A too-warm welcome for new Fed chief Jerome Powell
Jerome Powell, who was sworn in as chief of America’s Federal Reserve this week, faces a baptism of fire.
Jerome Powell, who was sworn in as chief of America's Federal Reserve this week, faces a baptism of fire. If inflation is returning, he must ensure it doesn't get out of control. Yet keeping the economic upswing going at the same time implies walking a tightrope tightening monetary policy just enough to temper price rises, but not so much that the stockmarket and economy loses confidence and a recession ensues.
But that would merely perpetuate our present dysfunction: placating nervous investors at the first sign of turbulence, and thereby blowing up damaging bubble after damaging bubble. Given the Fed's inauspicious track record, investors should hold gold to hedge against both crisis and inflation.
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