And St Louis Fed President James Bullard goes about it with gusto!:
If the Federal Reserve doesn’t change the way it takes stock of the economy and its relationship to monetary policy, the U.S. may be facing a “looming disaster,” a top central bank official said Monday.
The central banker was referring to the Fed’s policy that’s had interest rates at an effectively zero percent stance for several years, with rates projected to remain there through 2014, based on the outcome of the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Most central bankers hope that by pursuing very stimulative policy, they’ll help spur better rates of growth than have been seen thus far in the recovery, and help the economy regain the employment levels seen before the crisis started.
But Bullard — his comments came from the text of a speech prepared for delivery before the Union League Club of Chicago — suspects what was lost over the course of the crisis simply won’t be regained. Bullard instead spoke of what he called a wealth shock, wherein what was lost in the downturn, namely huge amounts of housing sector wealth, won’t be gotten back. That suggests that the moderate rates of growth seen in the recovery may not be as bad as many have believed, the official said.
Mr Bullard, what we want is for your institution to close, at least partially, the spending gap, something very different from the “output gap”. And that the Fed can certainly do, if it just sets its “sights” appropriately.
And Mr. Bullard, if you´re all for “inflation targeting”, please retract on your defense of the “headline” index! BIG MISTAKE!
If you fancy a headache, read the whole speech!
HT Patricia Stefani
Please, no more headaches. I prefer prosperity.
Before the start of baseball season, managers should tell their teams, “If you play above .500, that’s a great year.”