4 ms·

So back to ZIRP, let's supersize this cyst until it pops all on its own, and then we can spend the entire federal budget on a bailout and hyperinflate the curre

So back to ZIRP, let's supersize this cyst until it pops all on its own, and then we can spend the entire federal budget on a bailout and hyperinflate the currency, but damn those equities will moon! I know I left the analogy, but the point is being "careful" and being unwilling to endure productive pain is what got us here.

lazide 2y ago
Yup. So are you signing up to go bankrupt first?
- scottLobster 2y ago
  If you told me my options were go bankrupt now with a chance at long-term recovery, or retire into/put my kids and grandkids into the worst depression in US history after a few more decades of can-kicking and treating the symptoms over the disease, you're damn right I'd be the first to sign up so long as the necessary reforms were made. But hey, I think long term. Which in our system means I'm not in charge of anything substantial.
  - lazide 2y ago
    Unfortunately I 100% agree/am in the same boat.
joe_the_user 2y ago
The people who began this "perma-bubble" were Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, thirty years ago. The poison is in every imaginable part of the economy. No only would the "pain" be catastrophic to a large part of the economy but it would be impossible to get a consensus among the governing parties to even begin creating the pain.
- lazide 2y ago
  Pretty much. And with the boomers retiring (and being the largest voting bloc right now), getting any ‘bandaid ripping’ consensus is even more impossible. So, Japanese ‘lost decade’?
- scottLobster 2y ago
  It'll be even more catastrophic the longer we indulge. I'm hoping higher for longer is measured in decades so the markets can be brought to heel, but as you say that's probably wishful thinking. They're already talking about agency backed second mortgages, which would primarily give seniors with paid-off homes one last big credit infusion on the way out. So I guess try to ride the various distortions and get out at or near the top, and hope whatever you end up with is enough to weather what comes next.

lazide 2y ago

Yup. So are you signing up to go bankrupt first?

scottLobster 2y ago
If you told me my options were go bankrupt now with a chance at long-term recovery, or retire into/put my kids and grandkids into the worst depression in US history after a few more decades of can-kicking and treating the symptoms over the disease, you're damn right I'd be the first to sign up so long as the necessary reforms were made. But hey, I think long term. Which in our system means I'm not in charge of anything substantial.
- lazide 2y ago
  Unfortunately I 100% agree/am in the same boat.

joe_the_user 2y ago

The people who began this "perma-bubble" were Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, thirty years ago. The poison is in every imaginable part of the economy. No only would the "pain" be catastrophic to a large part of the economy but it would be impossible to get a consensus among the governing parties to even begin creating the pain.

lazide 2y ago
Pretty much. And with the boomers retiring (and being the largest voting bloc right now), getting any ‘bandaid ripping’ consensus is even more impossible. So, Japanese ‘lost decade’?
scottLobster 2y ago
It'll be even more catastrophic the longer we indulge. I'm hoping higher for longer is measured in decades so the markets can be brought to heel, but as you say that's probably wishful thinking. They're already talking about agency backed second mortgages, which would primarily give seniors with paid-off homes one last big credit infusion on the way out. So I guess try to ride the various distortions and get out at or near the top, and hope whatever you end up with is enough to weather what comes next.