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Republicans send letter to the Fed to stand down on monetary policy

Jeremy Hobson Sep 21, 2011
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Republicans send letter to the Fed to stand down on monetary policy

Jeremy Hobson Sep 21, 2011
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Jeremy Hobson: Josh Brown is with Fusion Analytics. He’s with us live from New York. Good morning, Josh.

Josh Brown: Hey, how’s it going?

Hobson: So if the Fed does what economists are expecting it’s going to do, what does that mean for the economy?

Brown: Very little in the short-term, possibly nothing in the long-term. Basically what they’re talking about engineering is taking their $1.7 trillion portfolio of bonds and shifting it more toward the long end, meaning later dated treasuries. The goal is really to get people to go back out and spend, but I don’t think that’s really attacking the heart of the problem.

Hobson: Well, I want to your thoughts on one group that does not want the Fed to do this. The GOP leadership in Congress sent the Fed a letter yesterday, and it said: “We have serious concerns that further intervention by the Federal Reserve could exacerbate current problems or further harm the U.S. economy.” What do you make of that?

Brown: Basically, it seems to be a little bit more of an election stunt than it is any kind of serious attempt to communicate with the Fed, because that type of thing doesn’t need to be done in a newspaper. I think really what we’re looking at here is concerns that they’re going to do more to raise prices, but not really attack the heart of the problem — which is jobs. So they’re basically telling the Fed, “Do nothing, we’d all be better off.”

Hobson: Well some are saying that politicizing the Fed is the issue here.

Brown: I think that is the issue. While I’m not completely against the language in the statement, just the whole concept of Boehner and his gang sending a letter to the Fed right before a policy meeting, I think is a mistake.

Hobson: Josh Brown of Fusion Analytics, thanks so much.

Brown: Thank you.

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