Source:Â Wikimedia
Dear Diary,
And how do you like that James Bullard?
Stocks have barely begun to correct (the S&P 500 is down about 7% from its September high) and the St. Louis Fed president is already preparing for QE4.
But where is the proof – from logic or experience – that QE pays off?
It is a shame that quack philosophers, politicians and central bankers are not subject to penalty. After all, bridge builders and hedge fund managers suffer shame and ruin when their projects fall to pieces.
Couldn’t some suitable stick be laid on world improvers, too? Preferably before their wacky programs are put into service.
For example, when they make a claim that cannot be supported by rigorous proof, they should lose a year’s worth of income… or have their genitalia cut off. Maybe that would slow them down.
A More Complex Universe
Yes, dear reader. Things are setting up pretty much as expected.
That is to say in a way that seems logically coherent, but is nevertheless incomprehensible.
Liquidity is drying up. Volatility is returning. The leaves are falling. Investors are getting nervous. And Fed officials are promising more cash and credit, neither of which they actually possess.
You’ll recall that stocks fell when QE1 and QE2 ended. Why shouldn’t they fall now that QE3 is ending too?
No doubt, they will. And that will set little feet running in predictable, but preposterous, directions.
Bertrand Russell published his famous book in 1912. Called The Problems of Philosophy, it raised questions about how we know things and how we can prove that anything we think we know is true.
Turns out the universe is far more complex than our best philosophers (let alone Bertrand Russell) can comprehend… or our evolved language can describe… or our simpleminded logic can illustrate.
For example, you tell us all politicians always lie. We ask, How do you know?
I have it on good authority, you reply. A senator told me.
