Quantitative Easing as Filtered Down by Glenn Beck

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/glenn-beck-explains-quantiative-easing

This is the most Glenn Beck that I have ever watched and I only watched to see how quantitative easing would be broken down for ordinary Americans.  Wow.  Apparently  as part of a socialist agenda to make all countries equal, financier/philanthropist George Soros controls the White House and the Fed and is orchestrating a 20% devaluation of the dollar, taking your money to fund union pensions and help the rich can get richer while America which currently produces nothing, swiftly descends into a banana republic no better than Greece.  Negligible details are the unemployment rate which has been north of 9% for 18 months and the annual earnings of political talk-radio/cable news commentators, in Beck's case $32 million. 

Besides the part about the rich getting richer, Beck's rant is completely backward.  Inflation is currently at dangerously low levels (see: Lost Decade, Japan).  As the world's second largest exporter of goods and services, America makes a lot of things (despite its myriad political talk radio/cable news commentators who produce nothing).  Union membership is at multi decade lows (as are effective corporate tax rates might I add).  The Fed's resumption of long term asset purchases directly benefits the holders of financial assets i.e. wealthy executive management as well as union pensions.  Finally, the Greeks rioted over deep spending cuts, required because as a member of the European Monetary Union, this country does not have the freedom to devalue its currency.   

With all that horse$hit debunking out of the way, what do I think of the second round of Quantitative Easing?  The Taylor Rule suggests that interest rates should be near the oh-so-impossible level of -7% so I don't think it is unreasonable for the Fed to take additional and extraordinary measures.  However with the credit transmission channel for monetary policy frozen, I have strong doubts that this will do much besides inflate valuations.  
1 response
The problem with real analysis is that by the time you get through identifying variables, it's time for a commercial break (I'm looking at you, Goldline). I think Beck does a great job of framing a carefully packaged message that his fanatics do desperately crave: it is the other generation's fault for whatever it is Beck-viewers don't like. To keep that marketable it has to have enough multisyllabic words to sound intelligent but basic enough to be repeated at will.