Last week I posted about a couple of recent articles that discussed both Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summer’s support for potential future government purchases of stocks. The very notion of the government entering the stock market as a regular participant challenges my notion of a free market. This week, I’ll write a little about a Reuter’s article from October 14 expressing Yellen’s floating of the idea of running a high pressure economy.

Go here to see the Reuter’s article, titled “Fed’s Yellen says ‘high-pressure’ policy may be only way back from crisis.” I must say that like the notion of routine government stock purchases, the introductory paragraph of the Reuter’s article I’m discussing today rattles my cage too. Let me quote that paragraph here:

“The Federal Reserve may need to run a “high-pressure economy” to reverse damage from the 2008-2009 crisis that depressed output, sidelined workers, and risks becoming a permanent scar, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday in a broad review of where the recovery may still fall short.”

It seems to me that we are witnessing an economic experiment today, nationally and globally, that is being formulated as we go along. As I’ve stated many times before, it is my strongly held belief that no equity investment should be made without first undertaking a careful review of the balance sheet. I published my book “Choose Stocks Wisely” in late 2013 with a genuine desire to communicate a simple notion, namely that the balance sheet deserves primary attention in the stock market realm; that the balance sheet should never take a back seat to the quarterly earnings report when it comes to proper risk assessment. The kind of articles I’ve discussed in this post today and the one prior are highlighting the critical and essential role of the balance sheet.