Annys Shin of the Washington Post writes:
... that while the economy is still shrinking, the pace of the decline is slowing. That, in turn, has stoked fears that the Fed's efforts to steer the economy away from a 1930s-era depression would push the country toward '70s-style inflation. Those fears center on the Fed's unprecedented efforts to revive the economy by creating more than $1 trillion in new money.
Good enough ... but then she adds:
Determining the best time to withdraw that money is a classic quandary for central bankers.
To which Jeffrey Tucker on the Mises Economics Blog Replies:
A class quandary? When was the last time a central bank set out to shrink the money supply? A similar question: when was the last time a gang of thieves put property into people's houses rather than took it out? Or: when was the last time a fox protected hens from harm?
I laughed out loud! Couldn't have said it better myself. Tucker then gets in one more good dig.
In the same article, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is quoted as saying:
We're working very hard, and it is important for us to provide a lot of support right now. The economy needs support. We understand the necessity of winding this down at the proper moment so we will not have an inflation problem at the other side.
Tucker replies:
His "other side" comment tempts one to gastrointestinal metaphors that I'll avoid.
Speaking of great quotes ... how about one from the intellectually-challenged Huffington Post? H/T Legal Insurrection.
On May 20, 2009, John Bolton wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test" in which he said:
The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, "North Korea Outwits the United States." Despite Kim Jong Il's explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is "relatively relaxed" and that "there is not a sense of crisis." They're certainly smiling in Pyongyang.
In classic Huffington Post form, Allison Kilkenny posts "John Bolton Still Crazy," saying (emphasis added):
You have to hand it to the Wall Street Journal. At a time when the newspaper industry is desperately trying to remind America it's important and relevant, the WSJ has carved out a nice little niche for itself as a halfway house for discredited political figures. I think it's really humane of them. Their most recent charity case is John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the United Nations ...
Today, Bolton chose to growl at the old, but reliable, enemy of North Korea. This is a particularly vintage move when one considers North Korea already tried to strike fear into the hearts of Americans last month when they tested a missile that fizzled and fell into the ocean 1,300 miles off the east coast of Japan. Bolton's stance is pretty brave because his frenzied ideology flies in the face of scholarly counsel.
Monday, May 25, 2009, BBC News reported "Outrage over N Korea nuclear test":
There have been expressions of international outrage after North Korea said it had successfully carried out an underground nuclear test.
As seismologists confirmed it had had the power of a 4.5 quake, the US president said North Korea's programme posed a "grave threat" to world peace.
China and Russia also condemned the test and called for a return to talks.
The UN Security Council is to meet later in New York for emergency talks on how it should respond.
It is being reported that North Korea gave warning of an imminent test to the US less than an hour before it happened.
Journalists and progressive-bloggers ... news, you can't trust!
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