Former Fed chairmen confesses to be responsible for recessions. Tinfoil hats on!

[Wind_FURY]

I usually don't give too much credit to conspiracy theories, but it might start a fun thread. Haha.

It is evident that former Fed chairmen Ben Bernake, and Janet Yellen have admitted that the Federal Reserve is responsible for recessions. Read the blog, http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/federal-reserve-causes-all-recessions/

Expansions don’t die of old age. They get murdered.

Two things usually end them…. One is financial imbalances, and the other is the Fed.

Who are the conspiracy "theorists" now?

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[Hydrogen]

Is thing a new conspiracy theory thing?   I seem to remember Ben Bernanke maintaining an apologetic stance for some time now.

“Regarding the Great Depression, … we did it. We’re very sorry. … We won’t do it again.” Ben Bernanke, November 8, 2002, in a speech given at “A Conference to Honor Milton Friedman … On the Occasion of His 90th Birthday.”

In 2002, Ben Bernanke, then a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, acknowledged publicly what economists have long believed. The Federal Reserve’s mistakes contributed to the “worst economic disaster in American history” (Bernanke 2002).

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great_depression

The first paragraph in the link you posted claims this is "surprising"?  Is it really that much of a surprise considering Bernanke has been saying this since 2002?  

Many have accused the fed of causing recessions/depressions by shrinking the money supply. Another criticism is the fed's tendency to raise rates at the wrong times, reducing economic growth and prosperity. Those are two negative arguments I've heard directed at the federal reserve's handling of monetary and economic policy.

I'm not certain if either of those remarks made against the fed qualify as conspiracy theories. There are many prominent businessman and economists who criticized the fed and its proposed rate hikes.

[HeRetiK]

I also assumed that this was more or less common knowledge, rather than a conspiracy theory.

After all the Fed (and other central banks) play a significant role in "steering" the economy by means of monetary policy. If I'm not mistaken it's even one of their key responsibilities? So needless to say they do fail at times and are thus responsible for some of the recessions. I wouldn't go so far to say they are responsible for all of them, but obviously there have been times where their actions likely did more harm than good.

[alyssa85]

I usually don't give too much credit to conspiracy theories, but it might start a fun thread. Haha.

It is evident that former Fed chairmen Ben Bernake, and Janet Yellen have admitted that the Federal Reserve is responsible for recessions. Read the blog, http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/federal-reserve-causes-all-recessions/

Expansions don’t die of old age. They get murdered.

Two things usually end them…. One is financial imbalances, and the other is the Fed.

Who are the conspiracy "theorists" now?

It's not a conspiracy - he's just admitting to the fact that sometimes the Fed tightened too much.

If you look at the period 2000 to 2008, when Alan Greenspan was Fed chair, he kept interest rates too low after 9/11 and then tightened too fast from 2005 onwards. He made a mistake - he should have cut less in 2001 and raised rates slowly from 2003 onwards.

Hopefully this time they don't make the same mistake.

[South Park]

It's not a conspiracy - he's just admitting to the fact that sometimes the Fed tightened too much.

If you look at the period 2000 to 2008, when Alan Greenspan was Fed chair, he kept interest rates too low after 9/11 and then tightened too fast from 2005 onwards. He made a mistake - he should have cut less in 2001 and raised rates slowly from 2003 onwards.

Hopefully this time they don't make the same mistake.

Since we are wearing our tinfoil hats then we need to ask ourselves was the crisis of 2008 a mistake at all? Or did they did all of that on purpose? Because it is difficult to believe they could make a mistake when they have all the power to manipulate the economy as they want for their benefit and they have the most advanced computers, systems and the best minds around the world to avoid that.

[HeRetiK]

Since we are wearing our tinfoil hats then we need to ask ourselves was the crisis of 2008 a mistake at all? Or did they did all of that on purpose? Because it is difficult to believe they could make a mistake when they have all the power to manipulate the economy as they want for their benefit and they have the most advanced computers, systems and the best minds around the world to avoid that.

The 2008 housing crisis that subsequently kicked off a world wide recession is fairly well understood -- in hindsight -- and was mostly a fault of the private sector.

Having the most advanced computers, systems and minds at your disposal doesn't help the economy if the most effective strategy is to grab and run and to extract as much value as possible from the system before everything collapses.

I don't think the 2008 recession was on purpose, but pretty much everything that led up to it happened well knowing that at one point the music was going to stop. It's just easy to ignore if you're the one profiting but not the one facing the consequences.

[Wind_FURY]

Haha. But is it really, more or less, "common knowledge" that the Fed is responsible for economic recessions? Then how come no politician is stopping them, or at minimum, put the issue in the spotlight?

The Fed would say, "But quantitative easing and rate hikes are to control the economy not to spiral out of control. Don't listen to those conspiracy theorists.".

[HeRetiK]

Haha. But is it really, more or less, "common knowledge" that the Fed is responsible for economic recessions? Then how come no politician is stopping them, or at minimum, put the issue in the spotlight?

The Fed would say, "But quantitative easing and rate hikes are to control the economy not to spiral out of control. Don't listen to those conspiracy theorists.".

Well it's not like they are the only factor causing economic recessions but I guess they are as close as you can get to blaming a single entity.

If a ship sinks or a company fails you will also first look at what actions the captain or CEO took or failed to take that caused the disaster. Sometimes it could have been avoided beforehand, sometimes it could have been avoided with hindsight but in the end the responsibility still lies with whoever's at the wheel. And I guess the Fed is more or less at the wheel of the economy, for better or worse.

[Wilhelm]

[el kaka22]

I guess they are out of FED and that kinda gives a bit of both experience and expertise and also shadiness on them. How do we know they are not doing this on purpose to put the blame on FED because they got out of it some bad manner they didn't want to? We have no idea if they are still friendly with FED or not but they are certainly the best people to talk about FED that is not in FED right now.

However, FED is never taking responsibility for these things so its at least a start, they usually say that they are the "necessary evil" where what they do is bad in the long term and what they do is bad but what they do is the only way out of the situation country is in. When they printed out 800 billion dollars for banks, that was the worst thing anyone could do for american economy but also that was the only way out of that crisis as well.

[Wilhelm]

Haha. But is it really, more or less, "common knowledge" that the Fed is responsible for economic recessions? Then how come no politician is stopping them, or at minimum, put the issue in the spotlight?

The Fed would say, "But quantitative easing and rate hikes are to control the economy not to spiral out of control. Don't listen to those conspiracy theorists.".

Quantitative easing is another word for printing money and accumulating debt. Usually done whilst people are on vacation.
The fancy name is used because otherwise it would initiate a death spiral.

[sheenshane]

At the first paragraph, the term used "surprising" means the former chairman unexpectedly claimed the recessions because the people who do these kinds of stuff would definitely hide their dirty little secrets. It is a surprise since. These kind of people are influential enough to hire the most skilled and professional accountants to clean their money and do the recessions in the market without any dirt.

Recessions are almost common to all of the countries around the world and I don't consider it as a conspiracy. We all know that everything is business and is owned by someone so they could do what they want to control it.

[xWolfx]

Quantitative easing is another word for printing money and accumulating debt. Usually done whilst people are on vacation.
The fancy name is used because otherwise it would initiate a death spiral.

Isn't a fancy name the solution for the most amount of people to like it?. History seems to show that is in fact the case.

Some conspiracy theories are not really just theories but this one is really hard to approve, since corroborating the information in this case is not that easy like it might seem to be.

I personally don't think that only one party is capable of doing that without being noticed btw.

[aceptamosbitcoin]

Nah, the article is really for a tinfoil hats lovers. I don't bite it.

The 2008 recession was expected and predicted by few 1-2 years before. And recessions occurs every 10-30 years, giving us a suffer and opportunities.

[exstasie]

Haha. But is it really, more or less, "common knowledge" that the Fed is responsible for economic recessions? Then how come no politician is stopping them, or at minimum, put the issue in the spotlight?

Because the consensus in government is pro-Keynesian and in favor of a controlled market economy. There are of course politicians like former Congressman Ron Paul who openly advocate against the FED but they're in the minority.

The thing is, the FED can be blamed for causing given recessions, but you also have to consider whether they've prevented others. Their entire mission is to ensure economic stability through their meddling.

[Wind_FURY]

Recessions are almost common to all of the countries around the world and I don't consider it as a conspiracy. We all know that everything is business and is owned by someone so they could do what they want to control it.

That's confusing. Is there a conspiracy, or not?

You believe it's not a conspiracy, but you also believe that there are groups of people who could do what they want to control.