Lou Barnes, whose columns I have enjoyed reading in the past, has become quite cynical, over the past six-to-eight weeks. He seems to have bought into the hysteria gripping the streets (Wall and Main) over the "subprime lending crisis" and, worse, the US "credit crunch".

My understanding of his point of view is that is asking (begging) for government intervention to rescue us (read: the American citizen) from entering into a severe recession (an event which may have already occurred, according to some economists and TV pundits ...).

He got his wish (partially) two weeks' back, when the Federal Reserve dropped its Fed Funds rate by half a point. He, and other Wall Street-watchers, are now hoping (expecting?) another half-point drop at the end of October.

But, he's not a total "doomsayer".

No, he's not, and he criticizes those who are.

At this point, home buyers and sellers have been propagandized into paralysis. The marker for the moment of hysterical maximum was Jim Cramer's (new) rant on the "Today" show, a finger-wagging "Don't you dare buy a house &8212; you'll lose money!!"

Mr. Cramer's credentials as the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of CNBC are well-established. If he were one-tenth as smart a trader as he says, he would have long-since made enough money to buy the network, and renamed it All Jim.

That's a nasty comment, Lou!

Mr Barnes thinks we've got little to worry about (we meaning the average American citizen, again) - the world still loves us (us meaning our money).

Currency trading is limited to this planet: to exit the dollar you have to buy somebody else's currency. Which one? The euro is saturated, as are the Canadian loonie, and Aussie and Kiwi bucks, and Swiss francs. Asia? Oops! &8212; all pegged to the dollar. Can't buy China's RMB anyway &8212; not a traded currency. Then, you could pick pesos, reals, sols, rubles, colons, rupees or Bolivars &8212; you want &8216;em, you got &8216;em. You could buy hard assets instead, but drive up the prices far enough and nobody can afford to make anything out of your copper or burn your oil.

Meaning, we're on top, regardless.

(This blog entry brought to you courtesy of the parenthesis.)

Source: Praying for lower rates and a refinance party - By Lou Barnes, Inman News