Comments (4)

• subzero

• about what?

• Published: January 6, 2009 7:16 PM

• William Rader

• Jeff,

  In all honesty, what I take away from an interview like this is a feeling of hopelessness and impending doom. Between Bernanke and Obama, I just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like a French aristocrat caught up in the Reign of Terror awaiting execution.

• Published: January 6, 2009 9:31 PM

• Matthew

• Mr. Shostak's view is definitely interesting. I've been wondering whether the Fed will have the will and/or the capability to curb monetary growth once the excess reserves start flowing out of the banking system. I personally think that the Fed has the tools and the know-how to do it (within reason, i.e. to avoid utter runaway inflation). Whether it has the will to do so is a more difficult question, but I'm leaning toward yes under Bernanke. I realize that that viewpoint puts me at odds with Mr. Shostak and many other Austrians.

  And I understand and appreciate Mr. Shostak's desire that Congress will step in and stop the Fed from printing as it has been doing, but I think that the chances of that occurring are negligibly small. Such a legislative action would presumably require overhauling the Federal Reserve Act, and the politics of taking away tools from our supposed economic savior during the middle of a crisis seem like they would be extremely thorny.

• Published: January 7, 2009 9:26 AM

• Inquisitor

• "Jeff,

  In all honesty, what I take away from an interview like this is a feeling of hopelessness and impending doom. Between Bernanke and Obama, I just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like a French aristocrat caught up in the Reign of Terror awaiting execution."

  Do you belong to some group of unfairly maligned individuals, e.g. speculators (the equivalent of the role demons play in Hollywood, in the financial world)?

• Published: January 7, 2009 9:53 AM