Re: What would happen if...
What would happen if.....
Ben Bernanke spoke his mind?
"Everyone knows that monetary policy cannot solve our current economic problems! I am getting really annoyed with all of the politicians of both parties, pointing fingers and posturing, while doing nothing to address the very serious fiscal problems we face. If anything, politicians of both parties are making things worse!
"We all know what's really needed: government spending as a % of GDP is out of alignment!
We need both to increase the rate of growth in the economy, and also to reduce the amount spent by the government. It's insane in these circumstances to talk about raising anyone's income taxes, we live in an interconnected world and there are unexpected consequences to rash actions.
"All this talk about 'income inequality' is at best misguided. What matters far more than the distribution of income is the well-being of our citizens! What good does it do to reduce income inequality if the result is to make the lives of the poor even more miserable than it is now? The lowest paid player on the Chicago Bulls in 1996 made more money than the highest paid player on the Chicago Bulls in 1986 even though the income inequality became more pronounced because of Michael Jordan's salary, but so what? I'm not defending income inequality at all, and I don't want to get distracted about 'trickle down' or 'job creators' or any of this other political claptrap, because it's all a big distraction taking our attention away from what really matters, and that is solving our very serious fiscal imbalances. No one wins if we are all worse off, and unless we both reduce the rate of increase in government spending and also increase the rate of economic growth, nearly all of us are seriously screwed!
"So stop looking to us for another round of easing or for us to buy any more mortgages or engage in another round of 'quantitative easing.' Monetary policy has done all it can do. Let's face it, we have tough choices ahead of us!
"The best thing we could do for this country is to acknowledge that everyone has to sacrifice something today, in the short run, for the promise of a better future for each one of us. There just aren't enough resources available to do everything we want to do, and what we really need is a national 'grand bargain' in which everyone contributes something so that no one feels cheated.
"Clearly the politicians cannot deliver, and so we need statesmen and stateswomen from other walks of life to step forward and deliver the compromises we all have to make to revive the economic engine that made the US such a special, great nation."
