Five years of ZIRP (zero interest rate) policy has done zip for employment as this chart shows:
The real effect of the Fed's policy has been to protect the financial markets from their own debt binging and to re-inflate financial assets. The next chart shows the unmistakable correlation between financial sector profits (black line) and the ratio of debt to GDP (red line). A similar close correlation exists for the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and the S&P stock index:
What these charts and one below tell us is that the Federal Reserve, a privately-controlled central bank that sets national money policy, has actively widened the obscene inequality between rich and poor in America by practically guaranteeing a lucrative return on capital owned by the very top people that created the world-wide Financial Panic of 2008. If the bottom 80% of Americans want to use some capital for consumption they have to pay the owners 16% or more. If you want to get a higher education, you still pay 9%. If you lend your relatively meger capital (savings) your are lucky if you get a 4% return. The Federal Reserve charges the plutocrats less than 1% for the same borrowing privilege. Fair? You decide.
