Rate-Hike Silliness on Steroids

The stock market went nuts yesterday when the Fed did what anyone with an economic IQ higher than 70 should have foreseen — i.e., nothing. For the benefit of those on the wrong side of the trade, and for the umpteenth time in four years, I am going to repeat my answer to the question, When will the Fed raise interest rates?  The answer is: “NEVER!!!!!!!!!!”  Yes, two regional Fed presidents insisted recently that we would almost surely see tightening in September. And benighted editorialists across the land continued to assert that a rate hike was imminent even after the Dow plunged more than 2000 points in August. I received a chart in my email as recently as yesterday purporting to explain why a 25-basis-point rate hike was absolutely, positively a done deal.

And yet, when I asked a few weeks ago if anyone out there in the blog world would lay me odds, I got zero takers.

The current obsession with Fed policy is the most wretched outbreak of mass folly since the Y2K ‘crisis’.  Why on earth would the Fed raise interest rates if the economic recovery that would justify such a change is a brazen hoax? Recovery, you say? If you needed proof that it doesn’t exist — other than for those whose wealth is tallied in vaporous financial assets — consider this recent WSJ story: “More than half of students at 347 colleges and vocational schools defaulted on their loans or failed to pay down a single dollar of their debt after seven years.” If the broad middle class were truly prospering, would this be happening? Of course not. And we’re not talking about chump change either, since student debt is at $1.2 trillion and rising.

Not only is the alleged recovery not floating everyone’s boat, it is creating an entire generation of mis-trained college grads with poor job prospects and a staggering debt load that has made it economically impossible for most of them to buy a home or start a family.  This bodes very poorly for America’s future. We all know the recovery is a joke. Even the lying, snake-oil-peddling, economically ignorant poobahs at the Fed know it. Can we please just stop all the idiotic talk about a rate hike!? It’s not going to happen.

  • Nitram September 18, 2015, 7:40 am

    Tuition all over USA falling faster than the stock market. http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/Tuition-Drops-20-Percent-at-Central-Washington-University-318920681.html

    &&&&&&&

    This is just the beginning of a huge trend. We’ll see some real competition when all of the colleges and universities are offering degrees online, which they all will. I predict that the cost of a Bachelor of Science from an Ivy League school will drop from a current $300k, including room and board, to a no-frills $30k. RA

  • BDTR September 18, 2015, 2:36 am

    Yeah, late and lurking, ..now smiling as even Max Kaiser finally hedged his ‘never’ stance by allowing a .25 hike possibility. Sucker.

    http://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/315680-episode-max-keiser-811/ ( Stacy’s particularly fetching in this edition, btw, ..jus sayin’;)

    So, although summarily cut off at the knees for my particularly loathsome pessimism, it tickles perversely, of course, to witness your own downcast bode admission here and at last.

    And rhetorically or not; nooo, …we can’t stop the idiot talk. That, too, ain’t neva gonna happen, as you also damn well know.

    Cheers, ..albeit on the way down.

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    Demonstrating good sportsmanship, Max re-tweeted my “NEVER!!!!!!” forecast to a zillion followers. RA

  • John Jay September 18, 2015, 12:00 am

    Yes, Rick, the Fed is just going through the motions now.
    Pretending they are carefully weighing all the facts before they take any action.

    It reminds me of 1984, or was it Brave New World, where the Government hired actors to pretend they had just “Won the Lottery”, when in reality the Government just kept all the money they took in!

    Now we have the farce of the Presidential Elections ramping up.
    Is Hillary going to be scratched from the race, to be replaced by Joe Biden?

    Joe Biden?
    Joe Biden = Clark Griswold
    You know, the Chevy Chase character from the Vacation movies!
    Every time I see Joe Biden with that crazy grin, I see Clark Griswold incarnate!

    In any case, I am sticking by my advent of the Dark Ages prediction!
    My latest argument to support that position?
    I was watching a show on cable TV about the crew of the Enola Gay, that dropped the first atom bomb on Japan in WWII.

    The Navigator said he went to some high school to make a presentation about his part in that historical event that ended WWII.
    And do you know how the teacher introduced him?
    “Class this a man who fought in World War Eleven.”
    I rest my case.
    Motion to declare the start of the Dark Ages.
    Anyone to second the motion?

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    “Clark Griswold” sums up the man perfectly, JJ. I’d vote for Clark Griswold in a heartbeat before I’d vote or Obama. Actually, I’d vote for absolutely ANYBODY — and I mean that sincerely and literally — before I’d vote for Obama. RA