Add oftwominds.com
|
