Weekly Commentary: Performance Chase
Here at home, it’s difficult to envisage a more divided electorate or a more hostile political environment. Record securities and asset prices and such a sour social mood appear quite the extraordinary dichotomy. Yet I would argue that speculative financial market Bubbles, heightened global tensions and domestic social and political angst all have at their root cause decades of unsound “money” and Credit (an archaic notion, I fully appreciate).
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon…”, Milton Friedman explained some 50 years ago. At the time, Dr. Friedman was contemplating goods and services inflation. Financial, monetary management and technological developments over recent decades ensured that asset inflation evolved into the much more destabilizing form of inflation. A Bubble collapse presented Dr. Bernanke the opportunity to test his academic theories, unleashing unprecedented monetary inflation specifically targeting securities markets. His policies spurred similar monetary inflation around the world that has continued for almost a full decade.
Cut short rates to zero, print “money,” buy bonds; force market yields lower; spur buying of risk assets and higher securities prices; orchestrate powerful wealth effects; households and businesses borrow and spend; the economy expands; inflation rises back to target – and all is good. Sure, there’s some risk that asset prices get ahead of the real economy. Not to worry. Central banks will ensure a steadily rising general price level – and inflating earnings and incomes – to catch up to elevated asset prices. All will be well.
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