We're so adverse to raising taxes in the US, we're raiding the Federal Reserve to pay for road repairs instead of raising the insanely low gas tax (which hasn't been raised in almost two decades).
There's too much supply and not enough demand in the world (speaking macro economically). You can't "push the string" and force demand, even with zero interest rate policies (you'll just get an asset bubble; witness housing and equity prices). The developed world's future is Japan, and frankly, that's not such a bad thing.
This doesn't mean those giant pools of money aren't hungry for returns though. Notice how quickly those funds in developing countries floods back to the US at the slightest hint interest rates are headed back up.
If you haven't read up on the high yield/junk bond slow motion train wreck occurring, you should.
> Debt of struggling companies has slumped, with one market gauge falling to a six-year low, as declining energy and commodity prices hit producers just as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise borrowing costs for the first time in almost a decade. Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, predicts 10 percent to 15 percent of junk bond funds may face high withdrawals as more investors worry about getting their money back. He joins money managers Jeffrey Gundlach, Carl Icahn, Bill Gross and Wilbur Ross in warning of more high-yield trouble ahead.
TL;DR Janet Yellen either a) waited too long to raise short term interest rates or b) raising them at anytime was going to break the bank.
Never been to the States, but wouldn't that be a regressive tax? And regressive taxes are morally bad, as in they hurt the poor more than they hurt the rich. I'm saying this because if you work a McDonald's job in Europe (from where I'm from) you don't probably have a car, you live in the city, and have the benefit of having access to relatively cheaper public transport, but if you have a McDonald's job in the States chances are big that you're going to work by car.
It doesn't have to be a regressive tax. We have sales tax here in Ontario, Canada which is "regressive" but then in April, if you earn less than $XX per year, the government gives you a refundable tax credit (read: a check) for the estimated sales taxes you paid during the year.
The US should do the same thing with gasoline. Let the rich people with premium-gas-guzzling V8s pay through the nose for the luxury of polluting and use the money to wean the country off of oil.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8aee1d4-991c-11e5-95c7-d47aa298f7...
EDIT:
Anyways, back on topic:
* Shifting demographics
* Oil/energy glut
* Slowing China economy
There's too much supply and not enough demand in the world (speaking macro economically). You can't "push the string" and force demand, even with zero interest rate policies (you'll just get an asset bubble; witness housing and equity prices). The developed world's future is Japan, and frankly, that's not such a bad thing.
This doesn't mean those giant pools of money aren't hungry for returns though. Notice how quickly those funds in developing countries floods back to the US at the slightest hint interest rates are headed back up.
If you haven't read up on the high yield/junk bond slow motion train wreck occurring, you should.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-14/investors-...
> Debt of struggling companies has slumped, with one market gauge falling to a six-year low, as declining energy and commodity prices hit producers just as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise borrowing costs for the first time in almost a decade. Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, predicts 10 percent to 15 percent of junk bond funds may face high withdrawals as more investors worry about getting their money back. He joins money managers Jeffrey Gundlach, Carl Icahn, Bill Gross and Wilbur Ross in warning of more high-yield trouble ahead.
TL;DR Janet Yellen either a) waited too long to raise short term interest rates or b) raising them at anytime was going to break the bank.