Ain't he a Genius (That Ben Bernanke)

Now is as good a time as any to start a dialogue on several things that concern our team about the markets, the economy and the lack of any real acknowledgement of the problems that have created the current economic conditions.   Over the next few weeks, we will jump into this discussion with our readers.  Here are a few items that we feel need attention from Washington and the public:

1.       The Fed, the U.S. Treasury and Congress actively promoted the policies that got us into this mess.

2.       Too-big-to-fail banks (and other industries) continues – there is an obvious solution.

3.       The current Administration and bank regulators want responsible borrowers to bail out all those irresponsible borrowers.

4.       Bad assets on bank balance sheets remain at unrealistic values.

5.       Banks continue to keep lots of problem assets off-balance sheet completely, actually just like lots of governments around the world.

6.       Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to be closed – society does not owe all U.S. citizens a house.

7.       Total U.S. borrowing – public and private – needs to be slashed dramatically immediately, to include immediate cessation of government backing for U.S. companies to issue debt.

8.       Banks say they paid back all their government support – not true so don’t be fooled by the fancy words.

9.       The Fed is the protector of our economic system – also not supported by events and the myth in which they live only continues.

Well, guess that’s a good starting point.   We’ll be back with you soon with more on each topic.