We’re less than two months from Election Day. We’ve haven’t watched the debates. There are hands to be shaken and babies to be kissed. The campaign rolls on in earnest.
Yet the 2012 presidential contest may have already been decided by the Federal Reserve, which just delivered an unprecedentedly aggressive dose of money-printing stimulus with the aim of boosting stock prices and home values, elevating consumer confidence and boosting job growth via increased consumer spending. It will also boost exports. It will encourage new investment by businesses. And it will take the sting out of ongoing federal deficits and a rising national debt by holding down the government’s borrowing costs.
In other words, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — an appointee of a Republican president, by the way — has likely just delivered a second term to President Barack Obama. Cue the outrage, if there’s any left after years of government meddling, bailouts, political blood feuds, and bitter partisanship.
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