Mother of God. It has begun. [QE3]

[I WUB PUGS]

Open-ended bond-buying is on the way and at higher levels than before.

Speculations about the true effects of QE 1 and 2 have still not been solidified into concrete positions, but I have believed for some time that they were directly responsible for the Arab Spring and have done little for unemployment, but amazingly avoided rampant inflation (for American consumers, but we can adjust to 30% increases on staples without even realizing it).

Stocks are rallying today on the prospect of gaining the same momentum they had under the previous QEs.

In case you were wondering why I say the Arab Spring was caused by this here is a simple diagram:

Money flees bonds due to QE making them unattractive ----> That money moves into commodities fueling bubbles, this is shown by the rises in nearly every commodity during QE1 an 2 and the Arab Spring started because of unmanageable grain costs (the former governments owned the granaries) ----> stocks rise because money that can't find bargains in the commodities market goes into stocks.

Essentially, driving people out of bonds and devaluing the dollar. The devaluation makes stuff cost more, so a pound of onions in Egypt used to cost a dollar, now it's a $1.50. More thorough explanation of how QE totally screws with exchange rates and the bond market.

This is the best quote of the more thorough source:

The good news is that if you are living in the country that proposes quantitative easing and you already hold their government’s bonds, then you have no exchange risk, the capital value will go up and you will still receive the same amount of interest as you were always going to receive.

There is always an upside.

In short: you world. Also, in case you didn't know the ECB is probably going to engage in a massive bond-buying scheme too. you world again.

Thank you world for pricing everything in dollars, I get all the benefits!

Note: For now the Fed will only buy Mortgage-Backed-Securities.........you know the toxic things that started the crash. But buying up T-Bills is just a bad job report away.

[Thorn777]

People pretend you can solve this by making the poor poorer and use more cash for oiling an ever more corporate and financial economy. Its the compounding interest problem once again and no economic alchemy by the Bernank or Draghi can stop it from showing. If it isnt here, its somewhere else and eventually it will come back full circle.

We live in a pathetic world and we need something new. We need, we dont feel or want. We need.

[I WUB PUGS]

Another little article from the Telegraph about QE and Commodities.

Thorn, what's terrible is that this is really the least sensationalized issue among the masses. I almost guarantee this thread will fall to the second page today, because no one cares to learn about it. They'd rather just paint the Fed and ECB like some sort of illegal money wizards. This is all done with a nod from the powers in elected office.

Also any bets on what happens when people in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, etc still can't feed themselves when grain prices explode again? What are they gonna do? Revolt against their brand-new governments?

The comments on MSNBC today are great.

I love when idiots totally derail monetary policy discussion with "China has all of our money" and then it turns into a pissing contest between hawks and sensationalists.

Best comment from MSNBC:

Stimulus of any kind is a short term speed bump. It works when the money is spent, but the "benefits" stop when the money does.

Where do you get your stimulus money, Eric. Do you borrow more or do you take it out of the economy via taxes to give to another group? If you borrow, when will the benefits of the spent money be enough to repay the debt?

Basically it. We are immune and we feel the buzz while we conduct the policy while other people have to contend with exchange rates that are unmanageable. We get ours when the policy stops, just like when the Stock Market tanked because QE2 stopped. The sad part is that the market regained all those losses under it's own power and while QE3 will boost it even more, we have no idea how low it will go when QE3 finally stops.



Hey Thorn, you and Mitt Romney agree on something:

— Mitt Romney’s campaign criticized the move: “The Federal Reserve’s announcement of a third round of quantitative easing is further confirmation that President Obama’s policies have not worked. After four years of stagnant growth, falling incomes, rising costs, and persistently high unemployment, the American economy doesn’t need more artificial and ineffective measures. We should be creating wealth, not printing dollars. As president, Mitt Romney will enact bold, pro-growth policies that lead to robust job creation, higher take-home pay, and a true economic recovery.”

Source

[YukonTrooper]

I almost guarantee this thread will fall to the second page today, because no one cares to learn about it. They'd rather just paint the Fed and ECB like some sort of illegal money wizards. This is all done with a nod from the powers in elected office.

The Fed and the ECB are money wizards. Ultra currency manipulators. That is their entire forte, legal or illegal.

Also, prove Bernanke and the Fed board takes orders from the White House.

[Elfdude]

Also any bets on what happens when people in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, etc still can't feed themselves when grain prices explode again? What are they gonna do? Revolt against their brand-new governments?

Why do you believe that grain prices exploded in result of qualitative easing? This is such a large leap and requires an unparalleled understanding of economic policy that I'm not quite convinced is possible much less capable of being explained in this thread.

Basically it. We are immune and we feel the buzz while we conduct the policy while other people have to contend with exchange rates that are unmanageable. We get ours when the policy stops, just like when the Stock Market tanked because QE2 stopped. The sad part is that the market regained all those losses under it's own power and while QE3 will boost it even more, we have no idea how low it will go when QE3 finally stops.

Ugh. QE2's benefits did not stop when QE2 stopped. Further QE2's goal was to stop deflation of the economy which it accomplished beautifully. You have not demonstrated that QE2 failed or that the benefits did not continue. You have not demonstrated that QE2 prevented worse from happening. You've made a fallacious claim and backed it up with poor articles and comments.

Essentially it is an inflationary policy that benefits countries that control world trade. So the US and EU can collude and pump money into the economy by buying up toxic assets or buying bonds. These purchases are made with new money.

This is theoretically possible if you believe that either honestly controls world trade. It's highly unlikely that the rest of the world would continue to sell their goods to us if the value of our dollar fell to a third overnight. There is a practical limit to this and even a sweet spot where it's effective that you seem blind to.

The benefit is that toxic assets can be taken off of balance sheets and that these injections can boost markets. It is an attempt to make the economy look and feel healthier but it is being propped up by money from the Central Bank. It isn't the same thing as Government Stimulus. It is literally taking money out of thin air and putting it into the market.

This is incomplete. You're assuming the assets are toxic. They are to companies but not to our governments. The reason is simply size. A corporation can wait only so long for a return in investment and in business theory every day you wait is a loss. Long term assets provide much better returns but the short term payoff will help the companies more immediately. Since the government can wait it's more than happy to buy these assets to provide liquid cash in the economy. This drives up stock prices and inflation. We're talking inflation of 1-2% if done right which has a negligible individual burden.

This can work fine in the EU; although Germany has blocked this in the past because their economy is very sensitive to movement in the Euro. But Bernanke has been trying to convince the ECB to pursue a policy of QE so it is probable that the the EU and US are colluding to keep the Euro and Dollar stable enough against each other to prevent damage to their economies. The added bonus is we close our exchange rates with China so we actually close our trade deficits. Again, another bonus for us!

Some of this is true, but really you make it sound like we're benefiting at the cost of the world. Our tiny changes in the dollar's value via QE is negligible compared to the change in our dollar's value simply due to a poorly functioning market. Remember the value is total the goods and services in the US. If those totals fall the dollar falls. Thus QE can both deflate and inflate the economy depending on how and when it's used.

This sounds awesome if you are in the US or EU. Big problem though. It drives the value of the dollar and euro down. People would be mistaken to think that value is only in relation to other currencies. This is wrong. What is important is the values of commodities and precious metals and other inflationary measurements, not just X dollars = Y pounds.

This is simply appealing to an extreme. There is a gradient of effects that this can have and to return to my water metaphor can act just like watering a plant. Too much and you drown the plant, not enough and it's going to dry out either way. That does not mean though that the watering can has no use.

Rising commodity prices put pressure on poorer countries.

I like how you slipped this in. They do put pressure on commodity prices, unfortunately you do a poor job at proving QE is causing this, and more so it's rather unlikely that you will at all be able to prove that it does so more so than what our previously poor economy was doing.

The third world spends the majority of its wages on food. And all food is priced in dollars, worldwide. You may think that you are paying for your local food in your money, but you aren't, eventually it will be converted to dollars. If the dollar falls against your currency you may think hey that's great, my money can buy more. Wrong, because if commodity prices are outpacing this and you aren't getting paid more, you can't afford to eat anymore.

Correct. Now show that QE causes it.

So I get paid 10 dinars a day. Those are worth 4 dollars. I need 8 ($3.20) dinars a day to eat based on current food prices. All of a sudden because of QE the dollar falls and my 10 dinars are worth 6 dollars. Great! Right? Not when commodities adjust and usually (as we've seen) inflate beyond the dollar fall. So yes, my money is worth more dollars, but if the cost of my food bill doubles so $6.40 I can no longer afford to eat.

Just to be sure, you realize you're talking theoretically. Now if your 10 dinars a day gives you 4 dollars, tell me what the effect of a 1-2% change in interbank interest rates is going to do to your money.

This isn't a problem in the west, we can handle onions and wheat doubling in price, most of our food is overpriced anyway to maximize profit and competition will keep prices as low as they can while maintaining a profit. This does not apply to the third world, they don't have 80 different bread companies selling 40 different kinds of bread.

Correct but for the dollar to inflate that much what would have to happen? Is there any practical chance of that happening?

Now seeing as you're quite clearly not a farmer perhaps it would be good to realize that this year alone over 80% of US farmland has suffered from serious doubts and heat waves ruining a huge amount of crop. Even if the effect you proposed did exist, the dip in food production worldwide is likely to completely bury any evidence of your QE changes in statistical noise.

Axeman touches on something very important. The concept of the reserve currency. Yes, all I have written sounds like a giant funny game the US is playing on the rest of the world. The reality is we need a reliable medium of exchange, without it the world economy cannot function. A lack of confidence in the dollar is bad for the entire world as a whole. Until of course we find a better medium of exchange. Which can't happen because your local major banks and your central banks don't hold gold as collateral........... THEY HOLD DOLLARS. Inflationary policies concerning the dollar = everyone with a savings account in the entire world gets poorer.

Your understanding of leaf currency perhaps is to blame here. Go do some research on what the value of the dollar is actually based on. It's not picked out of the air. When you own a dollar you own $1 worth of the value all the goods/assets and services in the US. If you increase the value of the goods and services in the US you increase the value of the dollar. Hence inflationary policies are much more properly viewed as a type of tool for a specific job. If the policy results in a better functioning economy then the value of the dollar is likely to increase in case you didn't consider that.

[The Dude]

This thread will fall to the second page because a lot of people have no idea what it's about. I know I don't. I know very little about economy and bond buying, and I have no idea what "QE3" is. What light can be shed would be most appreciated.

[Axeman]

If this is handled correctly *which I won't, eternal pessimist here* we coud see a huge spike in employment , jobs created, etc...

No matter how it goes it will weaken the value of the American dollar as the worldwide reserve currency.

If it goes poorly imagine the stagflation of the 70s but now we cannot cut taxes to get a boost, raising is political suicide *at least now*, and we have a deficit to work with so no borrowing our way to growth.


I hope this works out. I really do.

[pajomife]

For christ sake ,i thought, reading the title that you knew something about the end of world.12/12/2012

[I WUB PUGS]

This thread will fall to the second page because a lot of people have no idea what it's about. I know I don't. I know very little about economy and bond buying, and I have no idea what "QE3" is. What light can be shed would be most appreciated.

Just read the OP and really the link to the International Trade article.

Essentially it is an inflationary policy that benefits countries that control world trade. So the US and EU can collude and pump money into the economy by buying up toxic assets or buying bonds. These purchases are made with new money.

The benefit is that toxic assets can be taken off of balance sheets and that these injections can boost markets. It is an attempt to make the economy look and feel healthier but it is being propped up by money from the Central Bank. It isn't the same thing as Government Stimulus. It is literally taking money out of thin air and putting it into the market.

This can work fine in the EU; although Germany has blocked this in the past because their economy is very sensitive to movement in the Euro. But Bernanke has been trying to convince the ECB to pursue a policy of QE so it is probable that the the EU and US are colluding to keep the Euro and Dollar stable enough against each other to prevent damage to their economies. The added bonus is we close our exchange rates with China so we actually close our trade deficits. Again, another bonus for us!

This sounds awesome if you are in the US or EU. Big problem though. It drives the value of the dollar and euro down. People would be mistaken to think that value is only in relation to other currencies. This is wrong. What is important is the values of commodities and precious metals and other inflationary measurements, not just X dollars = Y pounds.

Rising commodity prices put pressure on poorer countries. The third world spends the majority of its wages on food. And all food is priced in dollars, worldwide. You may think that you are paying for your local food in your money, but you aren't, eventually it will be converted to dollars. If the dollar falls against your currency you may think hey that's great, my money can buy more. Wrong, because if commodity prices are outpacing this and you aren't getting paid more, you can't afford to eat anymore.

So I get paid 10 dinars a day. Those are worth 4 dollars. I need 8 ($3.20) dinars a day to eat based on current food prices. All of a sudden because of QE the dollar falls and my 10 dinars are worth 6 dollars. Great! Right? Not when commodities adjust and usually (as we've seen) inflate beyond the dollar fall. So yes, my money is worth more dollars, but if the cost of my food bill doubles so $6.40 I can no longer afford to eat.

This isn't a problem in the west, we can handle onions and wheat doubling in price, most of our food is overpriced anyway to maximize profit and competition will keep prices as low as they can while maintaining a profit. This does not apply to the third world, they don't have 80 different bread companies selling 40 different kinds of bread.



Axeman touches on something very important. The concept of the reserve currency. Yes, all I have written sounds like a giant funny game the US is playing on the rest of the world. The reality is we need a reliable medium of exchange, without it the world economy cannot function. A lack of confidence in the dollar is bad for the entire world as a whole. Until of course we find a better medium of exchange. Which can't happen because your local major banks and your central banks don't hold gold as collateral........... THEY HOLD DOLLARS. Inflationary policies concerning the dollar = everyone with a savings account in the entire world gets poorer.

[Axeman]

Just read the OP and really the link to the International Trade article.

Essentially it is an inflationary policy that benefits countries that control world trade. So the US and EU can collude and pump money into the economy by buying up toxic assets or buying bonds. These purchases are made with new money.

The benefit is that toxic assets can be taken off of balance sheets and that these injections can boost markets. It is an attempt to make the economy look and feel healthier but it is being propped up by money from the Central Bank. It isn't the same thing as Government Stimulus. It is literally taking money out of thin air and putting it into the market.

This can work fine in the EU; although Germany has blocked this in the past because their economy is very sensitive to movement in the Euro. But Bernanke has been trying to convince the ECB to pursue a policy of QE so it is probable that the the EU and US are colluding to keep the Euro and Dollar stable enough against each other to prevent damage to their economies. The added bonus is we close our exchange rates with China so we actually close our trade deficits. Again, another bonus for us!

This sounds awesome if you are in the US or EU. Big problem though. It drives the value of the dollar and euro down. People would be mistaken to think that value is only in relation to other currencies. This is wrong. What is important is the values of commodities and precious metals and other inflationary measurements, not just X dollars = Y pounds.

Rising commodity prices put pressure on poorer countries. The third world spends the majority of its wages on food. And all food is priced in dollars, worldwide. You may think that you are paying for your local food in your money, but you aren't, eventually it will be converted to dollars. If the dollar falls against your currency you may think hey that's great, my money can buy more. Wrong, because if commodity prices are outpacing this and you aren't getting paid more, you can't afford to eat anymore.

So I get paid 10 dinars a day. Those are worth 4 dollars. I need 8 ($3.20) dinars a day to eat based on current food prices. All of a sudden because of QE the dollar falls and my 10 dinars are worth 6 dollars. Great! Right? Not when commodities adjust and usually (as we've seen) inflate beyond the dollar fall. So yes, my money is worth more dollars, but if the cost of my food bill doubles so $6.40 I can no longer afford to eat.

This isn't a problem in the west, we can handle onions and wheat doubling in price, most of our food is overpriced anyway to maximize profit and competition will keep prices as low as they can. This does not apply to the third world.

This is the best case scenario too.

[Thorn777]

This can work fine in the EU; although Germany has blocked this in the past because their economy is very sensitive to movement in the Euro. But Bernanke has been trying to convince the ECB to pursue a policy of QE so it is probable that the the EU and US are colluding to keep the Euro and Dollar stable enough against each other to prevent damage to their economies.

Well for one, every Euro is for 70+% also backed by a US Dollar(like indeed basically anything in this world) so both currencies are stable against each other till a certain extend in that way as well. Though yes, the different policies do cause a strain, and its only growing.

Yet the Euro can not do what the Dollar can, because its not the global reserve currency, and only kept some popularity worldwide due to the US $ inflation exports making people weary enough. The Euro can not follow the same path with the surity the US has, and its essentially just a move out of desperation seeing the trouble in Europe and all the toxic crap in GIIPS but also other banks and the need for Euro govts to keep on refinancing, that till now has been leveraged by other means that ran their course i.e TARGGET 2, or 200 billion injections all in the open. Its just a continuation of that. I doubt we can export much of our crisis like you can. I doubt anything will be rosy for Europeans in any scenario.

[The Dude]

Just read the OP and really the link to the International Trade article.

Essentially it is an inflationary policy that benefits countries that control world trade. So the US and EU can collude and pump money into the economy by buying up toxic assets or buying bonds. These purchases are made with new money.

The benefit is that toxic assets can be taken off of balance sheets and that these injections can boost markets. It is an attempt to make the economy look and feel healthier but it is being propped up by money from the Central Bank. It isn't the same thing as Government Stimulus. It is literally taking money out of thin air and putting it into the market.

This can work fine in the EU; although Germany has blocked this in the past because their economy is very sensitive to movement in the Euro. But Bernanke has been trying to convince the ECB to pursue a policy of QE so it is probable that the the EU and US are colluding to keep the Euro and Dollar stable enough against each other to prevent damage to their economies. The added bonus is we close our exchange rates with China so we actually close our trade deficits. Again, another bonus for us!

This sounds awesome if you are in the US or EU. Big problem though. It drives the value of the dollar and euro down. People would be mistaken to think that value is only in relation to other currencies. This is wrong. What is important is the values of commodities and precious metals and other inflationary measurements, not just X dollars = Y pounds.

Rising commodity prices put pressure on poorer countries. The third world spends the majority of its wages on food. And all food is priced in dollars, worldwide. You may think that you are paying for your local food in your money, but you aren't, eventually it will be converted to dollars. If the dollar falls against your currency you may think hey that's great, my money can buy more. Wrong, because if commodity prices are outpacing this and you aren't getting paid more, you can't afford to eat anymore.

So I get paid 10 dinars a day. Those are worth 4 dollars. I need 8 ($3.20) dinars a day to eat based on current food prices. All of a sudden because of QE the dollar falls and my 10 dinars are worth 6 dollars. Great! Right? Not when commodities adjust and usually (as we've seen) inflate beyond the dollar fall. So yes, my money is worth more dollars, but if the cost of my food bill doubles so $6.40 I can no longer afford to eat.

This isn't a problem in the west, we can handle onions and wheat doubling in price, most of our food is overpriced anyway to maximize profit and competition will keep prices as low as they can while maintaining a profit. This does not apply to the third world, they don't have 80 different bread companies selling 40 different kinds of bread.



Axeman touches on something very important. The concept of the reserve currency. Yes, all I have written sounds like a giant funny game the US is playing on the rest of the world. The reality is we need a reliable medium of exchange, without it the world economy cannot function. A lack of confidence in the dollar is bad for the entire world as a whole. Until of course we find a better medium of exchange. Which can't happen because your local major banks and your central banks don't hold gold as collateral........... THEY HOLD DOLLARS. Inflationary policies concerning the dollar = everyone with a savings account in the entire world gets poorer.

Alright I think I get it now. The problem seems to be to me that people are really desperate to get rid of these toxic assets, which I assume means assets with such a bad history that noone wants to touch them yet they linger about causing all sorts of trouble, right? Ok, well, maybe printing new money isn't the best way to go about it, and I'm agreed there.

But it seems to me that the problem is not so much the printing of money but how this affects the final currency it all falls back on, right? In this case the dollar. So the solution would be to create another currency or financial standard that buffers this effect and allows the money in people's wallets to remain relatively unaffected? I'm a huge layman so it might be that I'm still not getting this, but this seems akin to a discussion about a return to the gold standard such as Ron Paul is always advocating.

[Elfdude]

Alright I think I get it now. The problem seems to be to me that people are really desperate to get rid of these toxic assets, which I assume means assets with such a bad history that noone wants to touch them yet they linger about causing all sorts of trouble, right? Ok, well, maybe printing new money isn't the best way to go about it, and I'm agreed there.

They're not toxic. They're long term investments that take time to mature. Because they take time this means the assets are non-liquid which means a company can't use them in times of crisis to help. By buying the assets from private companies the government provides them with more liquid money (aka capital) in exchange for their long term investments. i.e. no money is being created! on hand cash is used to purchase private securities which mature for the government who claims the profit at (usually) a greater rate than if the corporation had kept the security. This is even common enough that corporations frequently buy back the long term securities that the government bought because of the improved profit margin.

But it seems to me that the problem is not so much the printing of money but how this affects the final currency it all falls back on, right? In this case the dollar.

Don't be confused by the tone of the post, this is a hypothetical extreme case and can be dismissed in the same way as fear mongering and conspiracy theories. If a change in interbank interest rates affects the prices worldwide we're not talking more than a couple percentage. If the economy collapses however the prices worldwide will go off the charts.

So the solution would be to create another currency or financial standard that buffers this effect and allows the money in people's wallets to remain relatively unaffected?

There's a few different ways they do this. Both by altering the interbank interest rates. Usually they do this by purchasing or issuing bonds. You need a large interest rate to accomplish this or you will deflate your economy leading to technically higher valued cash but practically less buying power. The other option economies have is QE when the interest rate of interbank trading is low. QE gives the same boost by buying long term investments in exchange for short term payouts. I.E. the government is patient but business is not, hence the government can take on the acting debt while the stocks/bonds mature whereas a struggling company might just lay off workers.

I'm a huge layman so it might be that I'm still not getting this, but this seems akin to a discussion about a return to the gold standard such as Ron Paul is always advocating.

That's silly. We have leaf currency which is much better than the gold standard in that it is valued against the total value all goods and services in our entire country. This could be a large part of what wub doesn't seem to understand. Even if QE causes temporary inflation (a couple of points) that's not necessarily a bad thing. For example the interbank interest rate fell to less than 2%, this is terribly low and besides just affecting the profits of banks it also harms the pensions, retirements and just about every other interest based payment based on our dollar.

Thus we used QE2 to drive our interest rate back to 2-3% which is the ideal for an economy. Increasing the interest rate did increase inflation but only by a few percent. On the other hand the boost to the economy was much greater than a few percent because the economy is affected by many nebulous things. By having more money to spend from their pensions and retirement funds the elderly were able to purchase more goods, more goods purchased means more jobs generated, more jobs generated means more money flows in the country. The better the flow of money the better the economy. QE does have some drawbacks but it's a trick used around the world. The idea that only euro or the US can do it is silly. Any country with a central bank can and probably does do it. The UK does it and has done it. Japan does it and has done it. China does it and has done it. etc etc etc.

China is perhaps the most predatory with their economic policies deliberately trading with the US (who suffers a loss) due to their clever use of exchange rates to maximize profits.

[I WUB PUGS]

Absolutely, best case scenario is US and EU doing just great while everyone else gets screwed. Worst case, global stagflation with interest rates already at zero and no ability to manipulate taxes. Imagine credit ratings going to too!

Mayan 2012 Prophesy? Please.

[I WUB PUGS]

They don't take orders from the White House, but they aren't going to conduct policy without giving a heads up and consulting, Bernanke is very good about this. He tries to work within the structure, not just do whatever he feels is right right away. If the Fed were on it's own program 100% this would've happened months ago. Bernanke has practically been begging Congress and the President to do something more since this is literally the last option he has to at least hopefully slow our fall over the fiscal cliff by maybe getting unemployment down and subsequently getting people off of entitlements and collecting more taxes.

Trooper what I'm getting at with the "wizards" comment is you have a lot of people *looking at Libertarians* that don't even care to look at what the Fed does or what it is allowed to do and would rather paint the FOMC as some sort of illuminati.

[I WUB PUGS]

I bring up the Euro-Dollar connection more because Bernanke has been pushing for a policy in Europe that is similar to QE, so I wonder what he has offered to offset the drawbacks that are plainly painful to the EU.

You know I've read many speculations that to keep Europe afloat we could extend our toxic-asset purchases to the EU. Who knows really. Politicians are getting desperate and Central Banks only have a couple tools to use. A fundamental change to the way we operate fiscally is what is needed.

I'm still shocked that Germany would even allow the ECB to embark on inflationary policies. Is this the final fall on the sword moment for the "good" of Europe? It has been my understanding that they have fought it tooth and nail while France has been jumping up and down trying to inflate away as much of this debt as possible.

[Mangalore]

...

I'm still shocked that Germany would even allow the ECB to embark on inflationary policies. Is this the final fall on the sword moment for the "good" of Europe? It has been my understanding that they have fought it tooth and nail while France has been jumping up and down trying to inflate away as much of this debt as possible.

I get the impression they currently do anything to make stock markets shut up.

[Fernandez_1492]

How can the qe three improve the umemployed num ers, i though obama policies were the cuase of the unemployment. Aret these unsure insecure times? people or business owners wanna wait to do any hiring until obmacare and or any tax issues get resolved?

[Adar]

I am currently evenly divided between stocks and a savings account right now as I cannot decide on what's going to happen first:

• Stock prices increase as investors flee the bond market.
• Stock prices decline as recession hit Europe.
• Inflation cause a severe decline in the value of my savings account.

The third case isn't much of a problem for me since I live in Sweden (=Outside of QE3 and ECB money production). But right now I torn between the fact that I don't want a market crash but from my own financial perspective it would actually be advantageous as I could move fully into the stock market to prepare for the coming inflation boom.

[Fernandez_1492]

Banks lend out bad loans and no problmens, the fed will take care of them. This total bull. Bankers takin care of bankers. And all these a holes are somehow connected to goldman sachs.