Friday 2 July 2010

AEP questions the Masters of the Universe

I occasionally read Telegraph articles by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, and I usually have to wince at his ridiculous Keynesian suggestions. Reading his latest article, I have to wonder if someone has tied him up and stolen his keyboard:
The current generation of economists have led the world into a catastrophic cul de sac. And if they think we are safely on the road to recovery, they still fail to understand what they did.

Central banks were the ultimate authors of the credit crisis since it is they who set the price of credit too low, throwing the whole incentive structure of the capitalist system out of kilter, and more or less forcing banks to chase yield and engage in destructive behaviour.

He continues:
There has been a cosy self-delusion that rising debt is largely benign because it is merely money that society owes to itself. This is a bad error of judgement, one that the intuitive man in the street can see through immediately.
AEP concludes:
As for the Fed, I venture to say that a common jury of 12 American men and women placed on the Federal Open Market Committee would have done a better job of setting monetary policy over the last 20 years than Doctors Bernanke and Greenspan.
Andy Duncan at The Cobden Centre has produced a good write-up.

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