Speeches, Interviews, Essays

No economic news was discussed. “This year’s conference is particularly special, as it marks the 10th year of these proceedings. It began somewhat humbly, but with ambition. The goal of the conference, as outlined then by Governor Jerome Powell, now chair of the Board of Governors, was to “inform discussions among policymakers, to collect unique…

“In the time that I’ve been at the bank, there used to be two pieces of advice which were mandates, which is, as an economist going out and speaking in public, there are two questions you don’t answer, what are interest rates going to do or when do you raise them? The other one is…

Transcript not yet available – Link to Interview is below. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-much-pain-will-it-take-to-crush-inflation-with/id1504128553?i=1000580885163

“Again, I still believe that our consensus, the median forecaster to get to the peak funds rate, assuming by March, assuming there are no further adverse shocks, and if things get better, then we could perhaps do less. But I think we’re headed for that peak funds rate, and that offers a path for employment…

“In fact, shelter inflation, as it is known, is a major driver of the far-too-high inflation plaguing our country. Housing represents about a third of the value of the baskets of goods that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) examines when preparing the Consumer Price Index. For renters, shelter inflation measures both rent and utility…

“These levels of inflation are similar to levels that you would have seen in the 1970s or early 1980s, so this is something we have not experienced since the days of Paul Volker. And the problem with the 70’s was not just that there was a tolerance for high inflation, but hat the inflation was…

“The one mistake that I am acutely aware of that I want to avoid repeating from the 1970s is when policymakers saw the economy weakening, saw inflation start to tick down, and then they cut rates thinking they had done the job, and then inflation flared back up again. That is a mistake I believe…

No text or link available.

A four-hour conference.  Powell attends via video, speaks about De-Fi, Stablecoins and CBDC. Total speaking time, about 15 minutes. Transcript not available. “I do think that the monetary policy normalization that we’re seeing all over the world, all it did was simply reveal what we’ve long pointed out as significant structural issues in the De-Fi…

“Though the recent inflation data have been disappointing, most forecasters, myself included, anticipate that inflation in the U.S. will cool down substantially over the next couple of years.” “First, even though some problems still remain, there are a number of signs that supply chain difficulties are improving: Ports are less congested, freight costs are falling,…