Do you Love the Federal Reserve?

h/t Dale

Well, it doesn't matter whether you love them or not, because the mandarins on the Federal Reserve set US monetary policy, not the President or Congress. It's a private corporation and it decides the fate of the nation. The US has struggled with national financing since before we were a nation. James K. Polk & Andrew Jackson had a record of firing the national bank and then dealing with the consequences.

“The dollar is clearly expendable under the Fed’s easing regime,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “It’s likely further declines will advance oil and commodity prices in the coming week. (LINK)

Crude oil for June delivery has risen 57 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $112.86 a barrel so far this week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are up 36 percent from a year ago. (op cit Bloomberg) And that means there will be no relief in at the gas pump. The place to watch indicators is in the futures market as institutional and corporate buyers attempt to lock in future prices for oil. There is speculation in the futures market, but it's the best indicator that I know of.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has signaled he wants to ensure the U.S. economy has achieved self-sustaining growth before the Fed starts to raise borrowing costs and trim its $2.69-trillion balance sheet. And what it really means is that the "recovery" isn't because it's predicated on false sets of assumptions. To have a genuine recovery from the depression that much of the nation is struggling through, would require a return to the Carter Years where home mortgage rates ran as high as 18% interest.

Every indicator shows that the economic situation will get worse before it gets better. The reason for this pessimism is the lack of resolve within the Obama Regime to deal with our debt issues. The American people can deal with pain in their wallets if the future has some promise.  And for you who don't live in the US - as goes American fortunes, so go the worlds. We live in a place where the big players like China, the US, Germany, the UK and Russia's fortunes are linked. The loss of the US as an economic powerhouse will please America-haters in the Middle East, (the White House), and in Europe, but in the long run, our MUTUAL financial strength through trade is what generates real wealth that we can all enjoy. It's a pity that the US Executive Branch of Government can't understand that.