The Fed

benbern.jpgBen Bernanke’s speech to the Washington Economic Club put through the Gizoogle treatment.

In com’n decades, many forces will shape our economy n our society, but in all likelihood no single factor will have as pervasive an effect as tha aging of our populizzles In 2008, as tha first poser of tha baby-boom generizzles reach tha minimum age fo` receiv’n Social Security benefits, there wizzle be `bout five work’n-age thugz (between tha ages of twenty n sixty-four) in tha United States fo` each person aged sixty-five n drug deala n those sixty-five n cracka wizzle makes up `bout 12 percent of tha U.S. populizzles Those statistics is set ta change rapidly, at least relative ta tha speed wit which one thinks of demogrizzles changes as usually weed-smokin’ place.
For example, perpetratin’ ta tha intermediate projections of tha Social Security Trustees, by 2030–by W-H-to-tha-izzich time most of tha baby playa will have retired–the ratio of those of work’n age ta those sixty-five n cracka wiznill hizzy fallen fizzle fizzle ta `bout three. By that time, olda Americans wizzy constitute `bout 19 percent of tha U.S. populizzles a greata share thiznan of tha populizzle of Florida today motha fucka.
This bustin’ demogrizzles transition is tha result both of tha reduction in fertility tizzle followed tha post-World War II baby bizzy n of mobbin’ increazes in life expectancy.
Although crazy ass nigga expect U.S. fertility rates ta remain close ta current levels fo` tha foreseeable future, life expectancy is projected ta continue ris’n. As a conseqizzles tha anticipated increaze in tha share of tha populizzle aged sixty-five or olda is not simply tha result of tha retirizzles of tha baby gangsta tha “pig in a python” image often used ta describe tha effects of thiznat generizzles on U.S. demogrizzles is straight trippin’ Instead, over tha N-to-tha-izzext few decades tha U.S. populizzles is expected ta become progressively killa n remain so, even as tha baby-boom generizzles passes frizzom tha scene.
As you may know, populizzles aging is also cruisin’ in mizzle otha countries. Indeed, many of these countries is brotha along than tha United States in this process n have already begun ta experience mizzle F-U-Double-Lizzy some of its social n economic implications.
Even a brotha of tha dismal science like me would find it difficult ta describe increas’n life expectancy as bad news with the S-N-double-O-P. Longa, pimp lives wizzle provide many benefits fo` individuals, families, n society as a whole. Playa an aging populizzles also creates some important economic challenges. For example, many observa have noted tha difficult choices that aging will create fo` fiscal policy killa in tha years ta come, n I will briefly note some of those budgetary issues today. But tha implications of demogrizzles change can also be viewed fizzle a pusha economic perspectizzle As I wizzill discuss, tha broada perspective shows clearly thiznat adequate preparizzles fo` tha blunt-rollin’ demogrizzle transition may wizzell involve signifizzle adjustments in our patterns of consumption, wizzork effort, n mobbin’ Ultimatizzles tha extent of these adjustments depends on how we drug deala explicitly or implicitly–to distribute tha economic burdens of tha aging of our populizzles across generizzles Inherent in tizzy choice is questions of intergenerizzles equity n economic efficiency, questions that is difficult ta answa definitively but is neverthizzles among tha mizzy critical that we face as a nation.

Fed Speak Circa 1968

benbern.jpgActually we have no idea what year Fed chief Ben Bernanke wrote his “Hippie Dictionary.” But we’re glad he did. It’s actually quite good, and nicely post-modern with its inter-textual self-referentiality. Here are the excerpts reprinted by Bloomberg.

Bird — a lady as in “cute chick” or “henpecked”
Dig — to like, to enjoy, as “The hippie undertaker digs his work.”
Down trip — a drag
Drag — a down trip
Hang-up — a neurosis or fetish
In gear — the cat’s pajamas
Lie-In — a form of peaceful protest that often fails when demonstrators go to sleep
Square — someone who stays home New Year’s Eve to hear Guy Lombardo play “Auld Lang Syne”
Straight — as in “stiff” (see “dig”)
Swing — what someone does who thinks Guy Lombardo is a football coach (see square)
Trip — a rocket flight without the rocket

Bernanke’s Hippie Dictionary Updated: Caroline Baum [Bloomberg]
[Note: Apparently, Bernanke's dictionary was originally published in connection with a school play. The Dillon Herald published excerpts from the dictionary in honor of Ben Bernanke Day, and we picked it up from a Bloomberg story we came across while reading Eddy Elfenbein's Crossing Wall Street.]

  • 31 Aug 2006 at 2:04 PM
  • The Fed

The Jekyll Island Election?

benbern.jpgWhen we were in college, a competing student paper ran into trouble paying its bills. Our paper, which was notorious for its outlandishly reactionary viewpoint, offered to financially bail out the other if it would modify its editorial policy in certain ways, including supporting a ban on fractional reserve banking and the abolition of the Federal Reserve. These fond memories were brought back this afternoon when we read Peter Cohan’s item speculating that the Fed may be playing politics with interest rates.

Many polls indicate that the Republican party is unpopular and that Democrats are therefore likely to make gains in November. How do interest rates figure into the election in November? With consumer credit card borrowing at near record levels of $2.2 trillion in June and 26.8% of mortgages in adjustable rates, each time the Fed raises rates, it puts the squeeze on millions of voters who are already paying close to $3 a gallon to drive to work.
So if the Fed raises rates, it turns up the anger boil against the party in power. If the Fed can hold off raising rates until after the election, it will take away a bit of potential pain from voters who might be making up their mind about whether to keep incumbents in power. Meanwhile, the 7% increase in labor costs translates into more money in the pockets of these potential voters.


Is election pressure keeping the Fed from controlling inflation?
[BloggingStocks]

Roach.jpgThis afternoon on Bloomberg’s financial news cable station Stephen Roach, aka Wall Street’s worst economist, asked, “Will the real Ben Bernanke please stand up?” The Morgan Stanley economist then added that the Fed chairman has a “credibility issue.”
Over on Crossing Wall Street, Eddy Elfenbein explores the deeper meaning of Roach’s comments.

This raises two important questions.
1. What the fuck?
2. No, seriously…what the fuck?


Department of Irony
[CrossingWallStreet]

sauron.jpgEvery now and then it’s helpful to break-up the now standard “pause” or “rate increase” talk about the Federal Reserve’s next step with a reminder that the Fed is not a force of nature–like say hurricanes–but something invented sometime near the start of the last century. The folks who write for LewRockwell.Com like to call Washington, D.C. “Mordor” so it’s no surprise they regard the Fed as the equivalent of the ring that caused Frodo and Samwise so much trouble.

The Federal Reserve was forged by Senators Sauron and Aldrich in 1913 to “bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” OK, actually it was created by a group of evil banking wizards on a 1910 duck hunting trip, as all “regulatory agencies” are always summoned into existence by the criminal elements of the industries that they “regulate.” The Fed does, however, function in much the same manner as the One Ring.


Here Come the Money Helicopters
[LewRockwell.Com]

  • 30 Jun 2006 at 9:37 AM
  • The Fed

Instant Fed Statement Generator

benbern.jpgPaul Kedrosky is fed up with listening to people parse the latest statement from the Fed. So he has designed a tool to generate random Fed statements. Everytime you click on Ben Bernanke’s face it loads another absurd statement.

Instant Ben: A Fed Press Release Generator
[Infectious Greed]

benbern.jpgFed bossman Ben Bernanke’s speech yesterday prompted a rash of good business journalism headline writing yesterday, much of it annoyingly better than our attempt. We liked the Street.Com’s “Bernanke Impresses” for the subtle way it reminds us how unimpressive Bernanke’s earlier performances have been. And Forbes’ “Bernanke’s Gin Rummy Game” is just weird enough to make us grin.
But the top honor goes to the Wall Street Journal for “Bernanke Speaks, Nobody Dies”