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"The hurdle to (QE3) is relatively high," says San Francisco Fed President Williams, "In my...

  • Friday, August 10, 2012, 3:07 PM ET
    "The hurdle to (QE3) is relatively high," says San Francisco Fed President Williams, "In my view, we have reached that hurdle." Williams has always aligned with the dovish clique on the FOMC, but his comments signal a clear shift in his thinking since May when he said he was not in favor of further action.
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This news story has 18 comments:

  •  
    hilarious - is that the koolaid hurdle - we need dow 15k now hurdle?

    who are these people manipulating our world
    10 Aug 2012, 03:20 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I think it IS the Koolaid hurdle: and we're all members of Jim Jone's Temple in Guyana. And Ben Bernanke is still serving, but with a lot less self-confidence than three years ago.
    11 Aug 2012, 10:31 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Say, there's a novel idea... why not push on that string some more since it's worked so well the last few years. They're not a one-trick pony but a one-trick bunch of horse's asses.
    10 Aug 2012, 03:21 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I need more QE3 rumors/talk MORE I TELL YOU!!!
    10 Aug 2012, 03:22 PM Reply Like
  •  
    And I was wondering whether they will let one losing day in S&P.... And each time, it's a different one to spread the rumour.
    10 Aug 2012, 04:05 PM Reply Like
  •  
    we might be better off with common criminals running the fed;
    do we need $10 gas and $15 corn?
    people have lost their minds; we have record 40 yr poverty rates and over 100 million receiving fed welfare, 15% real unemployment, 16 trillion in debt and they want to do "more"
    they might as well just poison the middle class
    10 Aug 2012, 04:09 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Ease Ahead, Hardly, a Need to Tighten
    http://seekingalpha.co...
    10 Aug 2012, 04:37 PM Reply Like
  •  
    We should have begun to tighten in 2001. We would have avoided all this debt bubble mess -- or at least much of it. In 2001 our debt to gdp was about where it was in 1930 -- that is, massive. Then we had the panic of Greenspan/Bernanke and the Housing Bubble and commodity bubbles and stock bubbles....

    Now our debt-to-gdp is 50% higher than in 1929. This means our need to destroy debt (matter) will cause even greater destruction than the 1929-1947 destruction of debt (including World War II).

    1929: tighten rates - contraction cycle
    1947: loosen rates - expansion cycle
    1965: tighten rates - contraction cycle
    1983: loosen rates - expansion cycle
    2001: tighten rates - contraction cycle
    2019: loosen rates - expansion cycle

    We have a decade to do what deflations are supposed to do. Destroy all the bad debt taken on by BAD Speculation and begin again to support the mass of Americans through riskless investment (savings) -- or, in metaphorical language, the sap descends the Tree of Life in the winter and vitalizes the 'root-system' (underground, unseen, the invisible mass)-- after having ascended the Tree of Life (1983-2001) to support the expansion, the crop, the wealth-making macinery.

    By continuing to water the Tree of Life with cheap money -- after the growing season has ended -- central bankers are trying to save the specualtors (many of them the banks themselves) that are now the rotting fruit still clinging to the top branches of the tree -- those who refuse to come down and live with the rest of us (closer to the earth, near the root-system).
    11 Aug 2012, 04:40 AM Reply Like
  •  
    We need more stimulus spending. Obama is right, let's put Americans to work!
    10 Aug 2012, 04:58 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Boondoggle govt 'stimulus' spending is designed for paying off corrupt contributors and grandstanding for the voters. It's Potemkin village socialism, of no use to the real economy but enormously useful at fooling economic illiterates (are you one?) who believe in the fairy tale that taking from Paul to give to Peter creates wealth. actually it destroys wealth.
    Putting Americans to work will start when we repeal jobkillers like Obamacare and its tax hikes.
    10 Aug 2012, 07:47 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I'm tickled that I'm not the only one around here working to straighten out the tea baggers and right wing sheeple.
    10 Aug 2012, 08:29 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I have plenty of skin in the game. And everyone that does has benefitted from stimulus and QE's. Personally, I credit the Bush Administration as much as Obama's for this stuff that has helped me to the tune of 200% gains since 2009.

    I also can't wait for the damn fiscal cliff as I never wanted the Bush tax cut to begin with. I'll gladly pay more to have a government that can operate without borrowing and keep it's promises to our senior citizens and Veterans.
    10 Aug 2012, 08:33 PM Reply Like
  •  
    That's funny Joe. As long as we're dreaming, I'd like to see a government that kept the promises in the Constitution.
    11 Aug 2012, 04:20 PM Reply Like
  •  
    As long as there is a large budget deficit and low inflation the Fed will "QE" or in other words, exchange Federal Reserve Notes and deposits at the Fed for Treasuries -- nothing more than an accounting entry between two government institutions in any event.
    10 Aug 2012, 11:00 PM Reply Like
  •  
    That's where you are way wrong JJ. It would only be a harmless accounting entry if the gov't still had the cash for the Treasuries the FED has 'bought'. Of course, it has all been spent and that big IOU will need to be paid back (in theory). The gov't (and FED) must now lie, cheat, fudge facts, and spew bullshit forever because if interest rates were to ever tick up, the emperor's nakedness would be on full display for all to see.
    11 Aug 2012, 07:15 AM Reply Like
  •  
    You are not reading me right. My point is that the Fed is only a middle man. The Treasury could just as well pay its bills by paying people directly in 1 year Treasury securities. People would take them without question at 25 basis points right now.
    11 Aug 2012, 06:43 PM Reply Like
  •  
    And some of us have a lot of skin in the game...and are unfortunately down huge because we bet that some fiscal sanity would have been allowed to prevail rather than the endless bank saving, bubble blowing, taxpayer reaming process that has gone on both here and in Europe. Silly me.
    11 Aug 2012, 07:43 AM Reply Like
  •  
    --- Too many people like QE3 action. However, almost nobody have the ability to explain WHY QE could resolve the unemployment rate problem. And only calling for is not enough, which FED wouldn't follow it.
    11 Aug 2012, 01:09 PM Reply Like
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