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Financial Briefing: QE Is Just Another Way of Saying 'I Love You'

UPDATE: Helicopter Ben defends himself.

QE2 is underway, to the tune of about $600 billion (or $1 trillion, depending on how you count it). Possible outcomes? Ruin, devastation, trade-wars, skyrocketing inflation. Unlikely outcomes? Fiscal sanity, probity, stability. Solution? Get rid of the Fed entirely. The harm it has done over the years far outweighs the good.

Other QE2 assessments? Mish prods the QE2 corpse with his toe, and announces "He's dead, Jim." Brad Delong: The mountain labored, and gave birth to a mouse.

When I say I'm your Sugar Daddy, you know I'm for reals! And when I say, "Give me some sugar, baby!" you better hop to it!

So if the stiumulus bill didn't actually stimulate anything, why do we still call it the "stimulus" bill? It's like this guy I know who bought a bunch of that Enzyte stuff because he thought it would make him strong like a bull (if you know what I mean) only to find that it gave him a case of the shits and a very itchy rash (without having any other effect, which was kind of a gyp if you ask me). Which in turn required the purchase of a lot of Gold Bond powder, which in turn caused a different kind of rash, which necessitated the application of yet another ointment. And very loose underwear for a number of days. And awkward discussions with female companions as to the nature, severity, duration, and possible communicability of said rashes. That's what happened to this guy I know. So, you know, I'm just saying that artificial "stimulus" is fraught with danger and will end in tears. And a rash.

Five policy prescriptions for the American economy. Every item (especially items #3 and #4) is a good idea, which is why none of them will happen. We are stuck with a very stupid, cowardly political class and a very large cohort of citizens who will resist these reforms to their dying breaths. But hey! It's a good effort. We can show this list to our grandchildren to prove that at least some people of our time weren't complete idiots.

"Oi! 'ows me old mucker?"
"Skint, mate. Skint!"

How are the Irish holding up under their own fiscal problems? Well...let's just say that they have taken the French approach. Which is to say: protests, a lot of shouting, and not much in the way of actual solutions or ideas. Tyler from ZH opines:

Only the most bankrupt nation of all, the United States, continues to see its 300+ million cowering at home, watching sitcom reruns.

Er, no. Those who have jobs, go to their jobs; those who don't, look for one. I'm sure you can find all manner of street demonstrations in San Fran or whatever other European-style fruitbat-colony you choose on either coast, but in most of America people are mainly focused on paying the rent and putting food on the table, not crying for their binkie. (Marching around on the steet and shouting stupid slogans does not equate to "doing something". It is, in point of fact, the avoidance of actually doing something. It's no accident that most of these marchers are unemployed students -- they've got nothing better to do all day.)

Women will rebuild the world's economy. As long as the future world economy is somehow based on the manufacture and sale of shoes and handbags and books about sparkly vampires. (Women are not to be trusted, you know. They seek the male essence. I do not avoid women, but...I do deny them my essence.)

Monetary policy for the Tea Party. Pull quote:

In short, the Tea Parties, to be successful, must demand that the political class get serious about redefining the dollar in terms of gold. If not, all their spending, tax, pro-Constitution and anti-bailout protests won’t mean a whole lot, and the economy’s full recovery will remain a distant object.

Even Kudlow is calling for a return to a gold-backed dollar.

Noted socialist saved capitalism, or something. This article is positively hilarious if you read it in a Daffy Duck voice.

Noted forseer of doom forsees doom.

Obama says he will negotiate with Republicans on the Bush tax cuts. And by "negotiate", he means "insist on getting his own way". And when he doesn't get it, he will accuse the GOP of obstructionism and dealing in bad faith.

Certain liberal pundits are fond of saying that Uncle Sugar's "investments" in GM and various banks are paying off quite handsomely. Well...not so much. We kind of got screwed, as it turns out. Who could have seen that coming? Who, I ask you?

Buh-bye, Timmah. I will miss your shit-eating winning grin, your habit of resorting to outlandish lies anecdotes when pressed with difficult questions, your incompetence casual approach to your work, and your disregard for carefree attitude towards my hard-earned money. I got you a box of chocolates as a farewell gift, but then I remembered that I hated you and ate them myself. They gave me the runs. I blame you for that, too.

Social Security makes a tiny little $32.2 billion mistake. In the ocean of red ink they swim in, $32 billion is basically a rounding error. I can see how they'd miss it. I still trust them implicitly.

Jerry Brown starts his Governorship in a poetically perfect fashion. California: the state so boned that even the cockroaches go around saying, "Game over, man! Game over! We're screwed!"

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