Apparently some members of the Fed have noticed inflation isn’t the real problem right now:
A subtle but significant shift appears to be occurring within the Federal Reserve over the course of monetary policy amid increasing signs that the economic recovery is weakening.
James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, warned that the American economy was at risk of becoming “enmeshed in a Japanese-style deflationary outcome within the next several years.”
On Thursday, James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, warned that the Fed’s current policies were putting the American economy at risk of becoming “enmeshed in a Japanese-style deflationary outcome within the next several years.”
The warning by Mr. Bullard, who is a voting member of the Fed committee that determines interest rates, comes days after Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, said the central bank was prepared to do more to stimulate the economy if needed, though it had no immediate plans to do so.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Fed and other government agencies took advantage of domestic Nobel Prize winning economists? For christ sake- someone google “Krugman+lost+decade” and tell me how many hits you come up with. He’s done just about everything except tattoo it on his chest and back and then do a pay-per-view boxing match with Tonya Harding.