Salient to Investors:

Caroline Baum writes:

  • Bernanke deserves credit for stabilizing the economy during the financial crisis after failing to identity the implications of the subprime crisis. The US outperformed the rest of the world in large part because of the Fed’s aggressive monetary policies.
  • The Wall Street Journal says only two of the Fed’s three preconditions for tapering have been met. 11 of 43 economists polled by the Journal expect tapering this week, 30 expect early next year.
  • Larry Summers’ ‘secular stagnation’ is a phrase that needs to be strangled before it multiplies.
  • Stanley Fischer is one of the few who understands that central bankers cannot be transparent when it comes to an uncertain future.
  • The Murray-Ryan budget deal does nothing to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems and while muddling through is fine for now, there’s always the risk that a crisis imposed by outside events forces the changes that are needed.

Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-16/baum-on-money-goodbye-bernanke-hello-taper-.html

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