I was at Lowes the other day picking up a gallon of Olympic Deck Protector, which is $6.00 dollars a gallon cheaper at Lowes than at Sears, when I encountered an acquaintenace of mine who is a stockbroker with a large midwestern brokerage firm. The guy is somewhat of a local pundit on the stockmarket and gets quoted in the local papers fairly regularly. I mentioned to him that I had seen some of his comments in the local papers on the markets.
Then I mentioned the possibility of an interest rate cut coming at or before the next FOMC meeting, which is scheduled for September 29(?). This little comment by me pushed the poor guy over the edge. He said somthing like that would be the end of monetarism "er ah" monetary policy. I mean I probably ruined the poor guys evening and I am sure the sales clerk wondered what the hell we were talking about. The broker and me were tossing around terms like, the American consumer as the consumer of last resort, the Marshall Plan, global overcapacity and lack of demand etc.etc.
I hope he didn't go home and beat his dog or worse.
Sincerely, Tom