Quote of the Week

Though I already awarded Scott Adams with an honorary (and well-deserved) "Quote of the Week" yesterday, I didn't want to let a Tuesday pass without an official Quote of the Week.

If you've been reading me consistently, you'll remember my rant against the Fed last Thursday. Didn't wanna do it... felt I... owed it to them.

At any rate, it seems like a few people around the world have agreed with my rant, and chimed in as well. The Germans always do a great job of cutting through the B.S., so I thought I'd give them the honor of this week's semi-self-congratulatory Quote of the Week.

This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless." -German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble

To be fair, some translations of Schäuble's comments ("Bei allem Respekt, mein Eindruck ist, die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika sind ratlos") are a bit more charitable. The key word, "ratlos", could more directly be construed to mean "helpless", "at a loss", or "stumped".

With my background in German, I'll agree that the popular translation is a little shaky, and definitely more direct and damning than Schäuble's untranslated phrase. But nevertheless, his remarks in combination with China's perturbed response (and this morning's downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt by a prominent Chinese rating agency) makes it clear that the world is not exactly on board with Mr. Bernanke's experimental policies.

Remember, the whole world owns U.S. debt, and they won't stand idly by as we try to inflate our way out of it. What began as mild annoyance among the global community this week could easily morph into something entirely different and much more damaging. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is decidedly bad news.


[CNBC]