Henry Kaufman, 1970s Wall Street Dr. Doom, blasts Powell on inflation

Bloomberg/Erik Schatzker/1-13-2022

“Henry Kaufman is one of the rare Wall Street veterans who can authoritatively draw parallels between the inflation scare of the 1970s and today’s alarming run-up in prices. And he has zero confidence Chair Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve is ready for the battle it now faces.”

USAGOLD note: Kaufman, in short, thinks the Fed will let inflation run, i.e., that we are in for a repeat of the 1970s. “I don’t think this Federal Reserve and this leadership has the stamina to act decisively. They’ll act incrementally,” he says. Like former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, he believes a Volcker-style shock is necessary to bring the current surge in inflation under control.