The power of III

Summum ius summa iniuria--More law, less justice
--Cicero.

10 January 2011

Fed's policy favors the rich, the poor languish.

I don't know about y'all, but I don't have any extra cash lying around to spread around Saks, Nordstrom, and Tiffany's.

 "There is a telling detail in the US retail chain store data for December. Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities points out that luxury outlets saw an 8.1pc rise from a year ago, but discount stores catering to America’s poorer half rose just 1.2pc.
Tiffany’s, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue are booming. Sales of Cadillac cars have jumped 35pc, while Porsche’s US sales are up 29pc.
Cartier and Louis Vuitton have helped boost the luxury goods stock index by almost 50pc since October. Yet Best Buy, Target, and Walmart have languished.

Such is the blighted fruit of Federal Reserve policy. The Fed no longer even denies that the purpose of its latest blast of bond purchases, or QE2, is to drive up Wall Street, perhaps because it has so signally failed to achieve its other purpose of driving down borrowing costs." 

From Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of The Telegraph in the United Kingdom.

I thought of this quote when I was reading the article:

Stephen: [to William Wallace] "God tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're fucked."

Austrian economic interpretation:  

Those with cash would rather have tangible goods than hold onto cash that will lose it's value secondary to impending inflation.  

Productive elements in society cannot hire workers secondary to lack of orders or capital (minimal lending from banks, tighter controls on lending) to expand business.

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