Posted on 01/03/2014 10:22:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Arthur Laffer is a legend in Washington, having been the leading voice on President Ronald Reagan's hawkish Economic Policy Advisory Board.
His "Laffer Curve," which argued that there are diminishing returns after a certain point of taxation, was taken as gospel.
If his views are not quite as frequent a presence in public debate, it's largely because Laffer's pet issues, regulation and taxes, took a back seat during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
But Laffer himself still occasionally makes appearances on the public scene.
And in June of 2009, he penned an op-ed warning excessive quantitative easing would inevitably lead to higher inflation and interest rates.
...we haven't ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what's happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits ...Gold prices went from $35 per ounce to $850 per ounce, and the dollar collapsed on the foreign exchanges. It wasn't a pretty picture.
Obviously, nothing like that happened.
In an interview with Business Insider from his office in Tennessee, Laffer admitted that he was wrong. The old maxim that dictates increasing the availability of cash through lower interest rates will lead to higher prices, he said, may need to be reexamined.
"Usually when you find the model this far off, you've probably got something wrong with the model, not that the world has changed," he said. "Inflation does not appear to be monetary base driven," he said.
He's not totally comfortable with what the Fed is doing, however. "Ask me whether inflation represents longer term problem, I think there's a potential there for excess reserves to create problems."
But it now seems impossible to predict.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Gee, how nice of them. Where can I sign up for that? Run trillions of dollars through my bank account and I'll help the economy too.
Sounds good. We need to cut taxes, cut spending, a lot, and seal the border.
And change the way currency is created.
You can sign up right here. All you need is trillions in Treasury bonds or guaranteed MBS that the Fed can exchange for cash.
And change the way currency is created.
And improve economics education.
Sweet gig they got going.
I know. Trading those bonds yielding 3% and up for that cash yielding 0.25%!
I'm sure most of what they buy beats inflation.
The Fed gives the banks cash, in exchange for their bonds. The cash yields 0.25%.
I'm sure they stay well ahead of inflation.
Their 3% bonds were paying much more than 0.25%.
You're being inconsistent again. You've said the Fed sends their profits to the Treasury and now you say they can't keep up with inflation.
You’re confused, again. You said the banks had a sweet gig. Because they get to sell their 3% bonds to the Fed, for cash earning 0.25%.
Thery have a sweet gig because they buy currency at manufacturing cost which is about $.08 per bill and then loan that out and buy debt instruments which beat inflation, plus they have a 3% target for inflation which means they make more money every year.
How about we try something else rather than this slavocracy.
Yes, the government has a sweet gig. Let's make it smaller.
How about we try something else rather than this slavocracy.
Modern finance is not slavery. Bitcoins or gold won't clear up your confusion.
It's a system only a bootlicker like you could love.
Bitcoins or gold won't clear up your confusion.
Bitcoin is also slavery. The miner receives a royalty for every transaction forever.
It's a system only a bootlicker like you could love.
Try living without it. That's something only an idiot like you could love.
...in June of 2009, he penned an op-ed warning excessive quantitative easing would inevitably lead to higher inflation and interest rates.Thanks SeekAndFind.
...we haven't ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what's happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits ...Gold prices went from $35 per ounce to $850 per ounce, and the dollar collapsed on the foreign exchanges. It wasn't a pretty picture.
Obviously, nothing like that happened.
In an interview with Business Insider from his office in Tennessee, Laffer admitted that he was wrong. The old maxim that dictates increasing the availability of cash through lower interest rates will lead to higher prices, he said, may need to be reexamined."Usually when you find the model this far off, you've probably got something wrong with the model, not that the world has changed," he said. "Inflation does not appear to be monetary base driven," he said.
The prisoners at the gulag couldn't live without the gulag either, they'd freeze.
Modern finance is not slavery.
Actually, he was right. We just don’t compute inflation the way we did when he first penned the Curve.
The Federal Reserve system most certainly is. It's Esau's inheritance.
Bump for later read.
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