Dawn J Bennett, host of national radio program Financial Myth Busting, and CEO and Founder of Bennett Group Financial Services, recently wrote an article, “Who Are the ‘Crazies,’ Really?”
This question came after Federal Reserve Chair Emeritus Alan Greenspan said that the U.S. is in the "worst economic and political environment that I've ever been remotely related to," and hoped that a solution would be reached because American is too great of a country to be "undermined, by how should I say it, crazies.” Greenspan commented this at a conference in Washington in September sponsored by Stanford and the University of Chicago.When he was asked about his comment the next day, he declined to identify the “crazies” he was referring to.
But, according to Bennett, it’s not hard to identify the possibilities: Clinton, Trump, Clinton and Trump, Janet Yellen and the Feds.
Bennett recapped on Trump speaking recently about the Federal Reserve. Trump told Reuters that Fed policies have created a "false economy" and an "artificial stock market." Trump also called out the Fed’s imaginary independence from politics. Trump told CNBC that Janet Yellen should feel "ashamed" for keeping interest rates so low for so long so that the incumbent party isn't negatively affected before the election and the President’s retirement from office in January.
Bennett expressed that politicians and the Federal Reserve are not acting to benefit the American people or economy, but to benefit themselves, and the American people are aware. It is becoming more evident that the system is broken.
As Bennett wrote, “The media provides broad generalizations and calls them truths: Democrats take climate change as religion, support immigration as a free pass, and believe that fairness is a government entitlement that can be provided by the stroke of a pen on an executive order. Republicans all carry guns, hate women and homosexuals and people of color, and are sitting around at Tea Party meetings plotting to overthrow the government. Libertarians? Well, the media seems stuck on generalizations except that they probably smoke a lot of pot.”
Bennett went on stating that it’s no wonder then why more people are opting out of the election. After all, what choice is there? And Washington is the blame for this mess.
Bennett gave this example of how the government is only focused on themselves and not the American people:
“Washington pushed banks to offer loans to people who couldn't afford them, and they did this with a right sort of goal in mind: to boost home ownership in the United States. It became popular to take money out of the supposed growth in value of these homes and spend it on day to day living expenses rather than trying to pay it down. When the housing market started to slow and people began panicking, it was no longer possible to automatically sell your house off at a profit. With a collapsing market, people found themselves in a world of debt just as the economy was slowing, and that meant more foreclosures and defaults just as the housing market collapsed. Who was hurt the most? Lower and middle income Americans who had stretched their budgets to take part in the DC-led frenzy of borrowing. So, what did Washington do? They doubled down, pumping more cheap money into the system and inflating more bubbles, which helped the banks and not the everyday Americans that had been hurt by the collapse of the last one. And then, they told us we were in a recovery and everything was coming up roses.”
Bennett stated that not only are the American people opting out, but the stock market itself is in the process of disappearing. There are 3,267 stocks currently trading on the major U.S. exchanges, the lowest number since 1984, according to a CNBC report citing data from the University of Chicago. Strategist Steven DeSanctis of Jefferies Equity Research stated that a lack of IPO activity, lack of pickup of M&A, and severe corporate buybacks are the reasons the market is shrinking. A good portion of the money for these buybacks, corporations buying their own stock in an effort to go private, has come from central bank quantitative easing.
This is essentially the largest leveraged buyout in history. And it’s all being paid for by us – the American people. If this continues, we will eventually run out of stock to buy and the market will disappear along with our free markets.
Taking all of this into account, Bennet wrote, “In the end we have to ask: who are the crazies in this scenario? The politicians and policy makers and bankers who keep doing the same thing and hoping for different results? Or is it us, the Americans who have grown angry at not just personalities and policies, but the deeply ingrained lies, incompetence, and inequities that we're asked to swallow every time we turn on the television or read the news? I'm pretty sure it's not us.”
This question came after Federal Reserve Chair Emeritus Alan Greenspan said that the U.S. is in the "worst economic and political environment that I've ever been remotely related to," and hoped that a solution would be reached because American is too great of a country to be "undermined, by how should I say it, crazies.” Greenspan commented this at a conference in Washington in September sponsored by Stanford and the University of Chicago.When he was asked about his comment the next day, he declined to identify the “crazies” he was referring to.
But, according to Bennett, it’s not hard to identify the possibilities: Clinton, Trump, Clinton and Trump, Janet Yellen and the Feds.
Bennett recapped on Trump speaking recently about the Federal Reserve. Trump told Reuters that Fed policies have created a "false economy" and an "artificial stock market." Trump also called out the Fed’s imaginary independence from politics. Trump told CNBC that Janet Yellen should feel "ashamed" for keeping interest rates so low for so long so that the incumbent party isn't negatively affected before the election and the President’s retirement from office in January.
Bennett expressed that politicians and the Federal Reserve are not acting to benefit the American people or economy, but to benefit themselves, and the American people are aware. It is becoming more evident that the system is broken.
As Bennett wrote, “The media provides broad generalizations and calls them truths: Democrats take climate change as religion, support immigration as a free pass, and believe that fairness is a government entitlement that can be provided by the stroke of a pen on an executive order. Republicans all carry guns, hate women and homosexuals and people of color, and are sitting around at Tea Party meetings plotting to overthrow the government. Libertarians? Well, the media seems stuck on generalizations except that they probably smoke a lot of pot.”
Bennett went on stating that it’s no wonder then why more people are opting out of the election. After all, what choice is there? And Washington is the blame for this mess.
Bennett gave this example of how the government is only focused on themselves and not the American people:
“Washington pushed banks to offer loans to people who couldn't afford them, and they did this with a right sort of goal in mind: to boost home ownership in the United States. It became popular to take money out of the supposed growth in value of these homes and spend it on day to day living expenses rather than trying to pay it down. When the housing market started to slow and people began panicking, it was no longer possible to automatically sell your house off at a profit. With a collapsing market, people found themselves in a world of debt just as the economy was slowing, and that meant more foreclosures and defaults just as the housing market collapsed. Who was hurt the most? Lower and middle income Americans who had stretched their budgets to take part in the DC-led frenzy of borrowing. So, what did Washington do? They doubled down, pumping more cheap money into the system and inflating more bubbles, which helped the banks and not the everyday Americans that had been hurt by the collapse of the last one. And then, they told us we were in a recovery and everything was coming up roses.”
Bennett stated that not only are the American people opting out, but the stock market itself is in the process of disappearing. There are 3,267 stocks currently trading on the major U.S. exchanges, the lowest number since 1984, according to a CNBC report citing data from the University of Chicago. Strategist Steven DeSanctis of Jefferies Equity Research stated that a lack of IPO activity, lack of pickup of M&A, and severe corporate buybacks are the reasons the market is shrinking. A good portion of the money for these buybacks, corporations buying their own stock in an effort to go private, has come from central bank quantitative easing.
This is essentially the largest leveraged buyout in history. And it’s all being paid for by us – the American people. If this continues, we will eventually run out of stock to buy and the market will disappear along with our free markets.
Taking all of this into account, Bennet wrote, “In the end we have to ask: who are the crazies in this scenario? The politicians and policy makers and bankers who keep doing the same thing and hoping for different results? Or is it us, the Americans who have grown angry at not just personalities and policies, but the deeply ingrained lies, incompetence, and inequities that we're asked to swallow every time we turn on the television or read the news? I'm pretty sure it's not us.”