The Fed is touchy these days. No wonder, with economic growth lagging and the tools of monetary policy failing to do what the Fed probably can’t do: spur economic growth.
So Ben Bernanke, former Fed chief, is blasting Rand Paul in blistering terms (for the Federal Reserve) for proposing a minor “Audit the Fed” bill:
“This is very deceptive — this bill is very deceptively titled,” Bernanke said during a discussion at Nasdaq’s Times Square headquarters to promote his new book, “The Courage to Act.”
Bernanke suggested the bill wasn’t about increasing transparency so much as giving lawmakers more control over the Fed and its monetary policies.
“You’re basically saying that Congress should run monetary policy,” he said. “I always like to say, if you love the way they’re managing fiscal policy, let them run monetary policy.”
The average American working family hasn’t had a real raise in a decade, while the Fed-inspired bubble in stocks and real estates raises the net worth of the already well-to-do.
Honest debate about the failure of monetary policy to spur economic growth has to be part of the equation. Bad theories make bad policies.
Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at the American Principles Project.
