It’s kind of like this, an overweight smoker named Mr. Big Mac gets rushed to the ER complaining of chest pains. Sure enough, the tests show he had a heart attack. Add to that high cholesterol and high BP. The ER doc decides the tests are a little too strict. After all, Big Mac is still breathing. He then sends Mr. Mac home with a bag of french fries, coke, and instructions to smoke less. – Ilene
Should The Fed’s Dual Mandate Be Abolished?
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
The answer to that question is obviously no, the Fed itself should be abolished.
Instead, though, we get Republicans Senator Bob Corker and Representative Mike Pence suggesting that the Fed might have too much on its plate trying to keep inflation low and employment high. Besides, it’s not like they can fix the unemployment problem at this point so instead of insisting that they have failed and firing them, why not pretend like that was never their job?
Two U.S. Republican lawmakers said on Tuesday the Federal Reserve should focus solely on inflation and ditch its "dual mandate" to promote both price stability and full employment.
The pressure from Senator Bob Corker and Representative Mike Pence adds to the pile of international criticism over the central bank’s plan to buy an additional $600 billion in government bonds to try to speed up a sluggish economic recovery.
Opponents worry the program will weaken the dollar and sow the seeds of inflation at home and abroad without doing much to lift U.S. economic growth.
Pence said in a statement that the Fed’s dual mandate policy had "failed" and he would introduce legislation on Tuesday to strike that provision from the Federal Reserve Act of 1977.
How is that appropriate?
