we wondered: where is the Fed's favorite messageboard: WSJ "journalist" Jon Hilsenrath. We found out at 3 am, when instead of releasing another soon to be refuted rumor of more easing, we discovered that the scribe was busy doing something very different: discussing the pros and cons of the Chairsatan's legacy.
From the WSJ:
When the chairman speaks Friday morning at the central bank's annual retreat here, he must once again address whether there is more the Fed can do to get the economy going and whether it is worth taking chances on controversial new programs. All along he has argued these efforts are worth it and appears likely to stick to that line in his speech.
Beyond big issues of the moment—such as whether the Fed will launch a new bond-buying program—a broader question looms in Jackson Hole about Mr. Bernanke's legacy. Long after his term as chairman ends in 17 months, will he be remembered as the Fed chief who did too little to combat high unemployment or the one who did too much and unleashed inflation and financial instability with the actions he took? Critics make both arguments.
So what's the head of the world's most important CTRL-P macro to do?
How Mr. Bernanke acts now depends in part on which he sees as the stronger critique. As an academic before joining the Fed, Mr. Bernanke often criticized central bankers for dealing too passively with financial crises and economic malaise. As Fed
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/hilsenrath-sets-preserve-bernankes-legacy?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
Finally, and as usually happens, those who tell the truth are those who actually have been in, or just next to, the Chairman's shoes,and no longer have anything to lose by telling the truth. Sure enough:
William White, former head of the monetary department at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, says in a paper for the Dallas Fed that easy-credit policies have spurred a succession of financial bubbles over decades and made fiscal authorities complacent about bringing down budget deficits.
"Simply following ultra-easy monetary policy is not the solution to the problem," he said.
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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