If the United States economy were a hospital, its patients would run the risk of addiction to the fiscal equivalent of Demerol, the high-powered painkiller. Whether the nation can maintain the current course of treatment without severe side effects, let alone withdrawal symptoms, is a quandary facing investors who are presented with a mixed set of economic and market symptoms.
Over the past year, the government has served as white knight to the auto industry, tried to stimulate the housing industry with tax credits, and pumped untold additional billions into the financial system. Congressional legislation meanwhile has been chock-full of spending programs in an attempt to amplify the wave of hand-outs. When combined with the Federal Reserve’s asset-purchase program, the total stimulus package has amounted to almost 20% of GDP. The figure is staggering by developed-world standards. …continue reading
United States: The Demerol Economy
by Douglas Clark Johnson
08 September 2009
If the United States economy were a hospital, its patients would run the risk of addiction to the fiscal equivalent of Demerol, the high-powered painkiller. Whether the nation can maintain the current course of treatment without severe side effects, let alone withdrawal symptoms, is a quandary facing investors who are presented with a mixed set of economic and market symptoms.
Over the past year, the government has served as white knight to the auto industry, tried to stimulate the housing industry with tax credits, and pumped untold additional billions into the financial system. Congressional legislation meanwhile has been chock-full of spending programs in an attempt to amplify the wave of hand-outs. When combined with the Federal Reserve’s asset-purchase program, the total stimulus package has amounted to almost 20% of GDP. The figure is staggering by developed-world standards. …continue reading
Tags: asset purchase, economic improvement, interest rate policy, joblessness, stimulus package
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