http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip.htmlThe basic point is that the recession of 2001 wasn't a typical postwar slump, brought on when an inflation-fighting Fed raises interest rates and easily ended by a snapback in housing and consumer spending when the Fed brings rates back down again. This was a prewar-style recession, a morning after brought on by irrational exuberance. To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble.[/size]{. . .}
Bear in mind also that government officials have a stake in accentuating the positive. The administration needs a recovery because, with deficits exploding, the only way it can justify that tax cut is by pretending that it was just what the economy needed. Mr. Greenspan needs one to avoid awkward questions about his own role in creating the stock market bubble.
Soooooooooooooo....lemmegethistraight....they blew a fucking bubble to cover their asses, then stole the future from us? I've got my torch and my pitchfork...ready when y'all are. We've got the 4th branch of government, PIMCO, saying they needed a housing bubble....we've got the supposedly independent FED (Greenspan and Bernanke) doing exactly what PIMCO said...and do y'all have any idea who was the very FIRST client Greenspan signed up to consult for after leaving the FED?
PIMCO.
Fuck them all.