Waiting for the Fed You read ...
You read it here first: The Federal Reserve will not lower interest rates when its policy committee meets Sept. 18.</br></br>That's not to say it couldn't lower rates before Sept. 18 if financial markets experience another meltdown or if there is credible evidence of a dramatic slowdown in the overall economy. Or any time after Sept. 18, for that matter.</br></br>But it ought to be clear to anyone who has been listening to Bernanke & Co. that the last thing they want to do on Sept. 18 is be seen as giving in to the pleading of overpaid traders, bankers and fund managers desperate not to confront the consequences of their own mistakes.</br></br>In truth, it probably doesn't matter what the Fed does on Sept. 18. It was not primarily the Fed that created the credit bubble -- it was the traders, investment bankers and fund managers, working through unregulated global financial markets. And now that all that market-created credit and liquidity has suddenly disappeared, there is little the Fed can do to replace it, even if it wanted to. Which it doesn't.</br></br>You don't have to agree with everything French President Nicolas Sarkozy said to an employer group last week to admire the boldness and clarity of his economic vision.