Posted on 03/05/2012 5:50:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
STOP your bellyaching.
That was the message delivered last Thursday to Americans who today make almost nothing on the savings in their bank accounts.
It came from Sarah Bloom Raskin, an insider at the Federal Reserve. Ms. Raskin, one of the governors on the Fed board, made the usual disclaimer that her comments reflected her own thinking. But Fed watchers said her remarks probably mirrored views inside the central bank.
The issue — as anyone looking for income-producing investments knows — is that the Fed drove down interest rates to almost zero to shore up big banks and an economy that those banks helped drive off a cliff. Now savers, who did nothing to create the financial crisis, are being punished.
This is one of the more troubling paradoxes of the Fed’s rescue of the financial system. And, according to Ms. Raskin, it is likely to continue for some time.
So suck it up, America: If it’s good for the financial system, it’s good for you.
Yes, Ms. Raskin, who delivered her message during a speech in Westport, Conn., nodded at how low rates put pressure on savers. But she quickly extolled the advantages that rock-bottom rates offer to ordinary Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yes. And I’m still waiting for Obama to bail me out.
Well, you should. Because the culprit is easily identifiable. The Federal Reserve has stuffed the banks so full of newly-printed reserves, they no longer really need savings deposits.
It's fine and dandy to cut back on spending, but you really should pay attention to the reasons for it.
There are other ways to build capital, but in the O-conomy it is a very slow and laborious process.
Paying higher rates on savings hurts financial institutions through them having to pay for a higher cost of funds. That's why you will find savings on the debit side of a financial institution's ledger, not the asset side.
I should be clear: I now consider it a waste of time to place blame. The time for that will come after the collapse. Right now I am in the same mindset as a Jew trying to get a boat ticket out of Germany to England in the mid-1930’s. My opinion and actions are not going to change the minds of anyone with political power. They know what they are going to do with or without me.
So my focus is on the things I can change. Specifially, that is mitigating risks to the survival of my family, spiritually and physically. And in that order. I view the current political/financial situation for the US and the entire civilized world through this lens,and act accordingly:
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Never thought I would recommend a bank paying .08 on savings accounts.
.08 without a qualifier means 8%. Is that what you mean?
I forgot to mention that I agree with you regarding the Fed. It’s why I’m all over junk silver. I mean, ALL over it.
No, it is eight tenths of one percent.
.8 percent
“So I did what millions of others have done - put ‘pressure on the system’ and went on the Social Security tit at the very first opportunity, instead of waiting until age 66 or 67.”
Same here. Couldn’t see waiting another 5-6 years to let the Fed government hold my money and decrease the time I have to spend what is left. I know I’m alive today, I can’t say the same thing 5-6 years from now.
“It’s why I’m all over junk silver. I mean, ALL over it.”
I was doing that, until the price jumped way beyond reason about 18 months ago. I was hoping there would be a strong pull back, so that I could stock up on more.
Just wish I had bought much more when it was in the mid teens.
We’re in similar positions. I have not bought any for a while now. The last was a batch of silver eagle proofs for $40 each. I’m spending on the other investment now: Garden, farm buildings, etc.
Fair enough. You're probably right.
Discover Bank: 0.85%.
but one thing.....we have no England to escape to.....
—but one thing.....we have no England to escape to.....—
True. I escaped to a farm in central Kentucky. It’s the best I could do. Just getting out from under the thumb of Seattle’s King county was a true blessing. Also, in Revelation 18:4, we are told to get out of Babylon, which is not a particular country. It is, in my opinion, western culture as we know it - or at least what it has become. So, in a way, I got out by leaving a blue county and moving to a VERY red area. I got out of “spiritual” babylon.
Right now it is the closest thing to heaven on earth I’ve ever experienced, despite driving by a large building this last week on my way to work that is simply gone, thanks to a tornado.
But I believe it will get tough, for everyone, but less for those who are farthest from the urban centers. I believe it so strongly that I bought this farm and home two weeks before Obama’s election - and I honestly thought McCain would win. We moved permanently last August and are becoming full blown preppers.
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