Fed Official Admits the Fed Starts Boom/Bust Cycles

Campaign For Liberty
Aug. 16, 2010

There are all kinds of things awry with this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/business/economy/14fed.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

But the important part is this:

"Monetary policy is a useful tool, but it cannot solve every problem faced by the United States," Mr. Hoenig [Thomas M. Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City] said in a town hall-style meeting in Lincoln, Neb. "In trying to use policy as a cure-all, we will repeat the cycle of severe recession and unemployment in a few short years by keeping rates too low for too long."

Mr. Hoenig added: "I wish free money was really free and that there was a painless way to move from severe recession and high leverage to robust and sustainable economic growth, but there is no short cut."

He was the one dissenter in the 9-1 vote to buy Treasury debt instead of shrinking the Fed's balance sheet. But sometimes, all it takes is the first dissenter to have the courage to speak out, and others will join in. Keep your fingers crossed that happens here.