Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 367 posts

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#261

Post by undersuit »

jovial_cavalier wrote: post #219
sytelus wrote: post #198

So here's the thing: 80% of the population doesn't own stock. When fed pumps such massive money to prep the stocks, where does that money end up? I guess the idea is that then we pump the stock so companies continue to hire people so unemployment remains low. Considering the vast majority of jobs are low paying, if not outright minimum wage jobs, this means these trillions of dollars of fed charity is basically meant…

The fed doesn't pump stocks. It buys bonds and gives good deals on loans. It merely increases liquidity. It doesn't just give money to people.

No, it doesn't give money to people, these injections allow people(large companies) to save money, which is like giving money to people. Without the Fed providing liquidity, the market can and will, but the market has it's own ideas about the rate to perform overnight lending.

The market and the Fed have been disagreeing with that rate for what over two years now?

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#262

Post by andrekandre »

wonderwonder wrote: post #235
altec3 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what gdubs was trying to get across is that sure, there are problems, people to blame, etc. but now is not the time. We have to get our act together and handle the situation. We can't have petty fighting betweeen parties. Now is the time to unite and act. We can fight, argue and point fingers once this is all behind us.

You are right. Unfortunately we need good strong leadership focused on protecting not just numbers on a candlestick chart but actual real people. Our current president has proven completely incapable of that and should immediately step aside. I am no fan of Pence but he at least likely capable of listening to experts and following their recommendations. The markets reaction to last night Oval office speech is reason…

i don’t usually post on political topics but... i’m not so sure about pence... [0]

if we are lucky, hopefully he’s learned from that but i’m not holding my breath

[0] https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pences-pray-it-plan-combat-ind...

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#263

Post by llampx »

ghufran_syed wrote: post #259
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slight tangent, but the excessive focus on tests is misguided. The tests give us more data but make little difference unless they are used to rapidly trace outbreaks and quarantine entire areas, which just has not happened. And with something this viral, its only a matter of time before it spreads everywhere. The focus needs to be on slowing the spread and treatment. The treatment is about supporting the body while i…

Funny how many people think "they were too slow with testing" - do any of these commentators have any idea how long it takes to develop a reliable, sensitive and hopefully specific test for a virus that probably didn't exist in its current form until around 3 months ago . Oh, and then also to be able to make a production line capable of producing millions of them while maintaining quality - why not criticize them for…

The WHO already had the test.

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#264

Post by simonebrunozzi »

Accujack wrote: post #124
gdubs wrote: post #13

As the joke goes, a trillion here a trillion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money! But in seriousness, the next week is a critical time in the world. I remember sitting in an airport when news of Lehman Brothers collapse was flashing on the TV screens. I'm reminded of that time. We learned later about how Hank Paulson got down on one knee and begged Nancy Pelosi to go along with is plan to save…

I'm sure you'll get partisan political comments, but you're correct. I will note that I don't agree with "we" doing anything... our government is rather thoroughly insulated from the will of the citizens of the US by its own design. The dysfunction in our government is due to years of slow decay that have culminated in the present situation. This crisis will hopefully force enough people to realize the problem exists…

> People are about to die because our president is a fool, and the fact that he's still in charge is the fault of all of us who voted or didn't vote over the past half century.

This point of view is sobering. I am tired of people thinking that replacing a politician with another would solve every problem.

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#265

Post by zaroth »

troyvit wrote: post #202
zaroth wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, I simply don't understand the thought process here... Question 1) Is the spread inevitable, or can we achieve containment? Question 2) If it can't be contained, and worldwide spread is inevitable, approximately how many new cases per day do you want to see for the next 6 months? I would say the answer to #1 is that spread is absolutely inevitable. There are way too many vectors, and it is way too virulent.…

> I would say the answer to #1 is that spread is absolutely inevitable. The WHO disagrees: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-... > "Test everyone!" To what end? You don't need to test people in order to know if they need an ICU. The ICUs are not full - and you don't need more testing to tell you that. The main benefit to more testing would be that people who are self-quarantining due to pote…

Testing may reduce the number of cases, how does it reduce the severity of cases? This is an illness with no treatment, only symptoms are treated.

Germany apparently has 10 people in serious condition. Availability of resources obviously isn’t a factor...

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#266

Post by divbzero »

tw04 wrote: post #69
gdubs wrote: post #13

As the joke goes, a trillion here a trillion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money! But in seriousness, the next week is a critical time in the world. I remember sitting in an airport when news of Lehman Brothers collapse was flashing on the TV screens. I'm reminded of that time. We learned later about how Hank Paulson got down on one knee and begged Nancy Pelosi to go along with is plan to save…

>But if there were ever a time for us not to be partisan and tribal, it's now. You say that like both parties are trying to deny testing and are refusing to provide the social safety net for workers to stay home when they're sick. This is very much not a "both sides" discussion. This is: the GOP needs to stop trying to pretend like nothing is wrong and actually DO SOMETHING to prevent this from becoming an even bigge…

Regardless, now is the time to put aside partisanship and face the problem before us. There will be plenty of time for retrospection, after we get through this together.

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#267

Post by cryptica »

lbotos wrote: post #201
cryptica wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how you look at it, somebody who is not the Fed benefits from this. If market participants didn't think that they will benefit financially from this, they would not participate. This kind of "zero-sum temporary money" theory doesn't add up. The situation is exactly as kylebenzle inferred; the Fed is injecting new fiat money into the economy and it's going straight into the pockets of rich financial institut…

> the Fed is injecting new fiat money into the economy and it's going straight into the pockets of rich financial institutions which add no value whatsoever to the economy or society. Financial institutions control who gets levered money (loans). They provide a huge value to an economy and society in a fractional reserve banking system. You are upset about the Fed, when you should be upset about the government who co…

I don't agree that bank loans add any value to our modern fiat-based economy. It's possible that loans may have added economic value when money was based on a limited resource such as gold, but that economy was an entirely different beast from what we have today. Fiat is not simply a switch that one can flick off and on without anticipating negative flow-on effects; and yet that's exactly how governments have treated it when they abolished the gold standard whilst continuing to support an archaic system of debt and credit. Since the fiat system was introduced, house prices have skyrocketed (relative to average salaries) and corporations have gained monopoly positions in the market whilst using lobyists to take control of our governments. Our fiat-based, debt-oriented system has some obvious drawbacks.

Both the government and the Fed are to blame; one for designing the whole scheme and the other for implementing it. I'm upset about the idea that the Fed can inject money into the economy based on obscure criteria. From the perspective of an average citizen, who is legally obliged to accept Fed money in exchange for their labor, whatever set of criteria the Fed chooses is going to be inherently inadequate; the mere lack of transparency behind the Fed's operation is by itself sufficient to discredit the validity of the entire operation.

Money backed by gold was good money precisely and fundamentally because everyone understood what gold was and where it came from. Now, essentially nobody knows what fiat money is or where it comes from and yet everyone is legally obliged to accept it.

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#268

Post by deckard1 »

spaced-out wrote: post #255
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slight tangent, but the excessive focus on tests is misguided. The tests give us more data but make little difference unless they are used to rapidly trace outbreaks and quarantine entire areas, which just has not happened. And with something this viral, its only a matter of time before it spreads everywhere. The focus needs to be on slowing the spread and treatment. The treatment is about supporting the body while i…

>Slight tangent, but the excessive focus on tests is misguided. The issue with our lack of testing is that we have no idea what we're dealing with, which is a big part of why the market's freaking out. If we had been ramping up testing months ago, when it was already a massive disruption in China and should have been clear that it was only a matter of time before it got to the US, then we would have a lot more inform…

> This is why we need competent administrators running things

The GOP has a conflict of interest here. They don't want to give evidence that government can work. Their goal is to break government and then go "see, government doesn't work!" It's a splendid position to take, because anything that comes up you simply shrug and wipe your hands clean. You're not responsible for anything.

While we all sit and ponder whether we're all going to die and if the economy will disappear overnight, let's all just remember the travesty that is Puerto Rico. If that's not enough, then kids in concentration camps. Oh? People care now because it impacts their little world?

"No time for politics" says the people actively breaking the world.

Re: Fed to inject $1.5T to prevent ‘unusual disruptions’ in markets

#269

Post by kulahan »

paulmd wrote: post #138
tw04 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But if there were ever a time for us not to be partisan and tribal, it's now. You say that like both parties are trying to deny testing and are refusing to provide the social safety net for workers to stay home when they're sick. This is very much not a "both sides" discussion. This is: the GOP needs to stop trying to pretend like nothing is wrong and actually DO SOMETHING to prevent this from becoming an even bigge…

Also: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/486559-trump-fak... https://theweek.com/speedreads/901405/seattle-lab-uncovered-... https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/anthony-fauci-donald... https://thehill.com/homenews/house/487014-trump-officials-cu... Yes, the administration bears a huge amount of responsibility for sandbagging and obstructing the initial response, mis-informing the public, ignoring their o…

For what it's worth, the transcript is now live. Direct link:

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/814881355

Post reply on HN