Halloween Outlook on the Economy
This actually had nothing to do with Halloween; Anthony Gregory asked me for a general economic outlook piece a while ago, and I just got around to doing it. I realized it had run because all of a sudden my inbox was filling up with requests for radio interviews. Surely my blog post on talking with God was not the cause…
Except for a chart of the composition of the Fed’s balance sheet, there’s not much new in the piece for Free Advice readers, but it’s kinda depressing when you see all the different points put into one spot. If you want to scare your in-laws, consider sending the above. Here’s the closing which is either clever or cheesy, I still can’t decide:
The federal government and Federal Reserve have thrown all caution and discretion to the winds during the financial crisis. It is entirely possible — some would say even likely — that the US dollar will not be the reserve currency of the world within five years. Ben Bernanke and other officials have painted themselves into a corner, and unfortunately they will end up knocking out a few walls to make their escape. Those of us forced to use Federal Reserve notes, and pay federal income taxes, can only hope that they don’t take down the entire house with them.
