Category: monetary policy

A Cure Worse Than the Disease: The Fed’s Ugly Dilemma

Commentary Inflation is running at its highest levels in 40 years. “Somebody do something” comes the cry from the voting masses! A panic-stricken Biden administration wants to do what politicians have always done—throw more money at it. Joe Biden believes his nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill would do the trick. You…


A Whole New Kind of Inflation Is Coming to Town

Commentary The Bureau of Labor Statistics, keepers of all that is sacred where employment and price data are concerned, just announced that inflation in December reached 7 percent. That’s three consecutive months above 6 percent. And eight consecutive months above 5 percent. Are we seeing a pattern yet? We haven’t seen the Fed’s target rate…


China Easing Monetary Policy as Economic Realities Set In

Commentary In the face of mounting economic troubles, Beijing finally blinked. As the country enters a key month of Chinese New Year, Winter Olympic games, while faced with an economic slowdown, persistent consumption and property sector issues, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to bite the bullet and interest rates to spur growth. The People’s…


The Fed’s Shrinkage Problem

Commentary Imagine you’re at the helm of the Queen Mary…. You’re bringing your cruise ship into port when over the radio comes the harbor master telling you they’re having some docking issues so you’ll need to parallel park your ship between the Maiden of the Seas and the Ocean Dreamer. You’ll see the spot up…


US Central Bankers Set Sights on March Rate Hike

With inflation running at its highest in nearly 40 years, U.S. central bankers are coalescing around a plan to start tapping the brakes on economic growth as soon as March, with further monetary policy tightening likely as the year goes on. On Wednesday, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly became the latest U.S….


Canadian Economy Ripe for Persistent High Inflation

Commentary Across the developed world, central bank officials continue to reassure the public that the global spike in inflation over the past nine months is transitory and that inflation should return to pre-pandemic rates sometime in 2022. At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve has begun to taper its purchases of government debt (which…


Absent Policy Change, High Inflation Could Persist: Report

The current higher inflation rates experienced by Canadians may not be transitory if the government and central bank do not modify their policies to address it, says a report released on Dec. 2. “While COVID’s effect on the economy has certainly contributed to the rising cost of goods and services, if central banks and governments…


Central Banks’ Balance Sheets in Focus as Global Inflation Soars

News Analysis Inflation is swelling across both advanced and developing economies, impacting a wide range of goods and services in the global marketplace. What does this mean for monetary policy in 2022? Financial markets are betting on tighter monetary policy next year as prices continue to spike in multiple sectors. Analysts anticipate a steady withdrawal…


Issues of Inflation, Productivity Absent in ‘Most Important Election Since 1945’

Commentary In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” a fleet of Vogon spaceships arrives to demolish the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass and is totally missed by all of the sophisticated radars. The Vogons “went unnoticed at Goonhilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight…


Easy Money Policies to Continue Post-COVID: Japan’s Central Bank Chief

The head of Japan’s central bank told local outlet Nikkei on Sept. 8 that accommodative monetary policy would continue even after the pandemic subsides in a bid to hit a 2 percent inflation target, a goal that has been undershot for years. Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, said that the central bank’s…