Free Republic

NEWS last week that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates near zero until mid-2013 was welcomed by many investors, but the bleak message about the economy still came through loud and clear. The Fed has spent several years trying to kick-start the economy with low rates and other policies, with little success. Which raises this question: Will more of the same help now? Among the doubters is Thomas M. Hoenig, the soon-to-be former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Hoenig, at the helm of the Kansas City Fed for the last 20 years, has thought...

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial panic centered on Wall Street, it's easy to forget that this part of America has its own bitter history of wild speculation that ended in disaster. But Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig remembers the 1970s all too well. It was a lesson that still shapes his thinking about the role of the Fed's monetary policy in creating asset bubbles. Mr. Hoenig is [...] a voting member of the [FOMC], which sets U.S. monetary policy. In recent months he's been the committee's sole dissident on the Fed's promise to keep interest...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. fiscal policy is on an "unsustainable course" and the government must adjust its spending and tax programs or risk a crisis, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig said Tuesday.