{"id":1928,"date":"2007-09-17T09:11:42","date_gmt":"2007-09-17T16:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1928"},"modified":"2007-12-24T12:32:26","modified_gmt":"2007-12-24T19:32:26","slug":"nobody-behind-the-curtain-cookies-and-milk-judo-and-not-repeating-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1928\/nobody-behind-the-curtain-cookies-and-milk-judo-and-not-repeating-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody Behind the Curtain — Cookies and Milk — Judo — And NOT Repeating History"},"content":{"rendered":"

What went on with the speculation about the Fed Funds Rate all last week, and will surely intensify today and tomorrow, has been almost, but not quite analogous to the scene in The Wizard of Oz<\/em>, when we discovered there was a man behind the\"hide curtain. The characters were told to ignore him — by the guy behind the curtain. <\/p>\n

Dr. Bernanke is not in any way<\/em> analogous to that guy.<\/p>\n

Bernanke has, in my opinion, played this whole melodrama out while hiding in plain sight<\/em>, instead of behind a curtain. He’s using what I’m now calling Bernanke Judo<\/em>. That is, he’s using the other guy’s energy against him, which keeps them off balance. Nobody is paying attention to what he’s really been doing the last few weeks, because he’s got everyone watching his interest rate hand. Meanwhile, he’s been free to play out his real agenda with the other hand. <\/p>\n

The almost humorous part of his plan is how simple it’s been to execute — again — in plain sight. <\/p>\n

First he treated all the whiners on Wall Street like petulant children by giving them all cookies and milk. It came in the form of a cut in the Fed Discount Rate<\/em>. Everyone smiled, and the warm and \"milkfuzzies returned to the land of bulls and bears. Confidence was bolstered<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Then they all took a nap — as he knew they would. He knew exactly how to manage their fears and frustrations. Sure, they kept complaining, but they kept it down to a low, manageable roar. They figured they’d finally thrown enough tantrums to get their way. <\/p>\n

Bernanke also knew that beyond everything technical and debatable, the one thing he couldn’t let fall below the critical floor, was confidence in the economy as a whole<\/strong>. He cut the discount rate. <\/p>\n

So, what’s he been doing you haven’t heard much if anything about the last few weeks? Making history, that’s what.<\/p>\n

I can’t find a two week period in the last 40 years where the Fed has increased money supply by over $110Billion<\/strong> — can’t find it. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, but Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What went on with the speculation about the Fed Funds Rate all last week, and will surely intensify today and tomorrow, has been almost, but not quite analogous to the scene in The Wizard of Oz, when we discovered there was a man behind the curtain. The characters were told to ignore him — by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6154,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6154\/ben-bernanke-is-now-one-of-us-booyah\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":0},"title":"“Ben Bernanke Is Now One Of Us” Booyah !","author":"Brian Brady","date":"December 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\"I demand that you refinance your home in three months and buy a bank stock\"- Jim Cramer Cheerleader Jim Cramer is now certifiably confident that housing will bottom in 2009 and the economy is saved because of the Fed's recent action. Cramer was, of course, ecstatic. This is exactly what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1123,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1123\/whats-the-rate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":1},"title":"What’s The Rate?","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There are so many ways we were taught in mortgage sales training to answer that question: 1) Well...that depends on your...credit...income...equity...purpose for the loan , etc. 2) What rate are you trying to get? 3) It would be unprofessional of me to diagnose your problem...blah...blah...blah I realize that when a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9293,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9293\/whats-an-exit-strategy-and-why-does-it-matter-to-the-housing-market\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":2},"title":"What’s an “Exit Strategy” and why does it matter to the housing market?","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"July 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I originally wrote this and posted it on my new site, Straight Talk About Mortgages - The Bigger Picture, but I've been urged to post it here as well.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, I'm doing that.\u00a0\u00a0 Why have I set up another site?\u00a0\u00a0 It's pretty simple..... The financial and real estate world that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":982,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/982\/peeking-into-bernankes-crystal-ball\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":3},"title":"Peeking into Bernanke’s Crystal Ball","author":"Brian Brady","date":"February 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you want to look into the crystal ball through the eyes of Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke? Will that help you predict mortgage rates and housing prices for 2007? I try to outguess the Fed all the time and I've decided that we'll see a significant decline in short-term\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16296,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16296\/can-bernanke-keep-mortgage-rates-this-low-into-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":4},"title":"Can Bernanke Keep Mortgage Rates This Low Into 2015?","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a vocal critic of Ben Bernanke.\u00a0 I thought his Quantitative Easing schemes would eventually create a bubble in the Treasury and mortgage-bond markets.\u00a0 Bernanke has committed to keeping rates low for another 18-24 months. I was wrong.\u00a0 I violated the first rule of market prognostication (from the late\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1816,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1816\/fed-cuts-rate-to-575\/","url_meta":{"origin":1928,"position":5},"title":"Fed Cuts Rate to 5.75%","author":"Lani Anglin","date":"August 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Bernanke answers the call to lower rates. We're already hearing mixed reactions ranging from \"it's not enough\" to \"he shouldn't have made a cut.\" What's your take? I'm no Realtor and I'm not a lender, so I'd love to hear what everyone thinks. Comments are encouraged.","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}