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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Is Ben Bernanke The New G. William Miller That Will Destroy The U.S Economy?

During the Jimmy Carter administration, G. William Miller became Fed chairman in January 1978 and was removed in August 1979 (A friend of Carter's, Carter made him Treasury Secretary, where he could do less damage).

In November 1978, only 11 months into his term at the Fed, the dollar had fallen nearly 34% against the German mark and almost 42% against the Japanese yen. Price inflation was soaring. In 1979, the CPI has climbed on an annual basis to over 14%. Miler was a disaster as a Fed chairman.

Miller's role in the out of control inflationary economy came about because he targeted interest rates, while at the Fed. This led to a boom in money supply. M2 money growth reached as high as 12% on an annualized basis.

When Miller was removed, Paul Volcker came in and announced that interest rates would no longer be targeted and that money growth would be targeted and slowed. This killed the Miller created price inflation.

It now appears that Bernanke is pulling a type of Miller act, but with more crazed twists and turns.

Under Ben Bernanke we have had some remarkable changes in money growth, already. Here's a chart of quarterly annualized money growth (M2) since Bernanke took over at the Fed.

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