In April 2014, Jim Blaine discussed the Fed’s policy of pouring money into the economy and the prospect of inflation. His analysis seems relevant even more in today’s stimulus driven economy.
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| Chart This !! |
Spent several days last week at an economics conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. They hold it out in the north Georgia woods – a good distance from reality – which seemed appropriate.
There were a lot of really “scary smart” people at the conference including an economics Nobel laureate, several highly distinguished academics, global bank economists from the U.S., China, Spain, Japan, Chile, Italy, etc. and the leading economic theorists from government agencies such as the Fed, the FDIC, the U.S. Treasury, and the SEC. You get the picture – the best and the brightest in quantitative economics. No one from NCUA was registered…
Never been bothered much about not being “the smartest person at the table”(that’s just the way life is); but it’s a bit unnerving when you have to honestly admit that you’re unquestionably and repeatedly “the dumbest person at the table”(it was that kind of group!). Practiced being quiet a lot and trying to feign invisibility when the Q&A started soaring well above my head.
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| The Bernanke Solution ! |
What I found most intriguing was the open, heated debate among these very bright folks over the merits of the recent practice of “quantitative easing” by the Fed. Literally trillions of dollars have been injected into the banking system in an attempt to revive the U.S. economy. Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke colorfully labelled quantitative easing as the practice of “dumping helicopter loads of cash” on to communities all across America.
Much of the debate centered around the future economic consequences of reabsorbing this excess monetary stimulus as the economy gains strength. It was somehow both reassuring and refreshing to hear the best and brightest profess profound doubt and concern over being in these uncharted economic waters – with highly arguable and uncertain outcomes. All in decided contrast to the “inerrant robusterians” at the NCUA, who remain resolutely and insanely certain, about the unfailing wisdom of their myopia.
To read his observation about how the Fed was using its monetary stimulus and his “image token” from the meeting click here.