In general, I agree with most of those points. Just a few items to quibble with.
4. “Free” money from the Fed is causing speculation.
It’s probably more appropriate to say that cheap money from the fed is facilitating the speculation. Low interest rates do not make anyone speculate.
5. It’s a way for the Fed to help the banks to make up housing losses.
I’m not sure even what this is referring to. I don’t now what “It’s” is. Low fed rates? If so, probably close enough for government work.
On a related topic that seems to be all over CNBC these days is the gold and silver prices. Item 4 probably contributes to that too. My peeve about the discussion is that many so called experts attempt to differentiate between investors and speculators. There is no difference. Unless you’re a jeweler (or some other industrial user of gold or silver, where it’s a logical hedge), gold and silver are ALWAYS speculative investments. They have no intrinsic value (exceptions noted). They do not pay dividends, no earnings multiples, no earnings growth. They do not “produce” profits. It is a pure speculative play on future prices. Arguing any differently is either disengenuous or idiotic.
