“Quantitative Uneasiness” – Freeman
“The second problem with QE2 is that the Fed is stuck in an inappropriate economic model, which embodies the adage that when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. The Fed really only has one policy tool: raising and lowering interest rates, whether short- or long-term. Therefore all economic problems seem solvable to the Fed through the use of this tool. The Fed has used it enthusiastically over the past ten years, bringing interest rates down to then-record levels in 2003–05, spurring a massive boom in both private and public debt and pushing the average savings rate negative for the first time in U.S. history. It is now increasingly accepted that loose monetary policy was one of the major causes—maybe even the primary one—of the Great Recession. For the past two years individuals and businesses have been slashing expenditures, increasing savings, and paying down debt—trying to get through the Keynesian hangover. But the Fed will have none of that: If Americans are not borrowing and spending enough, the Fed will lower not only the short-term rates but also long-term rates. In other words, it’ll make us an offer we can’t refuse—and we’ll be back on that not-so-merry-go-round yet again.” Read more.
“Quantitative Uneasiness”
Ivan Pongracic, Jr.
Freeman, May 2011, Volume 61, Issue 4.
Via the Foundation for Economic Education.
Image by nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
