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Dollar hits low as Fed chief hints at rate cut
Financial Times ^ | February 28, 2008 | Krishna Guha

Posted on 02/27/2008 6:05:37 PM PST by SkyPilot

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To: stockstrader
The Air Force is going to announce an important decision tomorrow about which company is going to get the next contract for building new aerial tankers.

The decision has been delayed a lot longer than most people had expected.

Maybe its because they were trying to figure out which design was better for streaming $20's across the heartland of America.

41 posted on 02/27/2008 10:21:59 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
Maybe its because they were trying to figure out which design was better for streaming $20's across the heartland of America.

LOL!!!

Wait a minute,,,wait a minute,,,,why am I laughing? It is NOT inconceivable (ref. the new WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION SCHEME)!!!

42 posted on 02/27/2008 10:23:28 PM PST by stockstrader
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To: SkyPilot
The single European currency breached $1.51 after the ...

Dang, I bought some when it was under $1 but not nearly enough. Euros anyone!

43 posted on 02/27/2008 10:33:37 PM PST by BJungNan
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To: SkyPilot

Europeans and South Americans are in a frenzied buying spree in NYC. I feel like I’m living in a border town...


44 posted on 02/27/2008 10:40:17 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: SkyPilot

“Hey Ben, you’re gonna need a bigger helicopter.”


45 posted on 02/27/2008 10:41:07 PM PST by biff
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To: Age of Reason
“The Fed is seriously worried about this vicious circle and about the risks of a systemic financial meltdown.”

They should be.

We could go into a Depression. I am not joking.

46 posted on 02/28/2008 3:21:41 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: liberallarry
I tell you what. How about selling me your house?

I tell you what. No.

47 posted on 02/28/2008 6:57:01 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists so bad at math?)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Great answer. Made me laugh...


48 posted on 02/28/2008 8:05:47 AM PST by liberallarry
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
From what I understand the demand for loans has signficantly decreased, so that would suggest that mortgage rates would be coming down.

Not necessarily. Loan demand does impact rates, but moreso does the bank's funding cost and liquidity situation (liquidity is drying up), the perceived risk in mortgages (much higher than it was a year ago), and the risk of inflation in the long-term (rising). That's why the Fed's rate cuts haven't transferred directly into lower mortgage rates. They have come down but not as much as the Fed's target rate.

The banks are hoping to recoup some of their foreclosure and investment losses with artificially heightened loan rates.

Banks would love it if they could just "artificially" raise rates, but this is not how it works. The banking system is very competitive, with the low cost provider usually getting the business. You can't artificially raise rates. Rates will rise and fall as the bond market rises and falls. Bond rates are determined by millions of market participants making risk/reward decisions, not some cabal of bank executives.
49 posted on 02/28/2008 8:07:12 AM PST by VegasCowboy ("...he wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.")
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To: SkyPilot

Did you read the article at the link I posted?

Some scary stuff.

Soberly written and convincing.


50 posted on 02/28/2008 11:51:31 AM PST by Age of Reason
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To: Perdogg

Wholesale inflation rate was 12 % in January. If Benarke lowers rates again he’s as much of an Idiot as Fed Chairman Miller, under Pres. Carter, was. IOW, a hack who is politically manipulated and a guy who will give us a Real Recession, soon after the election..


51 posted on 02/28/2008 11:56:35 AM PST by Nonstatist
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To: Age of Reason

Quoting from your link -

“2. The U.S. consumer is shopped out, saving-less and debt burdened and now buffeted by oil prices close to $100 a barrel, a weakening labor market, weak income generation, falling consumer confidence, falling home values, falling home equity withdrawals, high debt, rising debt servicing ratios, a severe credit crunch and a sharp correction in the stock market that will turn into a bear market once the recession becomes deeper.”

So the Fed’s answer is - lower rates so we can “grow the economy” by generating even more debt.

Brilliant /sarc

The net effect is that those of us who have saved and not lived beyond our means have been played for suckers. We’ll watch our savings become worthless.

Meanwhile, the up to their eyeballs debtors will be paying back their debts in worthless paper dollars...


52 posted on 02/28/2008 12:09:20 PM PST by jsharpscs
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To: Age of Reason
Regarding #16 - yes, this is scary.

The "soft landing" hope is dead. The article is correct - "Just how hard will the crash be?" - is the real question.

Do you know the old joke?

"A Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A Depression is when you lose yours."

53 posted on 02/28/2008 12:11:50 PM PST by SkyPilot
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To: Nonstatist
. . a guy who will give us a Real Recession depression, soon after the election.

Fixed it for you.

54 posted on 02/28/2008 12:14:47 PM PST by logician2u
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To: SkyPilot

Oil jumps and dollar drops after Congressional action to take $ billions from oil companies.


55 posted on 02/28/2008 12:15:44 PM PST by RightWhale (Clam down! avoid ataque de nervosa)
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To: Perdogg
I think people here are too harsh on Bernanke. He’s only cleaning up Greenspan’s mess.

You really think so? The same as Bush II was cleaning up for his dad?

Bernanke is even worse than Greenspan, if you can believe that's possible. Just listen to his non-response to a simple question posed to him by the only Congressman who actually understands what the Fed is doing.

He's in over his head and will resign before the year's over is my prediction.

56 posted on 02/28/2008 12:25:04 PM PST by logician2u
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To: logician2u
posed to him by the only Congressman who actually understands what the Fed is doing.

He said gold gives stable prices. He's wrong.

57 posted on 02/28/2008 1:23:03 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists so bad at math?)
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To: Toddsterpatriot
Actually, Rep. Paul said a lot more than that, but you choose to pick the only thing he said that there could be some difference of opinion on.

His main point, which you seem to have overlooked, was that once the Fed begins priming the pump it must continue to dump money out of helicopters to keep the economy afloat. That's exactly what Ben Bernanke is doing, and what Bernanke thinks is his duty as head of the Fed. He even went so far as to say the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 requires the FRB to work toward "price stability," meaning, to Bernanke, inflating the currency.

Bernanke wants us to believe inflation is higher prices, not a devalued dollar caused by creating money out of thin air. He couldn't be more wrong. Americans may not understand it, but the rest of the world surely does.

BTW, Ron Paul is entirely correct when he states that the price of oil, although it's tripled, tracks well with the price of gold.

I was unaware of that one-to-one correlation until I drew the charts on Yahoo! Finance.

It's often said that gold is not an investment. Neither is oil. But both commodities have steadily increased in value over the past several years as compared to the U.S. dollar. That should tell us something.

58 posted on 02/28/2008 5:18:52 PM PST by logician2u
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To: SkyPilot; jsharpscs; quant5

What’s coming (or already here) will be my fifth major recession since I became a businessman.

And they all start out the same: I look around me, and see little if any sign anything’s wrong.

I remember my first recession, back in the 1970s: I was thinking my line of work must be recession proof, because business was booming for several months after the slowdown became official.

Then, Boom—business dried up for me and stayed that way for many months.

For those who didn’t read the link, here it is again:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/roubini022608.pdf


59 posted on 02/28/2008 7:06:36 PM PST by Age of Reason
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To: logician2u
Actually, Rep. Paul said a lot more than that,

Yes.

but you choose to pick the only thing he said that there could be some difference of opinion on.

Yes, I highlighted the obvious error in his statements.

Bernanke wants us to believe inflation is higher prices, not a devalued dollar caused by creating money out of thin air.

What else would cause inflation but a devalued dollar? The modern usage is higher prices. Blame the media.

BTW, Ron Paul is entirely correct when he states that the price of oil, although it's tripled, tracks well with the price of gold.

It's an interesting observation. So what?

60 posted on 02/28/2008 7:17:17 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists so bad at math?)
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