A Potemkin economy has lured the Fed, economists, and Wall Street analysts into a potentially dangerous assumption of economic normalcy. However, with a review of how we got here, we can better understand the costs and consequences of monetary interventions.

“In 1783, after the Russian annexation of Crimea from the Ottoman Empire and the liquidation of the Cossack Zaporozhian Sich, GrigoryPotemkin became governor of the region. Crimea, devastated by the war, and the Muslim Tatar inhabitants became viewed as a potential fifth column of the Ottoman Empire. Potemkin’s major tasks were to pacify and rebuild the country by bringing in Russian settlers.

In 1787, as a new war was about to break out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Catherine II, with her court and several ambassadors, made an unprecedented six-month trip to New Russia. One purpose of this trip was to impress Russia’s allies prior to the war. Another purpose was to familiarize herself, supposedly directly, with her new possessions.To help accomplish this, Potemkin set up “mobile villages” on the banks of the Dnieper River. As soon as the barge carrying the Empress and ambassadors arrived, Potemkin’s men, dressed as peasants, would populate the village. Once the barge left, the village was disassembled, then rebuilt downstream overnight.” – Wikipedia

While there is some debate about the accuracy of the story, in politics and economics, a Potemkin village is any construction (literal or figurative) whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to lead the population to believe the country is faring better than reality. 

A reasonable amount of data suggests the Federal Reserve and the Government created such a facade.

A Potemkin Market

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