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Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by EGreg on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @03:02PM (#18718987)
Not for nothing, but why can’t the Fed just keep the base interest rates low forever? Inflation doesn’t seem to go up very much at all. It seems almost as if the FED by raising interest rates creates the very credit crunch that it later helps alleviate. Has anyone run models of what happens if the Fed just keeps the interest rates low forever and lets the market price each loan?
Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by mschuster91 on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @03:13PM (#18719096)
> Not for nothing, but why can’t the Fed just keep the base interest rates low forever?

Low interest rates are basically propping up the finance industry. The cheap money that banks can borrow from the Fed is not going to end up at yours truly, it will only end up in investment shenanigans. In addition, low interest rates also kill savings for poor(er) people - this is something that's a real problem in the European Union right now. Banks offer their customers sometimes negative rates on their savings, and no "conventional" savings accounts hit even inflation percentages which means both poor people and "rich-ish" (=not poor, not rich enough to be able to risk money on the stock markets, but rich enough that their banks charge negative interest) effectively lose money.

Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by lbotos on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @08:54PM (#18721895)
I didn't think negative rates hit "consumer" accounts yet? Just Government issued bonds and "institutional" instruments. But my data is about ~18 months old.
Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by JoHawth31 on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @03:15PM (#18719121)
Ray Dalio has a really cool book about this. I'm just starting it myself but I think it would help explain a lot of the questions in this thread. He has a FREE pdf which you can download to any eReader, or you can buy the hardcopy.

You can find it here: https://www.principles.com/big-debt-crises/

The short of it is interest rates are a tool used by the Fed to attempt to control the rate at which people and institutions take on debt. Too much debt = recession. Too little debt = recession. I'm greatly oversimplifying here but Ray does a fantastic job explaining things. If anyone wants to dig in deep I highly, highly recommend you read this book.

Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by toomuchtodo on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @04:05PM (#18719602)
Sidenote: If you buy one of Dalio's books (Big Debt Crises or Principles) before the end of the year, Dalio will send you a $25 gift card to use towards a charity of your choice.

https://i.imgur.com/31jVPZP.png

Re:Tech Unicorns Are Going Public at Near-Record Pace by pytester on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @04:00PM (#18719556)
>Has anyone run models of what happens if the Fed just keeps the interest rates low forever and lets the market price each loan?

That model is Japan, no?