Daily Quote 2.9.15

Alan Greenspan

 

 

 

 

” We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Federal Reserve Creates Money From Nothing

Boring, But Bad — The Problem Of The Federal Reserve

 

 

 

 

” I’ve always avoided reporting on the Federal Reserve. I know it’s more important than much of the stuff I cover, but it’s so boring. How can I succeed on TV reporting on the Fed? Fed chairs even work at being dull.

Alan Greenspan said he tried to be obscure because he didn’t want to spook markets. He called his obfuscation “Fedspeak.” It’s a far cry from the clarity of his language — and principles — when he was young and a disciple of libertarian Ayn Rand.

Outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his likely successor, Janet Yellen, are almost as boring.

But we should watch what they do. The Fed can destroy your savings and your future. The current crew of Fed bureaucrats has raised the Fed’s balance sheet to a stunning 4 trillion dollars.

As Sen. Rand Paul‘s father, retired congressman Ron Paul, put it, “No secret cabal of government officials should have the authority to create money out of thin air.” “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thomas Sowell On The Housing Bubble Myth Of No Warning And Knee-Jerk Governance

 

Bouncing Ball Politics

 

 

 

 

 

” For years, home ownership was a big “good thing” among both liberal Democrats like Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Christopher Dodd, on the one hand, and moderate Republicans like President George W. Bush on the other hand.

Raising the rate of home ownership was the big red bouncing ball that they pursued out into the street, in utter disregard of the dangers.

A political myth has been created that no one warned of those dangers. But among the many who did warn were yours truly in 2005, Fortune and Barron’s magazines in 2004 and Britain’s The Economist magazine in 2003. Warnings specifically about the dangerous roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were made by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in 2005 and by Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow in 2003.

In pursuit of those higher home ownership rates, especially among low-income people and minorities, the many vast powers of the federal government — from the Federal Reserve to bank regulatory agencies and even the Department of Justice, which issued threats of anti-discrimination lawsuits — were used to force banks and other lenders to lower their standards for making mortgage loans.

What makes all this painfully ironic is that the latest data show that the rate of home ownership today is lower than it has been in 18 years. There was a rise of a few percentage points during the housing boom, but that was completely erased during the housing bust. Housing has been just one area where the bouncing ball approach to political decision-making has led the country into one disaster after another.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Quote 10/09

Alan Greenspan

 

“Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth”

Real Leadership vs Obama

Lawrence Kudlow interviews Alan Greenspan and they contrast the Reagan recovery with Obama’s …er … recovery stagnation .

” Now contrast President Reagan’s performance with President Obama’s recent attack on business. Instead of exhorting entrepreneurship, Mr. Obama demonized it. Here’s the money quote: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

   That’s a put down to business recovery, not an exhortation. Reagan praised entrepreneurs into recovery. Why must Obama trash them into recession?

   Great innovators like Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie didn’t rely on government. There was hardly any of it in those days. More recently, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison used genius to put brand-new ideas into production.

   Then you’ve got a whole smaller class of entrepreneurs: The electricians, bakers, clothing designers, and financial planners. They don’t depend on government. It’s always been a question of the American genius of entrepreneurship that makes the country run. And that’s optimism. It’s not name-calling or negativism. But it is the reliance on government under Obama that has undermined the morale of our economy.

   In an interview this week,Treasury Secretary Geithner said the problem with the economy is insufficient government spending. But I would argue that government spending is the problem . ”

 

This statement by Tim “Turbotax” Geitner ably demonstrate the cluelessness that reigns supreme in this administration ..