billy blog Mon 2010-06-07 19:00 EDT

Central bank independence -- another faux agenda

There are several strands to the mainstream neo-liberal attack on government macroeconomic policy activism. They get recycled regularly. ...Today, I am looking at another faux agenda -- the demand that central banks should be independent of the political process...The agenda is also tied in with the growing demand for fiscal rules which will further undermine public purpose in policy...I find it ironical that the freedom mongers have very limited appreciation of what freedom actually is. Allowing the unemployed to be ``bullied'' by amorphous bond markets is not a path to freedom...inflation targeting countries have failed to achieve superior outcomes in terms of output growth, inflation variability and output variability; moreover there is no evidence that inflation targeting has reduced inflation persistence...Central banks operating under this charter have forced the unemployed to engage in an involuntary fight against inflation and the fiscal authorities have further worsened the situation with complementary austerity...The conclusion that I have reached from studying this specific literature for many years is that there is no robust relationship between making the central bank independent and the performance of inflation...From a MMT perspective, the concept of CBI is anathema to the goal of aggregate policy (monetary and fiscal) to advance public purpose. By obsessing about inflation control, central banking has lost sight of what the purpose of policy is about...under the CBI ideology, monetary policy is not focused on advancing public purpose. Fighting inflation with unemployment is not advancing public purpose. The costs of inflation are much lower than the costs of unemployment. The mainstream fudge this by invoking their belief in the NAIRU which assumes these real sacrifices away in the ``long-run''...

Billy Blog; Central bank independence; faux agenda.

Tue 2009-09-29 11:14 EDT

Take This Monetary System, Please - Up and Down Wall Street Daily - Barrons.com

RANDALL W. FORSYTH

The current exchange-rate regime can't go on, but what's the alternative?...As long as China's currency remains joined at the hip to the dollar, the impact of the dollar's weakness ironically is felt more outside the U.S. than within its borders. And to keep that exchange rate stable requires China to continue to accumulate U.S. assets, notwithstanding that nation's vocal complaints about American deficits that it is compelled to fund. [reserve currency]

Barrons; com; monetary System; please; take; Wall Street Daily.

Jesse's Café Américain Sun 2009-09-13 12:28 EDT

H&S Top and "Iron Cross" on Weekly Dollar Chart Targets 66

Jesse

The weekly chart on the US Dollar Index has rather awful technicals, as it has dropped to a recent low, and set the 'iron cross' in the moving averages that is generally the hallmark of a sustained decline...The ultimate objective of this formation remains 66. It is difficult to square this with a technical outlook that includes a major decline in the US equity indices, since the pairs have been running inversely, that is, dollar down, and stocks up.

H; Iron Cross; Jesse's Café Américain; s Top; Weekly Dollar Chart Targets 66.

Fri 2009-06-26 00:00 EDT

Jesse's Café Américain: A Final Word on Inflation and Deflation

Jesse's Café Américain: A Final Word on Inflation and Deflation; ``serious monetary inflation is triggered by excessive government debt obligations, and not private debt, that can no longer be adequately serviced by a productive real economy and domestic taxation...the output gap is no sure barrier to this type of inflation is that it ironically serves to feed it in the presence of profligate government spending, since it dampens tax revenues and domestic GDP.

deflation; final words; Inflation; Jesse's Café Américain.