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The Fed could be on the verge of repeating its 1970s mistake, Fed historian says
CNN ^ | 5/8/23

Posted on 05/08/2023 10:55:32 AM PDT by EBH

London CNN — When the US Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive campaign to quash inflation last year, it did so with the goal of avoiding a painful repeat of the 1970s, when inflation spun out of control and economic malaise set in.

Inflation has been sliding, indicating that after 10 consecutive interest rate hikes, the central bank is experiencing some success.

But Gary Richardson, a Federal Reserve historian, is worried policymakers — now contemplating taking a breather — still risk repeating mistakes from that era.

“The more times you pause [rate hikes], the longer the problem is going to go on,” he told me. “That’s a worry here.”

What’s happening: When the Fed met last week, it raised its key interest rate by another quarter of a percentage point, noting that inflation remains “well above” its longer-term goal of 2%.

Yet amid signs of stress in the banking sector that could pile pressure on the economy, it opened the door to keeping rates unchanged when it meets again in June.

“There’s a sense that we’re much closer to the end of this than to the beginning,” Chair Jerome Powell said.

Investors are cheering the notion that borrowing costs may have peaked. Richardson, however, is concerned inflation could surge again should that be the case.

A premature retreat could cause the Fed to lose its handle on the situation, presenting even grimmer options down the road. That’s what happened in the 1970s, he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: inflation
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These concerns are finally hitting the mainstream. We are no where close to taming inflation yet.

Although I do think we are at an inflection point.

1 posted on 05/08/2023 10:55:32 AM PDT by EBH
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To: EBH

Gosh! Only a Central Bank Digital Currency can save us now!


2 posted on 05/08/2023 10:58:34 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (“You want it one way, but it's the other way”)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I’m sure that it’s coming


3 posted on 05/08/2023 11:00:27 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4151514/posts


4 posted on 05/08/2023 11:01:26 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: EBH

Leftists never learn and never want to do anything right for America anyway.


5 posted on 05/08/2023 11:03:00 AM PDT by Bullish (Either we don't see it coming or they don't... But somebody's got it coming.)
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To: EBH

Two Ways to stop Inflation:

1. Stop printing money out of thin air.

2. Stop spending money printed out of thin air.


6 posted on 05/08/2023 11:03:24 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: EBH

The Fed is impotent in doing anything when the government can’t control spending. It’s really much more than that. It’s also regulatory policy, energy policy, immigration policy and tax policy. It’s not a leap to suggest that there is a systemic problem in education that affects the economy. Basically, everything Biden touches turns to chit.


7 posted on 05/08/2023 11:06:23 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: SaveFerris; EBH

It makes perfect sense if deliberately trying to ruin the economy is what your after.


8 posted on 05/08/2023 11:08:57 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: EBH

It’s not just what the fed did in the 70’s that created the malaise. It was also the policies set forth by the Carter administration. This is exactly what’s happening today. It took the policies of Reagan to bring us out of the malaise not so much the fed.


9 posted on 05/08/2023 11:11:51 AM PDT by ProudDeplorable (Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. ~ Ronald Reagan)
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To: EBH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_nGEj8wIP0

Recorded at University of San Diego & San Diego Chamber of Commerce ©1978

27:16 min

"In the United States, we have also had, and in most countries, a third less important factor that has contributed to excessive increases in the quantity of money, and that has been mistaken policies by the central bank."

"Professor Siegan referred to the mistake of the Federal Reserve Bank inthe late '20s and early '30s. From 1929 to 1933 the quantity of money in the United States went down by a third, and that was a major factor that produced the catastrophe. That was the great mistake of the Federal Reserve. It learned from that mistake. Government agencies, like people, don't always make the same mistake the next time; they make a different one. And since that period, the central banks have tended to make the mistake in the opposite direction. Their mistake has almost always been caused by confusing their function, by thinking that they had something to do with interest rates instead of recognizing that their real function was to control the quantity of money." - Milton Friedman

10 posted on 05/08/2023 11:31:00 AM PDT by frogjerk (More people have died trusting the government than not trusting the government.)
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To: Red Badger

It is really that simple. Some will argue we can grow out way out of it by increasing productivity but as Milton Friedman said it is by an order of magnitude too small to do anything about inflation.


11 posted on 05/08/2023 11:34:22 AM PDT by frogjerk (More people have died trusting the government than not trusting the government.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Exactly what they are manufacturing. You can see they are slowly but steadily ratcheting up the crisis/chaos.


12 posted on 05/08/2023 11:35:39 AM PDT by Obadiah
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To: EBH

13 posted on 05/08/2023 11:39:08 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Red Badger

Three Ways to stop Inflation:

3. Spend money wisely for American citizens, and spend it in the USA. To heck with illegal invaders, and throwing money at other countries that hate us.


14 posted on 05/08/2023 11:40:30 AM PDT by roadcat
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To: V_TWIN

It would fit with Obama’s usual worke


15 posted on 05/08/2023 11:42:23 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: EBH
These concerns are finally hitting the mainstream.

The only concerns of CNN are the political ramifications.

16 posted on 05/08/2023 11:45:13 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: EBH

The Fed is a Satanic human sacrifice inspiration.
Let’s stop being oblivious by talking about it as a legitimate, functioning program.


17 posted on 05/08/2023 11:45:21 AM PDT by conservativeimage (Help Reassemble Civilian Government. Join Your State Assembly - tasa.americanstatenationals.org)
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To: SaveFerris

obama is in on it and more than likely the architect of it


18 posted on 05/08/2023 11:46:13 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: V_TWIN

I have no doubt

Given all that has happened since his national debut


19 posted on 05/08/2023 11:47:36 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: frogjerk

Yes, prices won’t come down by producing more goods until the market for those goods is saturated. And meanwhile the prices of the raw materials keeps rising, so it’s a carrot & stick approach that will not work for a loooooong time.............


20 posted on 05/08/2023 11:49:06 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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