Now He Tells Us

America’s central bank has given the country a reckless program of quantitative easing and ultra-low interest rates. Now, its chairman announces that he is no longer confident of a ‘soft landing.’

AP Photo/Annie Rice
From left, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and two former Federal Reserve chiefs, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, in 2019. AP Photo/Annie Rice

It’s been 12 years since Chairman Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve went on “60 Minutes” and declared “we could raise interest rates in 15 minutes, if we have to.” Since then, America’s central bank has given the country a reckless program of quantitative easing and zero interest rates and expanded its balance sheet to nearly $9 trillion from mere billions at the beginning of this century.

Now comes Mr. Bernanke’s successor, Jerome Powell, to announce that he is no longer confident of a “soft landing.” That’s Fed-speak for trouble ahead, as the central bank tries to beat inflation without triggering a recession. Mr. Powell was quick to claim this isn’t the Fed’s fault. He cited “huge events, geopolitical events.” Nice try, but it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Fed’s inflation is, as always, a monetary event.

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