Inequality for All

[arce1988]

The prep is for the end of the QE program and the unprecedented zero interest rate policy of the fed.  Just the notion that this program will end has sent long term rates up.  This program has also inflated the stock market due to low interest rates and lack of investment options. Irrational exuberance never has a happy ending.

 For the most part Americans are financially illiterate and if you ask them what there 401k is invested in they look at you with a blank stare.  This is why people get crushed when the market drops in dramatic fashion or they lose money in their bond funds.

This QE program has been flawed form the start. The value of U.S. Treasuries has been maintained by the Fed’s willingness to print dollars to buy more Treasuries thus creating a non market $85 or so billion a month demand for such securities. Remove that demand and the price of Treasuries drops and yields rise.  Thus, the value of U.S. Treasuries AND the dollar have been backed by the Fed’s willingness to print dollars to support the dollar because if the U.S. Treasury market collapses, so does the value of the dollar.

The Fed has already created massive economic damage through their QE program (for a part time recovery) for which the economic consequences will be paid if they continue QE or if they stop it.  It's a no win at this point and in my opinion the fed will lose control of interest rates one way or another.

^

[doison]

What are the consequences of working around mother nature?

I don't follow religion

[Roger Bacon]

I don't follow religion

What's religion have to do with anything?

[Primemuscle]

What are the consequences of working around mother nature?

Mother Nature always wins.

[Gregzs]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/10/depressing-geography-debt-collection/7204/

The Depressing Geography of Debt Collection

One of the cruelties about falling deep into debt is that you need a few things to get out of it: maybe a car to commute to the job that will help you pay back your bills, or a subsistence wage that will feed and house your family while you work on that, or a minimum quantity of cash in the bank to cover things like gas to run that car, or medicine to keep you moving.

If debt collectors seize any of those things, repaying debt becomes that much harder. Because of this, states have protections called "exemption" laws that limit what creditors can seize from a family teetering on destitution. These laws have become particularly relevant since the onset of the recession (or the rise of what the National Consumer Law Center calls the "lucrative and fast-growing debt buyer industry").

Not surprisingly, exemption laws vary dramatically depending on where you live, and the NCLC considers many of them to be outdated. In a survey of what these protections currently look like across the country, the NCLC argues that not one state offers all the minimum standards you might need to really survive debt. Some states (Massachusetts and Iowa) are much better than others (Alabama, Kentucky and Michigan).

This is the geography of where your car, your home, and even your household goods, are up for grabs. Yes, that includes cooking utensils, bedding, furniture and appliances:

A) States that ban wage garnishment for most debts. B) States that preserve 90% of debtors wages. C) States that preserve enough wages so that paycheck does not drop below the poverty level. D) States that preserve more than the minimum required by federal law. F) States that protect only the federal minimum.

[Primemuscle]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/10/depressing-geography-debt-collection/7204/

The Depressing Geography of Debt Collection

One of the cruelties about falling deep into debt is that you need a few things to get out of it: maybe a car to commute to the job that will help you pay back your bills, or a subsistence wage that will feed and house your family while you work on that, or a minimum quantity of cash in the bank to cover things like gas to run that car, or medicine to keep you moving.

If debt collectors seize any of those things, repaying debt becomes that much harder. Because of this, states have protections called "exemption" laws that limit what creditors can seize from a family teetering on destitution. These laws have become particularly relevant since the onset of the recession (or the rise of what the National Consumer Law Center calls the "lucrative and fast-growing debt buyer industry").

Not surprisingly, exemption laws vary dramatically depending on where you live, and the NCLC considers many of them to be outdated. In a survey of what these protections currently look like across the country, the NCLC argues that not one state offers all the minimum standards you might need to really survive debt. Some states (Massachusetts and Iowa) are much better than others (Alabama, Kentucky and Michigan).

This is the geography of where your car, your home, and even your household goods, are up for grabs. Yes, that includes cooking utensils, bedding, furniture and appliances:

A) States that ban wage garnishment for most debts. B) States that preserve 90% of debtors wages. C) States that preserve enough wages so that paycheck does not drop below the poverty level. D) States that preserve more than the minimum required by federal law. F) States that protect only the federal minimum.

Never sunk this low....thank goodness.