Dallas Fed Chief Speaks Against QE3 (Unless Something Really Bad Happens, That Is)

Dallas Fed Chief Speaks Against QE3 (Unless Something Really Bad Happens, That Is)

Dallas Fed CEO Richard W. Fisher had some strong words against further monetary easing as a means of putting people back to work:

But it is worrisomely clear that the task of putting millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans back to work will take an anguishing amount of time.

I do not, however, feel that further monetary accommodation will speed the process. It might well retard job creation, should it give rise to inflationary expectations or, worse, imply that, having suffered the slings and arrows of popular and political contempt as we went about doing what we did to save the financial system, we have now been compromised and become a pliant accomplice to Congress’s and the executive branch’s fiscal misfeasance.

Source: WSJ.com (Hat tip JL for sending the link along)

I was almost ready to give Fisher a standing ovation!  Until I read his caveat emptor (emphasis mine):

I have made clear within the meeting room and in public speeches that, barring some frightful development, I will vote against any program that might seek to extend or enlarge the substantial monetary accommodation we already have provided.

And what “frightful development” could possibly unfold in this incredibly stable global economic environment?

This is a feather in the cap of Marc Faber’s thesis – he believes that when things get really bad again, the Fed will just print like crazy.

For more on Faber’s take, see:

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