Re:Federal Reserve pledges asset purchases with no limit to ...
by mindslight on Monday March 23, 2020 @02:16PM
(#22666925)
Lowering rates wouldn't be seen as dishonest if the Fed ever actually raised them. We're at 0% because their algorithm seems to be if (problem) lower() else party().
The response to 2008 wasn't a problem in isolation, but continuing that policy into 2010-2019 was. Rates even started going up slightly a year ago, but then got nipped in the bud to keep the stock bubble rising.
I'm willing to agree that at this current point, these bailouts seem quite prudent. The problem is that after the crisis is over, the hazardous financial and business practices that necessitated the bailouts will never be reigned in, but allowed to continue thus necessitating another bailout in the future.
The parent here ^ seems to understand the nuance, that a lot of Fed decisions are for the CREDIT markets, not the stock markets.
I highly recommend reading the Greenspan or Bernanke biographies to hear what, and why, they use the levers that they do. There is simply too much nuance in financial markets and the Fed to play arm-chair politics about whether it is effective or not.
I just wrote a thread [0] responding to a joke going around about our first response to everything being to lower interest rates.
[0] https://mobile.twitter.com/elamje/status/1242129602040008704