Cross-Currents

There are a lot of things going on in the world economy these days. China on the rise, currency ups and downs, European bond crises, etc. It is tough to see a path forward through all this.

The US economy remains sluggish, and the recent decision by the Federal Reserve to do more "quantitative easing," has not met with universal approval amongst its trading partners. The Fed would probably appreciate some sensible help from Congress, but lacking that, it is probably doing the best it can.

Congress itself is in a bit of a bind. First of all, it is composed mainly of lawyers, an occupation that does not specifically prepare its members to deal with matters of economics, business or finance (except for the legal aspects of those fields).

Secondly, it is somewhat at the mercy of the various passions and fears of the general populace. E.g., we can't have too many foreign people coming into the country, because they would take jobs away from Americans.

A lot of things going on, a lot of mud to wade through...