The Big Picture

“The next episode studied by Friedman and Schwartz, another tightening, occurred in September 1931,
following the sterling crisis. In that month, a wave of speculative attacks on the pound forced Great
Britain to leave the gold standard. Anticipating that the United States might be the next to leave gold,
speculators turned their attention from the pound to the dollar. Central banks and private investors
converted a substantial quantity of dollar assets to gold in September and October of 1931. “
Please note that the Great Depression specialist, Ben Bernanke, does NOT mention the period from the
October 29, 1929 stock market crash to September 1931.  As we have remarked and demonstrated, the
Fed and NY Fed profusely created credit.  It wasn’t until Q3 1931 that the Fed modestly increased interest
rates to stem a run on the US gold supply, which by law was necessary.  If Ben or other academicians had
to acknowledge that the Fed and NY Fed pumped credit profusely for almost 2 years after the ’29 Crash,
the argument that the  Fed could’ve prevented the Great Depression loses much, if not all validity.
Ben Bernanke: Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the
Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You’re right,
we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again. 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/default.htm

Sixty years of academic theory and the Fed’s raison d’etre is now at risk.

Die Unternehmensgewinne (”Corporate Profits”) in den USA sind nach einem Rückgang im dritten Quartal 2007 auch im letzen Quartal des vergangenen Jahres rückläufig.

Helmut Wüllenweber

Die Hauspreise in den USA fallen derzeit im Jahr/Jahresvergleich immer schneller. Derzeit im Schnitt mit 10% p.a.