Central Banks Are On the Defensive
Where’s All That Gold?
All over the Western world, central banks are under pressure from their governments to inflate. Governments are not satisfied with short-term interest rates at historic lows, such as a federal funds rate of 0% to 0.25% in the United States. Politicians want rapid economic growth, and they are convinced that this is possible after a major recession only with more fiat money. In short, they have accurately understood the message of their college-level textbooks. This is what textbooks have been saying for over 50 years. This is the new, improved Keynesianism. Keynes focused on the need for large government deficits and increased government spending, not monetary inflation. The new Keynesianism wants large government deficits and lots of fiat money.
These twin pillars of neo-Keynesian policy are not working anywhere in the West. They are working for now in China, which has become the world’s bubble economy, but not in the popped-bubble economies of the West.
Harold
