Rate hikes needed
Fed must persist despite economy
Dear John: I believe the Fed should continue to raise rates even if — as you point out — “the economy isn’t really ready for it.”
Two wrongs don’t make a right. The Federal Reserve should have never taken rates to near 0 percent in the first place. It actually hurts the banking industry — something the Fed claimed it was trying to bail out at the time.
Secondly, keeping rates at near 0 percent for over seven years was also a huge mistake, as it starves many investors of income they should be paid.
Moreover, it has encouraged many — especially corporations that have borrowed more than $4 trillion in debt since the crisis — to become overleveraged again.
When the next recession comes, the powers that be should allow bad loans to be written down, and then finally move forward. The endless cycle of quantitative easing and below inflation-level rates is only turning our economy into Japan, which has had the lowest gross domestic product growth (sub-1 percent) for more than 25 years now. B.B.
Dear B.B.:
If you’ve been reading my column for any length of time, you already know that I agree with you on many of your points.
The Fed kept interest rates too low for too long. And that produced a hidden “tax” on savers, who were essentially forgoing interest payments so that banks could get healthier. In other words, savers bailed out banks.
And all of this has created bubbles in other financial markets — stocks, bonds mainly — that are coming undone today.
The point to which you are referring is my opinion that the Fed is raising rates today even though the economy isn’t very strong. And that’s exactly what is happening.
I’ve been saying that the economy isn’t just weak, it is broken. And it’s broken because of all the indebtedness, and because of what the Fed has been doing. And because it is broken, the Fed is taking action now — raising rates — that it wouldn’t have under normal circumstances.
Dear John: I came across your reports about Facebook not acting on banning pedophiles while I was trying to report an offender who openly admits he is a pedophile on his Facebook page.
This is person that I was trying to report ... [Readers: I took this part out but have it in case Facebook actually wants to do something.]
What he is advocating is very wrong, and would put young children in danger by making pedophiles feel justified in their actions. You mentioned contacting advertisers.
I will see if I could do that. Anyway, thanks so much for making reports on Facebook’s pedophilia issues. Very disappointing indeed! H.J.
Dear H.J.: Facebook ignored me too until I contacted advertisers and asked others to do so as well.
Then suddenly Facebook got very worried.
Listen, the truth is that Facebook simply has too many people using its site to actually police all of them.
The only option you really have is keeping your kids off Facebook until the company starts taking this problem seriously and hires a whole lot more folks to weed out people like this and starts listening to users when they complain.
Just as sad is the fact that Congress never brought up the problem of pedophiles on Facebook when it had company Chairman Mark Zuckerberg in the hot seat a few weeks ago.
You’ll just have to watch out for your own kids, because nobody else seems to care. How can I help? Dear Readers, Your letters to John Crudele are streaming in fast and furiously, asking Dear John to right the wrongs you’re facing. Because of this influx, The Post Business section will feature more of your inquiries in the hope of helping you with your troubles.
Send your questions to Dear John, The New York Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com