FOMC Press Release -- Uncensored! Release Date: January 30, 2008 For immediate release The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 3 percent. Our intent is to further weaken the dollar and increase inflation. Financial markets remain under considerable stress due to the dawning realization that trillions of dollars in mortgage debt is never going to be repaid. Credit has tightened further for some businesses and households, but of course diligent savers don't need our credit, those tightwads. We will just have to keep reducing the value of their savings until it's pretty much zero, won't we? Moreover, recent information indicates that house prices continue to fall, which means less debt for Federal Reserve Member Banks to earn interest on, and therefore lower profits. Unacceptable! The Committee doesn't give a hoot about inflation in coming quarters, but for political reasons it will pretend to monitor inflation developments. In particular, it will to pretend to care about the millions of elderly on fixed incomes. If they ever figure out what we're doing to their savings, they might vote for Ron Paul. Today's policy action, combined with those taken earlier, should help to keep debt slaves at their desks and to mitigate the risks to the wealthiest 1%. However, downside risks to CEO bonuses remain, such as people saving their money and not spending it on useless crap or overpriced housing. The Committee will continue to assess the effects of financial and other developments on economic prospects and will act in a timely manner as needed to address those risks. Especially the risk that too many people might escape a lifetime of debt. Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Donald L. Kohn; Randall S. Kroszner; Frederic S. Mishkin; Sandra Pianalto; Charles I. Plosser; Gary H. Stern; and Kevin M. Warsh. Voting against was Richard W. Fisher, who preferred no change in the target for the federal funds rate at this meeting, that wuss. We stomped him in the vote. In a related action, the Board of Governors unanimously approved a 50-basis-point decrease in the discount rate to 3-1/2 percent, because we can. In taking this action, the Board approved the requests submitted by the Boards of Directors of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and San Francisco. That makes it all seem more legitimate. http://patrick.net/housing/contrib/fomc.html