Investors to Fed: Thanks for
nothing
The reckless are getting relief from Bernanke while the
prudent are paying the price, argues Fortune’s Allan Sloan.
By Allan Sloan, Fortune senior-editor-at-large
September 28 2007: 2:27 PM EDT
(Fortune Magazine) — One of the core principles of the U.S. medical profession is
the Hippocratic oath, the most famous part of which is “Do no harm.” It’s too bad
that the governors of the Federal Reserve Board don’t have to take such a
pledge when they assume office, because their recent interest rate cut has done
a lot of harm to those of us who’ve managed our finances prudently.
Even though the Fed‘s stated reason for cutting short-term interest rates by half a
point was to help keep the economy from falling into recession, anyone who’s
been paying attention knows that a major motivation – if not the major motivation
