Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, like Ben Bernanke before her and
all central bankers generally, projects an aura of unflappable
seriousness. Listening to her speak on economic issues, one gets the
feeling that were she to witness the second coming of Christ, her first
thought would be the likely effect on inflation and employment.
This reputation, however, is belied by their behavior. While both Yellen and Bernanke are brilliant economists, the actions of the Federal Reserve since 2008 have betrayed a basic lack of substantive seriousness. Instead of a straightforward, honest, empirical consideration of how best to restore the economy to health, there has been unjustifiable hesitation and dithering, covered up by a lot of serious-sounding argle-bargle.
This failure was grimly illustrated yet again with the release of revised GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2015. Just like in 2014, the economy shrank during the beginning of the year, this time at an annualized rate of 0.7 percent. It's symptomatic of a Fed that is not only failing the American people, but setting itself up for its own worst nightmare in the future.
http://theweek.com/articles/558211/federal-reserves-premature-extraculation-problem-keeps-getting-worse
This reputation, however, is belied by their behavior. While both Yellen and Bernanke are brilliant economists, the actions of the Federal Reserve since 2008 have betrayed a basic lack of substantive seriousness. Instead of a straightforward, honest, empirical consideration of how best to restore the economy to health, there has been unjustifiable hesitation and dithering, covered up by a lot of serious-sounding argle-bargle.
This failure was grimly illustrated yet again with the release of revised GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2015. Just like in 2014, the economy shrank during the beginning of the year, this time at an annualized rate of 0.7 percent. It's symptomatic of a Fed that is not only failing the American people, but setting itself up for its own worst nightmare in the future.
http://theweek.com/articles/558211/federal-reserves-premature-extraculation-problem-keeps-getting-worse
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