Janet Yellen Got Out of Dodge
As expected, earlier today, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates; they left them unchanged. The next rate hike is likely to come when Powell takes the reins at the Fed. Janet Yellen got out of Dodge! This is the second Fed chairman to be able to pull this off. Bernanke inherited a disaster, and he got out of Dodge, and so did Janet Yellen.
Greenspan as Dr. Frankenstein, Fed Policy as Monster
I don’t think Powell is going to be as fortunate as his two predecessors. In fact Alan Greenspan was on CNBC today talking about the bubble in the bond market, the bubble in the stock market, how we’re coming to stagflation, how we don’t have any productivity growth. I believe that Alan Greenspan knows exactly how bad this is. He is like the Dr. Frankenstein who created a monster, except neither Yellen nor Bernanke nor Powell even realize that it is a monster. I don’t think any of them know enough about economics.
Passing the Baton Full of Dynamite
Alan Greenspan is an Austrian-schooled, Ayn Rand guy. He’s a smart guy; he certainly knows more about economics than I do. Obviously he can see this. He created this thing, yet the Fed Chairs who succeeded him do not understand it. Greenspan understood all the chemicals and he made this bomb that he handed off and it’s been moving like a baton (or maybe like a stick of dynamite!) from one Fed Chair to another. Yet only Alan Greenspan realizes that the baton is made of dynamite.
Keynesians are Blind
Greenspan’s successors kept expanding the policy, putting more explosives in the baton because they believe in this Keynesian nonsense. Greenspan doesn’t believe any of that! So they had no idea what they were dealing with. Like in the original Frankenstein movie – you got that blind man who could not see that Dr. Frankenstein’s monster is actually a monster. Yellen, or Powell are blind to how the economics are working and can’t see the policy for what it is.
Not Going to End Well
Greenspan sees it, but he can’t just come right out say it; you have to read between the lines because he is still protecting himself and the credibility of the Federal Reserve so he is not going to start trashing the people who are running it. You can tell, though that he knows this is not going to end well.
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