I heart econ

A revelation this morning. I love economics. I realize this makes me sound like a big, giant uber-nerd, but I don't care. It's fascinating and I love it.

Last night we completed our weekly econ homework and it went fine. We're studying monetary policy and what the Fed does and why.

I didn't realize that I get it, that I really do understand the big picture now, until this morning. A colleague and I were discussing our bosses' (yes, two of them) penchants for blaming everything wrong with business on the government. My colleague said, "Government has nothing to do with business."

"Oh, yes, my friend. It does." We got into a discussion about it and the fact that I could explain to her the three levers the Fed can use to alter the money supply impressed even me. It all comes down to lending, and the ability of private banks to do so. The Fed can, by changing the required reserves, changing the discount rate, or selling bonds, adjust the flow of money in our economy.

Now that I get it, it's so, so simple.

I know those of you who already get it are laughing at me, but I don't care. And those of you who don't get it are saying, "Okaaaaaay." I don't care about that, either. I'm just so damn excited that I get it, and that it makes perfect sense to me, and that I can follow the pundits now screaming about what Bernanke should or shouldn't do.

This here is Ben Bernanke, and the power he has...hoooooo! Way cool. So, incredibly, geekily, way cool. So you go ahead, Ben, and adjust this and tweak that. Now that I actually understand your job (and the headaches that must go along with it), I'm looking forward to watching. By the way, my company could really use a small business loan right now, so if you could loosen up the required reserve rate, or lower the discount rate, or buy back some government bonds, that would be great.