The Vanity Of Central Bankers And The Common Sense Rule
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Danielle DiMartino Booth via Money Strong LLC.,
Some wedding gifts just keep on giving, even after the celebrated union upon which they were bestowed has failed. That would certainly be true in the case of Carly Simon and James Taylor, whose notoriously rocky marriage ended in 1983. The timing of her November 1972 wedding marked more than a vow to Taylor, it coincided with Simon’s gift to pop music and the release of “You’re So Vain,” which ripped to the No. 1 spot on the charts and still retains the ranking of 82nd highest on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All-Time. What a generous gift!
But, was it for the duo? Might it just be possible this lasting gift bred some not so blissful turbulence in the marriage? At the time, speculation swirled around the obviously vainglorious but mystery male subject. Was it Warren Beatty, David Geffen, Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stephens or James Taylor himself? The list went on and on. As of November 2015, Simon has only divulged that Beatty was one of three the lyrics reference. Taylor is not among the remaining two mystery men.
It’s a safe bet that a Taylor of a completely different stripe is far from being a mystery man in Janet Yellen’s appreciably less torrid past. In fact, the roles might even be reversed in Yellen’s world, with a slew of economists lamenting her vanity in rejecting them. The eminent John Taylor would be first in line, given that no less than his namesake rule used for devising monetary policy has been so explicitly and publically snubbed by the Chair.
The Taylor rule debuted in 1993 and continues to grow in its appeal thanks to the simplicity with which it can be executed. Though Taylor engaged the mandatory calculus to build his model, the inputs are elegant in their straightforward real world ease of application. At the risk of being overly simplistic, the Fed should set interest rates based on targeted vs actual employment and inflation levels; an ideal interest rate is consistent with full employment which is theoretically in sync with potential economic output.
If inflation is above target or if the economy is running too hot, as in above potential, the Fed should raise rates. If inflation is too low or economic growth too slow, well then the Fed should lower rates to encourage growth. In a perfect world, inflation and economic output are neither too hot nor too cold. That just right Goldilocks place in the ether calls for a ‘neutral’ interest rate of two percent, where the fed funds rate has historically hovered.
Here, the situation becomes perplexing in that it is the very simplicity of the rule which renders it an abomination to the reigning elite. Their preference since the crisis broke has been to embrace overly complicated models and deploy obfuscation to drive interest rates to the zero bound and beyond with blind abandon.
To add insult to injury, Yellen herself has conceded that the Taylor rule has …read more
Source: The Vanity Of Central Bankers And The Common Sense Rule
