Listen,do you want to know a secret
Do You promise not to tell,whoa,oh
Closer,let me whisper in your ear
The most important take is that Hilsenrath is, without question, the favored journalist for spreading the gospel (as well as knowing the key confidants of Chair Yellen). In a blow to previous White House chief economist Alan Kreuger, the FOMC “… expressed skepticism about recent studies suggesting that long-term unemployment provides less downward pressure on wage and price inflation than short-term unemployment.” It is of major importance that highly esteemed economists disagree about the outcomes from measuring the same data. Again, the markets drink from the “CUP OF CERTAINTY” but the Fed’s models provide anything but certainty.
***Europe now takes center stage as the EU elections commence tomorrow. If the European anti-euro parties garner more votes than expected, I surmise that the Eurocrats and Mario Draghi will plan on weakening the euro in an effort to aid the European recovery. The problem for Europe is that every developed country wants to weaken its currency: Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. continue to jawbone their currencies lower, while the U.S. is no talk but plenty of action. How does President Draghi embark on a program of planned currency depreciation with such headwinds arrayed against the ECB? Hey, Hilsenrath! Mario Draghi wants to tell you a secret.
***In a late release tonight, the Financial Times has a story about ex-French President Nicholas Sarkozy calling for a shake-up of present EU structures to fend off the “populist threat.” The article, by Hugh Carnegy, quotes Sarkozy as calling for,”… a great Franco-German economic zone at the heart of the euro that would lead the single currency. He said there should no longer be equal powers within the eurozone for smaller members such as Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg.” This is an act of desperation by the French elite in an effort to raise the prestige of France and rally nationalist sentiments to curtail the rising popularity of Ms. Le Pen and the Front National. Sarkozy’s rhetoric mimics that of Charles de Gaulle who maintained that Europe was France and Germany and the other countries just the trimmings. The smaller countries of Europe will not support the imperial tone of this story, and, more importantly, Sarkozy the idiot has just handed Vladimir Putin great leverage in his efforts to turn many eastern European nations away from the EU for membership will certainly have a price: Subordinate to the dictates of France and Germany.
Tags: ECB, elections, Eric Rosengren, EU, Europe, Fed, FOMC, France, Janet Yellen, Jon Hilsenrath, Mario Draghi, Nicholas Sarkozy, William Dudley
May 22, 2014 at 12:14 pm |
Yra- I think the FED is out of touch with what is happening with inflation.They are justifying ZIRP and QE, because inflation is so low.
The things that most people buy (food, gasoline, medical care, apartment rent, houses, tuition, etc.) are for the most part going up, and pretty quickly. And most middle class people don’t own a lot of equities and bonds.
May 28, 2014 at 5:09 pm |
Perhaps Corporate America can simply go private if they can borrow their entire market cap at historically low interest rates?