Malkiel

Cutting Rates Further Will Only Lead to Disaster

"it will not change the fundamentals that have been created by a 7-year streak of reckless deficit policies accompanied by a crumbling US infrastructure and major political and economic shifts around the globe...
The whole mess was created by too much credit"

It sounds to me like the whole mess was created by the factors you first mentioned: "...a 7-year streak of reckless deficit policies accompanied by a crumbling US infrastructure and major political and economic shifts around the globe." So maybe we should expect to change the political landscape if we want to head off inflation? Maybe whatever the Fed does can only be a drop in the bucket if we don't deal with the other issues, but the targeted effect on the mortgage refinancing crisis may be worth the risk. And being a drama queen and screaming about "Extending it further will be monetary suicide resulting in sky high inflation" doesn't cut it for those of us who lived through REAL inflation in the '70's. We'll have plenty of chances to head off serious inflation, but we may not have a choice about low-level inflation when we choose to accept a weak dollar...