re: In honor of Ben's last FOMC meeting, let's appreciate Bernank the Tank

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Bernake's work in Autumn 2008 through 2009 was superb. IMO QE extended too far, too long though.

Those of us with available resources did very well as a result. However, there are obviously costs. Those will eventually be spread over a much broader and nonbenefitting population base.

It's one of the few cases where there is validity to claims of upward (trickle up) wealth redistribution, and validity to complaints of an expanding wealth gap.

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Solid post, can't disagree with anything here. The truth is there isn't much the Fed can do to reach the lower part of the wealth gap. Previously, the transmission mechanism between monetary policy and the general population was mortgage rates, now that transmission mechanism is broken.

The Fed can also try to raise asset prices, but once again that won't do as much anymore. Before 2000, 51% of the average population's non-house equity was in the stock market. That figure dropped after the dotcom bubble to ~41% (need to double check that) and hasn't recovered since. So it's really tough for the Fed to directly touch the average citizen, all they can do is use the tools they have.

The big X factor to this entire recovery and real wage growth is CapEx. The problem is companies have no incentive to invest in CapEx. Since '09, every company that has issued debt for CapEx has seen their stock price go down while those that have issued debt for shareholder activity (buybacks) have seen their stock price go up. When listening to CEOs, they say they can't in good judgement invest until they see strength in aggregate demand, while the flip side is wage growth and in turn demand won't pick up until companies invest in CapEx and labor. There's your Catch 22.

And like the previous poster said, we won't know the true affects until long down the road. Hopefully we all get to live and see it happen, whether good or bad.