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Strange to see this on the front page. I guess everyone is mad at Powell's doveish language yesterday. I don't know why we're surprised. The fed has been con

Strange to see this on the front page. I guess everyone is mad at Powell's doveish language yesterday. I don't know why we're surprised. The fed has been consistently wrong since Covid. Now they're trying to help the gov fund itself by keeping rates low in coordination with the treasury(or it sure seems like that). Also, it's an election year, and probably no one at the fed wants the orange man elected. Powell keeps talking out of both sides of his mouth. Endless statements about how much inflation hurts poor people(i.e. most Americans, who own very little inflation linked assets), yet they're followed by inaction or outright dovishness, like yesterday's statement ruling out further hikes(what happened to data dependency?).

lenerdenator 2y ago
> Endless statements about how much inflation hurts poor people(i.e. most Americans, who own very little inflation linked assets) It's not about owning assets, it's about being able to afford food, fuel, housing, medicine, and basic savings. Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck because our financial industry decided 45 years ago that it'd be awesome to have Americans pay interest on everyday purchases instead of just major purchases like their home, car, or business startup capital. Since this has also coincided with stagnant wages, that interest can't go much higher without the masses getting pissed off, and over the last 15 years, "pissed off" has escalated into mass demonstrations (Occupy Wall Street) and riots (2020, 2021). At some point we're going to have to accept that you can't just direct the value created by an economy to equities indefinitely. You have to return an increasing amount of value to labor so that standards of living continue to rise. Raising interest rates won't do that.
- 01100011 2y ago
  > It's not about owning assets, it's about being able to afford food, fuel, housing, medicine, and basic savings. I'm sure you can appreciate that inflation hurts everyone, but that asset owners receive a benefit, or at least stand to gain some wealth, as an effect of inflation. This means inflation hurts the poor much more. I don't agree that it is better to let inflation run rampant with lower rates in an attempt to help poor people. What would help is better regulation, de-"financialization" of the economy, higher progressive taxes, higher capital gains taxes, etc. You don't give up on inflation, you fight it while using the government to level the playing field.
dosinga 2y ago
I don't know that the Fed got it all wrong; recently they've been doing a pretty decent job balancing fighting inflation and not causing a recession.
- 01100011 2y ago
  Inflation was allowed to run well above target for over a year and still continues to run hot. They are failing to do their jobs and effectively punishing low incomers and non-asset holders.

lenerdenator 2y ago

> Endless statements about how much inflation hurts poor people(i.e. most Americans, who own very little inflation linked assets) It's not about owning assets, it's about being able to afford food, fuel, housing, medicine, and basic savings. Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck because our financial industry decided 45 years ago that it'd be awesome to have Americans pay interest on everyday purchases instead of just major purchases like their home, car, or business startup capital. Since this has also coincided with stagnant wages, that interest can't go much higher without the masses getting pissed off, and over the last 15 years, "pissed off" has escalated into mass demonstrations (Occupy Wall Street) and riots (2020, 2021). At some point we're going to have to accept that you can't just direct the value created by an economy to equities indefinitely. You have to return an increasing amount of value to labor so that standards of living continue to rise. Raising interest rates won't do that.

01100011 2y ago
> It's not about owning assets, it's about being able to afford food, fuel, housing, medicine, and basic savings. I'm sure you can appreciate that inflation hurts everyone, but that asset owners receive a benefit, or at least stand to gain some wealth, as an effect of inflation. This means inflation hurts the poor much more. I don't agree that it is better to let inflation run rampant with lower rates in an attempt to help poor people. What would help is better regulation, de-"financialization" of the economy, higher progressive taxes, higher capital gains taxes, etc. You don't give up on inflation, you fight it while using the government to level the playing field.

dosinga 2y ago

I don't know that the Fed got it all wrong; recently they've been doing a pretty decent job balancing fighting inflation and not causing a recession.

01100011 2y ago
Inflation was allowed to run well above target for over a year and still continues to run hot. They are failing to do their jobs and effectively punishing low incomers and non-asset holders.