Is Quantitative Easing Creating Unwanted Bubbles?

The Dow set an alltime record today (Mar. 5, 2013). The last time the Dow / Stock Market was this high was in Oct. 2007. Here are some interesting statistics comparing then vs now.

~ Dow Jones Industrial Average:   Then 14164.5;   Now 14164.5

~ Regular Gas Price:   Then $2.75;   Now $3.73

~ GDP Growth:   Then +2.5%;   Now +1.6%

~ Americans Unemployed (in Labor Force):   Then 6.7 million;   Now 13.2 million

~ Americans On Food Stamps:   Then 26.9 million;   Now 47.69 million

~ Size of Fed’s Balance Sheet:   Then $0.89 trillion;   Now $3.01 trillion

~ US Debt as a Percentage of GDP:   Then ~38%;   Now 74.2%

~ US Deficit (LTM):   Then $97 billion;   Now $975.6 billion

~ Total US Debt Oustanding:   Then $9.008 trillion;   Now $16.43 trillion

~ US Household Debt:   Then $13.5 trillion;   Now 12.87 trillion

~ Labor Force Particpation Rate:   Then 65.8%;   Now 63.6%

~ Consumer Confidence:   Then 99.5;   Now 69.6

~ S&P Rating of the US:   Then AAA;   Now AA+

~ VIX:   Then 17.5%;   Now 14%

~ 10 Year Treasury Yield:   Then 4.64%;   Now 1.89%

~ EURUSD:   Then 1.4145;   Now 1.3050

~ Gold:   Then $748;   Now $1583

~ NYSE Average LTM Volume (per day): Then 1.3 billion shares; Now 545 million shares

There are some very troubling numbers in there – and the trend is not good. It appears that the Quantitative Easing the Fed has been doing is creating a bubble or multiple bubbles that will be very scary when they pop.