<story><title>Seen everywhere in last U.S. crisis, moral hazard is nowhere in this one</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN21U0GV</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>davidxc</author><text>The statement about the lack of inflation from QE and other stimulus programs from 2008 is pretty questionable. There&amp;#x27;s been little inflation as measured using usual consumer price indices, but the construction of those indices is typically fairly focused on consumer goods and underweights the assets that rich people tend to invest in (stocks, real estate, bonds, etc).&lt;p&gt;The QE and stimulus programs from 2008 were significantly more targeted toward the upper and upper-middle classes (arguably without that much trickle-down), and so there wouldn&amp;#x27;t be much significant inflation as measured by consumer price indices.&lt;p&gt;But if we look at the assets that rich people invest in (since it&amp;#x27;s mostly wealthier people who benefited from the 2008 stimulus programs), then I&amp;#x27;d say there&amp;#x27;s been a significant amount of inflation - P&amp;#x2F;E ratios for stocks have been historically high in the last few years, real estate in desirable cities has gotten significantly more expensive, and bond yields have been low.&lt;p&gt;We seem to be already seeing some of the same, with the stock market being pushed up by the Fed&amp;#x27;s commitment to 4T+ in stimulus this time around and ever lower interest rates.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chrisco255</author><text>QE never really worked, bailed out a bunch of corrupt and broken companies that should have gone bankrupt, and kicked the can down the road. They were supposed to unwind QE1 but they never did. And $4T in toxic QE1 assets sat on the Fed&amp;#x27;s balance sheet going into this mess. The Fed is propping up the bond market and toying with the idea of buying equities. We just had 17 million people file for unemployment in 3 weeks and the Dow went up a few hundred points. Our markets have been completely decoupled from economic reality because the Fed is faking demand and not letting the markets crash like they should. Our fiscal deficit is already $3 trillion this year and it&amp;#x27;s only April. This is a recipe for disaster. How much of corporate America will the Fed own when this all comes crashing down? Will we have a nationalized economy by default?</text></comment>
<story><title>Seen everywhere in last U.S. crisis, moral hazard is nowhere in this one</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN21U0GV</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>davidxc</author><text>The statement about the lack of inflation from QE and other stimulus programs from 2008 is pretty questionable. There&amp;#x27;s been little inflation as measured using usual consumer price indices, but the construction of those indices is typically fairly focused on consumer goods and underweights the assets that rich people tend to invest in (stocks, real estate, bonds, etc).&lt;p&gt;The QE and stimulus programs from 2008 were significantly more targeted toward the upper and upper-middle classes (arguably without that much trickle-down), and so there wouldn&amp;#x27;t be much significant inflation as measured by consumer price indices.&lt;p&gt;But if we look at the assets that rich people invest in (since it&amp;#x27;s mostly wealthier people who benefited from the 2008 stimulus programs), then I&amp;#x27;d say there&amp;#x27;s been a significant amount of inflation - P&amp;#x2F;E ratios for stocks have been historically high in the last few years, real estate in desirable cities has gotten significantly more expensive, and bond yields have been low.&lt;p&gt;We seem to be already seeing some of the same, with the stock market being pushed up by the Fed&amp;#x27;s commitment to 4T+ in stimulus this time around and ever lower interest rates.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>grey-area</author><text>We&amp;#x27;re about to find out what global QE to infinity does.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d expect more events like the recent boom in stock prices in spite of massive global unemployment and the wave of unrest nicknamed the Arab spring which came after 2008 and had origins in economic disruption. Revolutions often come after the unbearable has passed.&lt;p&gt;Even if we quickly overcome the virus the global economic impact of the lockdown and QE will be severe and long lasting. It&amp;#x27;s quite possible that due to QE&amp;#x2F;stimulus none of that will show up in stock prices and they will shoot up, boosting inequality again.</text></comment>