> and for that, let’s give credit where it is due: it is not Benioff, it is Bernanke.
[applause]
The only caveat I'd add: Japan has shown that monetary policy can stay bad for a looong time. While I personally think Zoho's chosen path is certainly more solid, monetary stupidity can last a lot longer than anyone believes it should.
The Zoho blog wants Bernanke to do the same thing Japan has done for the last two decades: kill the economy with tight monetary policy. They're blaming Bernanke for high stock prices. Because the whole economy should depend on what one blog poster thinks of a handful of stock prices.
Right, because clearly the economy is doing great right now. Robust growth across the board, especially in the middle class. I actually don't think we're printing fast enough, rates are still positive afterall. Bernanke could afford to be a bit looser.
Well, you're right, tight monetary policy would kill the economy, very briefly. It would force liquidation of debt. Companies that need to go bankrupt would go bankrupt. And we could finally begin to rebuild on solid footing. As it is we're headed for decades of slowly declining standard of living because we're delaying the necessary reallocation of capital by just flooding the market with money. It's not going to solve anything, it's just prolonging the pain.
> Well, you're right, tight monetary policy would kill the economy, very briefly. It would force liquidation of debt.
Indeed! Now think that the USD and its debts is not just America's home currency, but the world's "reserves", even "savings" for a rainy day.
So I'd strongly doubt the "briefly" part when the whole world is forced into a "liquidation" (you mean settling?) of debt.
Who can untangle the planetary debt webs? No flavour of monetary policy can do that, whether it's coming from US soil or global institutions. Can it ever be repaid in "real terms"? If it is clear that it cannot, the best they can do is to allow for nominal "debt-service performance". The banks demand it, simply because the depositors, pension funds, insurances, billions of people implicitly expect "at the very least that".
So you print. Doesn't matter whether the figure-head is Bernanke or Greenspan or Volcker or Yoda. Doesn't matter what Zoho's CEO thinks of this or ZeroHedge. Knowing the "hard place" that needs to be avoided, we cling to the "rock" for as long as possible. That is, as long as the entire planet happily soaks up all the fresh shiny USD coming out of the presses.
[applause]
The only caveat I'd add: Japan has shown that monetary policy can stay bad for a looong time. While I personally think Zoho's chosen path is certainly more solid, monetary stupidity can last a lot longer than anyone believes it should.