Jerome Powell’s Volcker deficit

Project Syndicate/Stephen Roach/5-25-2022

“Poor Jerome Powell. With US inflation close to a 40-year high, the Federal Reserve chair knows what he needs to do. He has professed great admiration for Paul Volcker, his 1980s-era predecessor, as a role model. But, to paraphrase US Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s famous 1988 quip about his vice-presidential rival, Senator Dan Quayle, I knew Paul Volcker very well, and Powell is no Paul Volcker.”

USAGOLD note: A scathing review of Jerome Powell’s tenure as Fed chairman including his remarks suggesting a replication of the Paul Volcker approach to taming inflation……As any number of prominent analysts have already pointed out, by keeping the interest rate under the inflation rate, Powell’s policies resemble more closely those of Arthur Burns than Paul Volcker, and as long as that is the case stagflation will remain a major concern among investors. Though somewhat dated, Roach’s assessment is well worth a second look. Llittle has changed since its original publication in May.