Don Coxe

(from Casey Daily Despatch)

"Heroin was the battlefield anesthetic of choice for severely wounded soldiers. The crucial medical decision was not whether to deliver the heroin: that was easy. The tough part—for doctor and patient—was deciding on and enforcing its withdrawal before the soldier became a hopeless addict.

The Fed has been lulled into the economically perilous belief that capitalism should be stimulated with sustained injections of a potent narcotic long after the patient is out of the emergency ward. Zero-cost money and an underpriced mid-to-long Treasury market most certainly will make the economy rebound, not subside into languid repose.

This mechanistic assumption ignores the guts component of capitalism: hard work and taking risk for reward. The Fed’s long-term recovery is, in effect, based on the unstated premise that risk is a four-letter word that has, like another four-letter word beginning with “f,” little place in genteel company."