Apr 17, 2011

David Stockman on the Fed's Zero Interest Rate Policy

The destructive result of the Federal Reserve's earlier housing and consumer credit bubble became the excuse for embracing a destructive zero interest rate policy which is self-evidently fueling even more destruction. This destruction is namely, the exploitation of middle class savers; the current severe food and energy squeeze on lower income households; the illusion in Washington that Uncle Sam can comfortably manage $14 trillion in debt because the interest carry is close enough to zero for government purposes; and the next round of bursting bubbles building up among the risk asset classes. [...] So in the present circumstances, ZIRP and QE2 amount to a monetary Hail Mary. There is no monetary tradition whatsoever that says the way back to US economic health and sustainable growth is through herding Grandma into junk bonds and speculators into the Russell 2000.

~ David Stockman, "Federal Reserve’s Path of Destruction," MarketWatch, 2011

Image result for hedgeye cartoons

No comments: