You almost convinced me. But in this new normal, how can the Fed allow good paying jobs? Labor share is under control. That is what capitalism wants and what a good central bank wants to provide to its wealthiest beneficiaries.

Boris and Natasha made me uncomfortable as a child. I figured that forces in the middle East wanted us to be more dependent on foreign oil, so that we would stick around. Surprising to hear that Russia would want us to be suck in that part of the world. I guess that they view our middle East presence to be less odious than our ability to export and compete with them in Europe.

Sorry about Dallas tragedy. I was amused by the reference to moose and squirrel, Rocky and Bullwinkle no doubt!

#Trump is like a dark JFK. JFK wanted world peace and was assassinated for it. LBJ made millions of dollars off of Bell Helicopter in the Vietnam "what are we fighting for" War. And I am certain that LBJ was involved in the assassination. So, Trump, a JFK type but a racist, is a far less sympathetic figure than was JFK. Trump wants peace but he has decided to pursue war buildup for the next President who could well be a neocon in the tradition of W and even #Obama, a reluctant neocon but a neocon nonetheless.

Powell must be ignoring all this stuff. Protect the collateral even if inflation is phantom-like.

Inflation of wages seems subdued. Seems like the Fed would tamp worker prosperity down before inflation caught hold.

So, since ether is bitcoin, you can just buy a stake in bitcoin. At least before it was backed by work. I realize that is dubious, but now it will be backed by nothing. Wow.

Interesting article. Perhaps Israel should reach out to others in the middle East. We hope the days of Oded Yinon are passing in favor of peace.

You aren't comparing Bitcoin to Post-it Notes are you? Bitcoin is most likely a simple scam, a bubble like Beanie Babies. I don't know if the creators of Beanie Babies created the scam. They created scarcity by numbering them. I doubt if they knew what the result would be, but I think Bitcoin creators probably knew exactly what would happen if they would just label it currency. Lol. Maybe one Bitcoin would be worth more than another one based on the numbers? Like the first Bitcoin is a collector's item? And who says you can't use Beanie Babies as money? Somewhere, at least. But at least a Beanie Baby is a tangible product.

So raising rates will cause oil prices to decline. That is what the central bankers want. Yet that could kill the economy. But not raising rates will cause petroleum prices to soar, which will also kill the economy. The Fed appears to be in a box.