by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
The Federal Reserve released it’s August statement yesterday and pundits are scrambling to interpret what was and (equally as important) wasn’t said. Financial market participants have a 10-15 year history of trying to “outguess” the FOMC and focus more on the commentary than the actual decisions. The result has been volatile market movements directly after a word was changed from “probable” to “eventual” in the Fed commentary.
I’ve learned to trust Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke’s judgement. An astute student of Milton Friedman’s study of The Fed’s role in the Great Depression, Bernanke has taken considerable action to preserve a healthy banking system. Free market enthusiasts would argue that his intervention is artificially postponing the eventual asset deflation reflective of a dour economy. I’d argue that his actions were necessary to promote confidence.
Confidence.
Sean Purcell and I discussed the press’ obsession with doom and gloom yesterday. Last month a Qantas 747 lost a portion of its fuselage, had to quickly descend below the 10,000 “hard deck”, and make an emergency landing. The 2.0 world gives us citizen journalism in the form of this passenger video. Watch it and you’ll see a professional air crew inspiring confidence in faithful passengers.
The Australian News realized that “professional” and “rational” won’t sell fishwraps and elected to lead with “Terror As Huge Hole Cripples Qantas Plane“:
A QANTAS jet plunged 20,000 feet and was forced to make an emergency landing after a giant hole was ripped in the plane’s undercarriage, passengers say.
The Qantas Boeing 747, en route from London to Melbourne, via Hong Kong, landed safely today and a “gigantic” hole was discovered in the belly of the plane, near the wing.
Some of the 346 passengers on board told of debris flying through the depressurised cabin, and oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling. Some said the plane had plunged about 20,000 feet after a door “popped”.
“There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down,” Melbourne woman Dr June Kane told ABC Radio.
An option to “lead with the bleeder” rather than the heroism of the air crew. Read more