Actually the FED is printing something like 85 billion dollars a month to support both the mortgage markets and the treasury bond markets. The FED has already increased its balance sheet to 3 trillion dollars from just a few hundred billion dollars before the crisis hit in 2007. And the FED is going to increase that number with another trillion dollars just this year. The FED use to sit on high quality AAA government bonds now no one knows what kind of assets the FED is sitting on because the FED has been busy in recent years buying all sorts of distressed assets and won't allow its books to be audited. And the US government has signed guarantees to the FED that the US government (hints the people) will pay for whatever losses they may incur. Exposing the American people to trillions of dollars of liabilities.
First of all, it is not open ended like you say, they are going to buy 40 billion mortgage security and 45 billion long term investment until 2015. That's 36 months.
FRB: Press Release--Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement--October 24, 2012
Well, you still don't know what QE and all other FED program are intented. They are
NOT BAILING OUT program, instead, they are market stimulate program designed to work against deflation (Low purchase power) and put the buying power back into the American Market.
Yes, the American people will be in debt during the period of QE and FED, but the thing is, they are in debt
ANYWAY (Don't forget why the Federal Reserve bank roll out such program in the first place) Well, compare the other option, which is let the debt roll and depending on the 0 or near 0 interest rate market to pick back up, it's only logical for the Government to put the money back where it started. The bank
Ok, i am not saying it 100% works, nor does it don't have any risk, but when you look at the event and the solution, if you dont do this, America will ended up in a dead end anyway. You better use one gamble to put the curve back on. If it fail, it fail, we are down the financial cliff, but the same will happen if we do not do anything.
Up until this point, we see the program is actually succeding, because we are neither in Deflation nor have a high inflation, which is the clear indication that the program are failing
It really doesn't matter rather the money that's printed out of thin air will end up buying liquid or illiquide assets. If you print money to buy assets you will creat a artificially high price for that asset ie a bubble. And all bubbles will sooner or later burst.
Why would it not matter??'
While one is a loan
WITH SECURITY, and the other is a
LOAN ON CREDIT.....
Dude, if we again bet on the unsecure loan, then why would we do this in the first place. Yes, it would be the same if the QE3 is merely a bailing out program, but it is not.
You print money to buy back the loan of an Actual properties. The bank then clear those properties and that become "Equity" on the bank. With those equity, they can have security to giving out credit again, yeah the properties will be on empty growth as an equity as we speak until the loan mature but at least that's some equity. If we bet on the unsecure loan, then we are really printing money on paper out of thin air, that did nothing and we are back to square one, we just prospone the crisis for 3 or 4 years.
The Americans simply don't learn. The reason why America has a housing bubble was because of the artificial low interest rate being set by the FED to counter the bursting of the Nasdaq or dotcom bubble in the early 2000's. The US economy was already entring a recession that then was exacerbated by the attacks on 9/11. The response of Alan Greenspan was to lower interest rate to just 1% and kept it there for 13 months and then raise the interest rate to slowly. It was this cheap money that has help to fuel the housing bubble and other malinvestments and malfeasance in the US economy. And the reason for the dotcom bubble was that Alan Greenspan in the 1990's has simply allowed the interest rate to drop and print more money in respons to major international financial crises like the Russian default, Argentinian default and the Asian financial crisis all happening at the end of the 1990's. All those internet companies don't have any customers, revenue streams, business plans or even a viable product. But they have money, to hire staff buy equipment and rent office space. All those money that Greenspan printed needed to fine a home there was then a lot of loose money floating around. And alot of them ended up with those dotcom companies.
As i explained, the reason america have a housing bubble is not because of the low or high interest rate, but PEOPLE IN OVER THEIR HEAD. And also the bank are not strictly regulated. Let me twell you this, i can apply for a 10,000 USD credit card back in 2000 when i have no jobs, no education, no asset. The only thing stopping me from getting that credit card is filling in the form.
Nobody does any credit checks, nor employment check nor even risk assessment in the old days and you can simply apply for a credit card, max it out and then some, then disappear.
Now, if you want a credit card in the US, it's the same but at least they run some background check and Risk assessment and you need to show you are able to repay a certain amount of money, if they think you can only at most repay 500 per month, you will not get a card with 10,000 limit in it.
Same thins goes to buying a mortgage. In the old days, it's about paper and formality. Even if you have 0 credit score, as long as some how you can produce the 10-20% magic nnumber for deposit, there are no bank, or credit company will refuse your application. They do not look at your affordability, nor your credit rating, nor plan a loan for you that actually make sense.
So people will think, ok, buying a 600,000, i only need 120,000 for deposit and if i got it, then i will be able to afford it. Little do they know if they only earn 3000 a month, there are
NO WAY they can afford a 500,000 mortgage. 3000 a month can''t even handle a 300,000 mortgage with ease, let alone 500,000. Then they fail to make payment, the creditor pressure, they took a second mortgage, and you know the rest.
Is american economic down? Yes, not as much as outside purchase. Otherwise our debtor will already pull the plug on our bond and our coutnry will just sink.
Interest rate/Inflation/Deflation have nothing to do with the housing bubble burst, it's people stupidity. There are many lost their hom in America, but there are also many who can keep it by sensible planning. Many more can keep it than those who lose it actually.
As for the interest rate now, am already explained above, not gonna repeat again.
So the Americans created the housing bubble in respons to the bursting of the dotcom bubble. And now they are creating a new bubble in respons to the bursting of the housing bubble. This time its probably be a sovereign bond bubble. All created by the same tools too low interest rate to much printing of money. And each time they double down. And create a bigger problem for them selfs and the rest of the world.
No, as i explained, the housing problem is not a bubble created after the dotcom.
And US did not enter recession in 2000. Infact the only negative growth in 2000s are during the second mortgage crisis (Or called Subprime Mortgage crisis in America) That crisis almost bring down america and it's that idiocy i am talking about contributing to the housing bubble.
Here are 2 graph from wikipedia
I don't know where your data came from, but it is simply, not true........
If the housing bubble that nearly destroyed the US and the world economy comes from just 13 months of 1% interest rate what kind of crisis do you think 50 months and counting of 0,25% interest rate will cause ?
No, the interest rate will rise, not during the duration of the QE3 still in effect, the interest rate will maintain a rate of .25-.4 for the duration, the goal of the whole QE program is to lift interest rate and maintain a uptrent of inflation. You cannot comment on their failure or success until the program clearly run out on 2015. So, i don't want to get into a discuss of what i might happen or might not in the future, but right now, the plan seems doing ok.