In a recent speech, one of the lesser-known Fed Governors, Philip N. Jefferson, discussed the importance of having a home:
Beyond location, a home provides both basic needs, such as shelter, and invaluable benefits, such as a sense of personal safety and dignity. It is a refuge in which our minds and bodies can recuperate and regenerate so we are prepared to participate in all aspects of life, including the next day’s work. The costs of living in disadvantaged areas or of dealing with financial hardship can be seen in all areas of life. Higher stress, the frequent necessity of working more than one job, the absence of benefits, and the time and money spent commuting—all these exact a financial and psychological toll.
On some level, he must understand that most Americans are under tremendous financial hardship, given the increase to both the cost of living and interest rates.
He asked the question:
What can the Fed learn from research on opportunity and inclusive growth?
Then tried to elaborate further what this meant:
The better we understand the channels that affect the health and function of the overall economy, the better we can calibrate our policy decisions to deliver on our dual mandate.
Continuing:
In pursuing its dual mandate, the Federal Reserve is essentially trying to foster and maintain the conditions in which the economy and all its participants can thrive.
And again:
Pursuing our dual mandate is the best way for the Federal Reserve to promote widely shared prosperity.
For well over a hundred years the Austrians have documented the economic problems a currency monopoly creates. Even beyond the mechanics of money creation lies moral, ethical, and legal considerations. The summary to Bastiat’s The Law, provides a succinct account:
The question that Bastiat deals with: how to tell when a law is unjust or when the law maker has become a source of law breaking? When the law becomes a means of plunder it has lost its character of genuine law. When the law enforcer is permitted to do with others’ lives and property what would be illegal if the citizens did them, the law becomes perverted.
Bastiat, as one of the proto-Austrians, or predecessors to the school, shared countless ideas which have always remained relevant. Hayek built upon this idea, explaining one of the problems with central planning:
The economic planning which was to be the socialist means to economic justice would be impossible unless the state was able to direct people and their possessions to whatever task the exigencies of the moment seemed to require. This, of course, is the very opposite of the Rule of Law.
What the Fed has successfully done over the last century is normalize one of the biggest crimes of the century: Counterfeiting.
Not a day goes by where the Fed is not mentioned on all business channels. Whether it’s CNBC, Bloomberg, on TV, or in print, a significant amount of effort goes into talking about the Fed, what they will do next, and how they may help or hinder the economy. Mainstream economists seem to revere the Fed, with the institution being widely incorporated into their dogmatic beliefs.
But let’s never forget: The Fed is a counterfeiter.
Should one individual try to pass even $100 of fake note as legal tender, they may face grave punishment. And depending on how large the scheme, the individual could face consequences stiffer than murder charges. Yet, when the Fed prints billions to trillions of dollars, not one in a thousand economists think anything of it. If anything, they’ll applaud the inflationary policy.
Like democracy through the barrel of a gun, or dropping a bomb for freedom, the words and actions of a central planner are usually diametrically opposed to each other. If the Fed was serious about helping the poorest members of society, wanted to ensure more “inclusivity,” and really wanted Americans to know the joy of home ownership and the pursuit of the American dream, then the best thing it could do is to stop everything it is doing today. If they really cared, they’d surrender to the rule of law, and not the law of the central planning authority.
