Approves.

Race bating. Now there's a troll we don't see very often.

He, of all people, should know that with great power comes great responsibility.

This couldn't possibly create some kind of asset bubble, could it? Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Fun Dumpster: He, of all people, should know that with great power comes great responsibility.

That would be Spider-Man. In Ben's case it's more like "with great power comes great power".

I feel so stupid for having worked and done without to pay off my house in 1/2 the mortgage term, saving money for my kids college, paying cash or mostly for all my vehicles, paying off credit cards every month. What a dummy. I should have lived it up and thrown my money around and then have Uncle Sugar bail me out. Instead all I'm going to get is higher taxes on my Social Security and pension funds, longer waits and less treatment options on Medicare that I paid into for all my working life. What a dummy!

ParadigmLeftShift: In Ben's case it's more like "with great power comes great power Lots o' cashola".

GomezAdams: I feel so stupid for having worked and done without to pay off my house in 1/2 the mortgage term, saving money for my kids college, paying cash or mostly for all my vehicles, paying off credit cards every month. What a dummy. I should have lived it up and thrown my money around and then have Uncle Sugar bail me out. Instead all I'm going to get is higher taxes on my Social Security and pension funds, longer waits and less treatment options on Medicare that I paid into for all my working life. What a dummy!

That'll teach you to have foresight and reasonable financial planning. I bet you bathe daily and speak in reasonable terms. You, good sir, talk like a fag and your shiats all messed up.

I feel so stupid for having worked and done without to pay off my house in 1/2 the mortgage term

Paying off your mortgage early is almost always stupid.

GomezAdams: I feel so stupid for having worked and done without to pay off my house in 1/2 the mortgage term, saving money for my kids college, paying cash or mostly for all my vehicles, paying off credit cards every month. What a dummy. I should have lived it up and thrown my money around and then have Uncle Sugar bail me out. Instead all I'm going to get is higher taxes on my Social Security and pension funds, longer waits and less treatment options on Medicare that I paid into for all my working life. What a dummy!

How do you figure you're getting "higher taxes on my Social Security and pension funds, longer waits and less treatment options on Medicare?"

[Soapbox]

JESUS farkING CHRIST. WERE YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION IN JAPAN. THIS shiat DIDN'T WORK IN JAPAN. WHY THE fark DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK HERE

[/soapboax]

This will end badly.

karasoth: [Soapbox]

JESUS farkING CHRIST. WERE YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION IN JAPAN. THIS shiat DIDN'T WORK IN JAPAN. WHY THE fark DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK HERE

[/soapboax]

Many economists believe that once Uncle Ben saw how rotten the whole financial system was, he came to three possible outcomes. 1: Great Depression 2.0; 2: Zimbabwe; 3: Lost Decade.

Of those three, a lost decade is the very best we can hope for. It's unclear if he can thread the needle, or if things go from bad to Madmax style Farked up.

Oh, by the way,

Yes, this is clearly and beyond all reasonable doubt solely and exclusively George Bush's fault. The problem and its causes are not complicated; nor did they develop over a long period. I believe GW decided screw up the economy after one of his many coke binges in his second term.

/Had to be said
//this is Fark after all

BigBooper: Yes, this is clearly and beyond all reasonable doubt solely and exclusively George Bush's fault. The problem and its causes are not complicated; nor did they develop over a long period. I believe GW decided screw up the economy after one of his many coke binges in his second term.

Greenspan was the one who blew up the .com bubble with interest rates too low for conditions and then blew up the housing bubble again by having interest rates too low.

Bush could not have done anything without Greenspan. Bush may have ramped up the deficit, but we would not have gotten the housing bubble had Greenspan not lowered rates.

Crosshair: Greenspan was the one who blew up the .com bubble with interest rates too low for conditions and then blew up the housing bubble again by having interest rates too low.

Bush could not have done anything without Greenspan. Bush may have ramped up the deficit, but we would not have gotten the housing bubble had Greenspan not lowered rates.

Definitely. I can be angry at Bush for leveraging the deficit so much during relative prosperity and lowering taxes at a time of war, which made fighting the current recession even harder.

I really don't get it. If there's any time the country would have happily accepted a tax increase, it was after 9/11. No one would have complained.

He's pushing a string as it were. The banks have money to loan but nobody wants to take out a loan. If the loans don't start flowing the deflation we are experiencing will continue. They are already talking about another stimulus package. Unless the "animal spirits" take over soon to get things going we are headed towards a Japan-esque lost decade(s) best case. Worse case we are in the equivalent of 1933 and headed into a depression.

I don't agree with Krugman all of the time, but even if the recovery starts today it is years away from it being "good times".

McFnord: Race Rice bating. Now there's a troll we don't see very often.

FTFY

FarkIlk01: He's pushing a string as it were. The banks have money to loan but nobody wants to take out a loan. If the loans don't start flowing the deflation we are experiencing will continue. They are already talking about another stimulus package. Unless the "animal spirits" take over soon to get things going we are headed towards a Japan-esque lost decade(s) best case. Worse case we are in the equivalent of 1933 and headed into a depression.

I don't agree with Krugman all of the time, but even if the recovery starts today it is years away from it being "good times".

Would you rather have deflation leading to a depression, or trillion dollar bills with an expiration date on them?

/we can't fit any more zeros on our money, time to lop off a few
//hoping for pretty much anything other than those two choices

Let's get to the important issues: what impact is this going to have on mortgage rates today? Because I'm taking out a mortgage rather nowish, and I'm hoping that banks, seeing the low inter-bank lending rate for another 6 months, are willing to cut a sweetheart deal on a 15-year mortgage.

kittyhas1000legs: Would you rather have deflation leading to a depression, or trillion dollar bills with an expiration date on them?

I have to go with rapid inflation over a couple of years and a new currency being issued rather than the slow death of deflation over a couple of decades.

It remains to be seen which happens, but I haven't read a realistic hyper-inflation scenario so I'm in the deflationary camp for now; though right on the edge.

How the fark does this racist crap get greenlit?

Senescent Dawn: Crosshair: Greenspan was the one who blew up the .com bubble with interest rates too low for conditions and then blew up the housing bubble again by having interest rates too low.

Bush could not have done anything without Greenspan. Bush may have ramped up the deficit, but we would not have gotten the housing bubble had Greenspan not lowered rates.

Definitely. I can be angry at Bush for leveraging the deficit so much during relative prosperity and lowering taxes at a time of war, which made fighting the current recession even harder.

I really don't get it. If there's any time the country would have happily accepted a tax increase, it was after 9/11. No one would have complained.

Alcoholics and addicts use every situation to justify their addictions: TAXCUTSGARBL!

I can has CD above 3%?

No, not mine.. :(

Why can't I get a car loan at 0%? Who is getting this free money?