Just for fun, read this:
U.S. Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh said in an opinion piece published late Thursday that the central bank might have to begin taking steps to normalize policy before the need is obvious.
"If 'whatever it takes' was appropriate to arrest the panic, the refrain might turn out to be equally necessary at a stage during the recovery to ensure the Federal Reserve's institutional credibility," Warsh said in a piece published on the Wall Street Journal's Web site.
"The asymmetric application of policy ultimately could cause the innovative policy approaches introduced in the past couple of years to lose their standing as valuable additions in the arsenal of central bankers," he said.
Warsh says the Fed is at "a critical transition period." He cautioned that if policy steps are "not implemented with skill and force and some sense of proportionality, the success of the overall endeavor could suffer."
"Policy makers should continue to communicate as clearly as possible the guideposts, conditions and means by which extraordinary monetary accommodation will be unwound, including the removal of excess bank reserves," Warsh said.
Since the global credit crisis began, the Fed has pumped more than $800 billon into the banking system, kept the federal funds rate near zero and purchased so many Treasurys and mortgage-backed debt that the amount of assets on its balance sheets has now swollen to $2.14 trillion.
Got that? I don't know about you, but I really liked the:
"The asymmetric application of policy ultimately could cause the innovative policy approaches introduced in the past couple of years to lose their standing as valuable additions in the arsenal of central bankers,"
thing.
Allow me to translate:
"We really f**ked up, and the cure may turn out to be worse than the disease. Our policy moves, both fiscal and monetary, are leading to a complete collapse of the currency, and with it, the system. Holy sh*t! This is bad!"
These guys should hire me as their director of public communications.
Greg