Every politician and voter should read "Granny D: Walking Across America in My 90th Year" by Doris Haddock with Dennis Burke. She walked for campaign finance reform and she got wonderful support along the way from California to Washington, D.C. The problem, she says, is big money runs our legislators in Washington, not the voters. Here's a quote: "A flood of special interest money has carried away our own representatives, and all that is left of them - at least for those of us who do not write $100,000 checks - are the shadows of their cardboard cutouts. If you doubt it, write a letter to them and see what rubber stamp drivel you get back. For all we know, they might all have died 10 years ago and the same letters continue to be sent out."
The worst violator in Washington right now is Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman who replaced Alan Greenspan, and Congress, which is going right along with him - both parties, but Republicans more than Democrats, are letting him lower the interest rates to what he believes is going to solve the problem, rather than throw the crooks that caused the problem in jail.
The lowering of interest rates has been tried before in Japan. According to the textbook, "The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets" by Frederic S. Mishkin, "Usually, we think that low interest rates are a good thing because they make it cheap to borrow. But the Japanese example shows that just as there is a fallacy in the adage 'You can never be too rich or too thin' (maybe you can't be too rich, but you can certainly be too thin and do damage to your health) there is a fallacy in always thinking that lower interest rates are better. In Japan, the low and even negative interest rates were a sign that the Japanese economy was in real trouble, with falling prices and a contracting economy. Only when the Japanese economy returns to health will interest rates rise back to more normal levels."
According to Business Week, "Some estimates are that 1,000 banks of 8,000 will disappear." "Well-respected" hedge fund dealer Bernard Madoff got arrested for a so-called "Ponzi" scheme. He took pension funds and individuals to the tune of at least $50 billion. He was turned in by his employees. You wonder what our government watchdogs are doing!
The worst violator in Washington right now is Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman who replaced Alan Greenspan, and Congress, which is going right along with him - both parties, but Republicans more than Democrats, are letting him lower the interest rates to what he believes is going to solve the problem, rather than throw the crooks that caused the problem in jail.
The lowering of interest rates has been tried before in Japan. According to the textbook, "The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets" by Frederic S. Mishkin, "Usually, we think that low interest rates are a good thing because they make it cheap to borrow. But the Japanese example shows that just as there is a fallacy in the adage 'You can never be too rich or too thin' (maybe you can't be too rich, but you can certainly be too thin and do damage to your health) there is a fallacy in always thinking that lower interest rates are better. In Japan, the low and even negative interest rates were a sign that the Japanese economy was in real trouble, with falling prices and a contracting economy. Only when the Japanese economy returns to health will interest rates rise back to more normal levels."
According to Business Week, "Some estimates are that 1,000 banks of 8,000 will disappear." "Well-respected" hedge fund dealer Bernard Madoff got arrested for a so-called "Ponzi" scheme. He took pension funds and individuals to the tune of at least $50 billion. He was turned in by his employees. You wonder what our government watchdogs are doing!
