(JAI: here are the capitalists attempting to 'reflate' the economy with 'cheap money' but only for the rich. Yes, interest rates on home loans is at an all-time low but try to get a home loan. But even this applies only to what Obama constantly refers to as 'the middle class'. He ain't ever said anything about the lower level of the working class; the underemployed and under paid. The jobless. The homeless.
While Bernanke & Co fiddle-faddle with the monetary means of circulation attempting to inflate one after another sectors of the economy (esp the military) nothing they do is attempting to relieve the pressures on us. Here's the rub: all it takes is work. Work is the only means of creating value, i.e. items both worth and capable of exchanging themselves for the products of other workers. All we need are the factories and the tools that are rusting and the creative efforts of workers that are wasting away and we could make a paradise and enough necessities to hold us over til the 'crop come in', i.e. one production cycle has been completed and from then on we are off to the races with every turnover producing more and more instead of the stagnation we have experienced and--according to the implications of Bernanke below--will continue to suffer with things getting progressively worse. We can change this world and no one any where need face starvation and other deprivations. The choice is clear: capitalism equals stagnation and deterioration. Social-communism = progress. The choice is ours.) Fed Signals That a Full Recovery Is Years Away Larry Downing/Reuters Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the central bank was striving for the right amount of stimulus. By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/binyamin_appelbaum/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Published: January 25, 2012 WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_reserve_system/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, declaring that the economy would need help for years to come, said Wednesday it would extend by 18 months the period that it plans to hold down interest rates in an effort to spur growth. Related - Economix Blog: Behind Closed Doors at the Fed<http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/behind-closed-doors-at-the-fed/?ref=economy>(January 25, 2012) The Fed said that it now planned to keep short-term interest rates near zero until late 2014, continuing the transformation of a policy that began as shock therapy in the winter of 2008 into a six-year campaign to increase spending by rewarding borrowers and punishing savers. The economy expanded moderately in recent weeks, the Fed said in a statement released after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, but jobs were still scarce, the housing sector remained deeply depressed and Europes flirtation with crisis could undermine the nascent domestic recovery. The Fed forecast growth of up to 2.7 percent this year, up to 3.2 percent next year and up to 4 percent in 2014, but at the end of that period, the central bank projected that the recovery would still be incomplete. Workers would still be looking for jobs, and businesses would still be looking for customers. What did we learn today? Things are bad, and theyre not improving at the rate that they want them to improve, said Kevin Logan, chief United States economist at HSBC. Thats what they concluded Weve eased policy a lot, but we havent eased it enough. The economic impact of the low-interest rate extension, however, is likely to be modest. Many businesses and consumers cant qualify for loans, a problem the Feds efforts do not address. Moreover, long-term rates already are at record low levels and, like pushing on a spring, the going gets harder as it nears the floor. Finally, the Fed already was widely expected by investors to hold rates near zero well into 2014, limiting the benefits of a formal announcement. I wouldnt overstate the Feds ability to massively change expectations through its statements, the Feds chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said at a press conference Wednesday after the announcement. Its important for us to say what we think and its important for us to provide the right amount of stimulus to help the economy recover from its currently underutilized condition. The Feds plans for interest rates were unveiled amid a barrage of statements the central bank released Wednesday as part of its campaign to improve its transparency. And while it pleased some investors in the markets, it left others befuddled. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down in the morning, began rising steadily after the Fed released its statement at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Dow finished the day up 81.21 points at 12,756.96. First came the Feds traditional statement, released after each meeting of its policy-making committee, which said that the central bank intended to hold short-term rates near zero at least through late 2014. Ninety minutes later, the Fed published for the first time the predictions of the committees members on when they would raise interest rates. It showed that 11 of the 17 members expected the Fed to raise rates by the end of 2014. Taken together, the documents suggested that the Fed expected to keep rates near zero until late 2014, but probably not any longer than that. Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007, the Fed has alternated bursts of activity with periods of rest, concluding several times that it had done enough only to find the economy still struggling to recover. The Fed announced last summer that the central bank intended to keep interest rates near zero through at least the middle of 2013, and that it would seek to reduce long-term interest rates through changes in the kinds of investment securities it holds. Since then, two meetings had passed without the introduction of any new programs. Full at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/economy/fed-to-maintain-rates-near-zero-through-late-2014.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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