When Central Banks Fail

Ben Bernanke’s smiling face on the cover of the April issue of The Atlantic is a testimony to how short America’s collective memory is. While the Fed chief is feted as the savior of the global economy thanks to his monetary policy genius, it’s apparent how quickly many have forgotten how his sluggish response to the brewing credit storm in 2006-2007 brought the U.S. to the edge of the abyss.

A more recent example of a dilatory central bank response to a major economic crisis can be seen in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) eleventh hour decision to roll out a €1 trillion rescue package for the troubled eurozone. Where was the ECB in 2010 and 2011 when such decisive action could have prevented – or at least mitigated – much of the global market volatility and European economic misery?

The problem confronting the global economy has more to do with the hyper-aggressive action of the central banks than it does their unresponsiveness to crises. What are the economic consequences of $600 billion worth of quantitative easing combines with a €1 trillion ECB bailout? In the days before interconnected economies perhaps these sums would have been relegated to the regions in question. But today, rash monetary policy action has global repercussions. Read More