Murphy Written Testimony to Congress on the Fed and Oil Prices
This is what I formally submitted to the great deliberative body, but the actual subcommittee hearing was surprisingly boisterous. I really hope they make the video available. Incredibly, Dennis Kucinich out of nowhere asked me what I thought should be done with the Fed, so I thought it would be fine to answer frankly. (I had to tell somebody in the cab ride to the airport; I gave the scoop to Wenzel. He is the Lois Lane to my…never mind.)
Some funny things from the day:
==> The hearing was scheduled for 1:30pm. We got there and the staffers apologetically explained, “Yeah, they just started a series of votes. We hope to start by 2:30.” (We actually started around 3.) I would have thought they would know ahead of time when voting would occur. Clearly we need more funding to upgrade their Microsoft Outlook.
==> Right off the bat I started joking around with Dean Baker (the only witness who was there to hold up the Kucinich perspective versus Republican Jim Jordan). We had a bunch of time to kill obviously. After about 15 minutes, I said to the young Institute for Energy Research woman who was babysitting me, “So Dr. Baker and I debated on NPR a year ago.” (I said it in a tongue-in-cheek “I’m…kind of a big deal” way.) With complete sincerity, Dean Baker goes, “We did?”
Video is up.
http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1298%3A5-25-2011-qhow-federal-reserve-policies-add-to-hard-times-at-the-pumpq&catid=18&Itemid=23
Last time I heard Dennis Kucinich talking about monetary issues, I cringed just as bad as I do watching Alan Grayson. Gonna watch right now.
“Austrian school economists were the only economists that in general warned about the financial and economic crisis that the United States just experienced”
I’m sorry Mr. Murphy, but this comment from the Wenzel link is a complete and utter joke. The MMT’ers hit this out of the park. Read some of Moslers work from the late 90’s. It’s almost as if he had a crystal ball. He not only got the causes and market reactions correct, he got the timing correct. I’m still waiting for the Austrian dollar collapse hyperinflation call to materialize long bond rates work their to zero. I mean, if you keep saying the world is going to end, one day you’ll correct.
Like I said, we will all (well, those with sense) be discussing deflation a year or so from now if our clueless policymakers have their way.
And I’m curious, was there a single person at this hearing that understood monetary and banking operations? Was there a single piece of testimony that was fact based and not ideologically driven?
AP Lerner, you disagree with enough of my remarks as it is. I don’t know why I am now responsible for what Bob Wenzel says.
You know, I was going to enjoy reading your testimony, but then I realized: “Hey, why am I wasting my time reading this?”
“This guy’s not even licensed!”