A Few Ammature Comments on the Fed’s Zero Interest Policy

This morning I read Fed Should Raise Rates To Loosen Policy by David Malpass a contributor for Forbes.

The Fed does need to increase its interest rate. The current near zero percent interest rate does benefit the rich and makes lending to the not-rich difficult. It seems that David is implying that the Fed should have never implemented the near zero percent interest rate in the first place or implemented quantitative easing (QE).

Though I agree with David that the Fed could have done more during the financial crisis to help the people actually hurting — the middle class and the working poor — I do also believe that the Fed’s actions did help release some of the pressures.

With the dismissal of the Glass-Steagall Act, we were building up to a great economical disaster. Lowering the Fed’s interest rate to near zero and holding long term government bonds helped keep many businesses alive. Imagine what would have happened if the Fed hadn’t implemented such policies. We probably would have ended up with The Great Depression II instead of just a recession.

This financial crisis hit so many people. Many people lost their jobs. Many people lost their homes. Many people lost their life savings — if not during the bubble burst then in attempting to support themselves in between jobs. It was a horrible time.

Imagine what would have happened without the Fed’s actions? How many businesses would have went under? How many more people would have lost their jobs? How many more people would have lost their homes. The Fed’s actions did help prevent an even worse disaster. More could have been done to help the masses. More can still be done to help us. Less can be done to benefit the rich, especially the uber rich.