The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Her Honeymoon Is Already Over

Sometimes, a cartoon can capsulize a complex thought and sometimes a cartoon can mislead.  Take a look at this misleading one:


You see the next Fed Head Janet Yellen explaining that there will be no inflation, because 0% interest rates on overnight deposits forever will cause zero inflation.  I don’t think there is an economist on this planet who believes that is remotely possible.

It would obviously cause inflation at some point, but the cartoonist was trying to encourage investment in gold by insulting Yellen’s intelligence.  Yellen never said this!  With a Ph.D. in economics from Yale and a lifetime of experience, she would never say such a stupid thing.  (She is also married to a Nobel-prize winning economist, and her son is a professor of economics.)

Bernanke and Yellen have both assured the investment community that a decrease in the amount of monthly quantitative easing does not mean they will allow interest rates to move up, until the economy is on sounder footing.

There are lots of reasons to buy gold, but this is not one of them.

Yellen has not even taken over as Chair of the Federal Reserve System yet, but the usual honeymoon with critics is already over.