Joe Biden made his intentions pretty clear during his campaign in 2020 when in an interview on monetary policy, he said that the famous monetarist Milton Friedman “isn’t running the show anymore”. And, given the signals President Biden is sending with his appointments to the Federal Reserve Board and other financial management agencies, the job of running the show has in substance shifted to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her friends in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who clearly want to have the executive branch of the government heavily involved with the allocation of capital. I have previously expressed my thoughts on the mission creep into social issues and climate change (see The Texas Pilgrim of January and June 2021) through the regulatory powers of the Fed, and now, with the resignation of the FDIC Chairman, we have a Democrat majority FDIC Board to complement the newly appointed Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman in charge of bank regulation. This invites a politization of bank supervision that is destined to have far-reaching negative implications.
And all of this shuffling of monetary policy leadership and mission creep is taking place when the November inflation rate of 6.8% reached its highest level since 1982, when President Ronald Reagan and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker went on the attack. The differences are many, but primarily Volcker knew that inflation is a function of the growth of the money supply, as Friedman said, and Reagan knew that fiscal policy was all about the supply side. Neither current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell nor Biden seem to have a clue about it and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is all about demand side policy and spending stimulus. Good luck.
If one simply looks back at American financial history in our lifetimes it is quite easy to see a strong connection between prosperity following Friedman based policies and the opposite when his policies are not followed. Of course liberals seem to dismiss history–if fact they seem not to even remember the history of what they said about anything six months or six days ago.
I think it is a mistake to believe the far-left desires prosperity. They desire control of the reins of power. Widespread prosperity does not allow that.
“Neither current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell nor Biden seems to have a clue about it and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is all about demand-side policy and spending stimulus. Good luck.”
Jim, I suspect that the people pulling Biden’s lever know exactly what they are doing and exactly what they are seeking to achieve. We are making a major mistake in believing that they don’t know what they are doing!
No, Yellen knows exactly what she is doing, and so does Senator Pocahontas, who is really the one orchestrating the progressive strategy here.
As more validation of Yellen’s sentiments, consider her remarks last week to the World Economic Forum, at which she said “our new approach is far more promising than the old supply-side economics, which I see as having been a failed strategy for increasing growth…significant tax cuts on capital have not achieved their promised gains, and deregulation has a similarly poor track record in general and with respect to environmental policies.” Folks, this is our chief financial officer.
The US now has more and more of the rotten scent of Chavez/Maduro and Venezuela.
Progressives aka socialists & communists have no use for a Middle Class.
Our Progs, just like those in other countries, despise that Middle Class, perhaps because a solid Middle Class requires rule by law, not men. That is why Stalin liquidated the Kulaks.
We end up with the Rulers, the very few, and the huge massive number of the Ruled. Think China!
As a sign, you might ask Blithering Joe what to do about Ukraine besides pulling all American personnel out by Jan. 24.
Jim,
Off-topic, but in your wheelhouse: I would love to get your take on the essay, “No, the Revolution Isn’t Over” by N.S. Lyons on Substack, The Upheaval.
Best,
Kent Guida
Link to the article here:
https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/no-the-revolution-isnt-over