Friday, November 27, 2009

Zero Interest Rate Policy: Insidious Tax on Retirees

The Fed's zero interest rate policy is really an insidious tax on savers of this nation, usually the retirees. It takes income from savers, usually those on a fixed income, and redistributes it to borrows in the form of direct subsidies as directed by the federal government. It also funds the fiscal deficit policies of the federal government by making its borrowing cost lower than what it normally be without such a monetary policy. (Isn't the Fed suppose to be an independent body, free from any political pressure, to protect the value of our currency)

See, the standard for a tax is that it must be fair and it must be evenly distributed. This tax of a zero interest rate policy by the Fed fails the aforementioned standard. This tax takes the interest income from savers and hands it to government, who redistributes it to over-extended borrowers, to banks, to Wall Street, to real estate developers, and to the auto industry. In other words, simply penalize savers and reward those who caused our underlying financial crisis.

Savers should be asking the following questions of the federal government: Who decided that a homeowner who bought a home priced beyond his or her means must be subsidized by a retiree who had saved for those golden years? Or, why must a bank have access to zero cost of funds, while the saver, who in my opinion is the true responsible member of society, can not earn enough income to survive.

What is happening here in the U.S. to our savers (retirees) is not only immoral but also totally unfair.

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