Can a change in Fed policy really do much about structural unemployment
in Bed-Stuy or rural Mississippi? I don't think so. Of course, we'd be
marginally better off if Parryites weren't running the Fed, but I think
it's easy to overestimate the curative powers of easy money. Low interest
rates are no substitute for steeply progressive taxes, vigorous public
investment, and generous minimum income and other social benefits.
Doug
Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
212-874-4020 (voice)
212-874-3137 (fax)
On Wed, 20 Apr 1994, Eugene Coyle wrote:
> Today's Wall Street Journal quoted Robert Parry, the long-
> term President of the SF Federal Reserve Bank as saying
> "Slack in labor and product markets has all but
> evaporated." This in a state where the unemployment rate is
> substantially higher than the high national rate.
> This remark is the Fed's justification for attempting to slow
> down the economy. Does Doug Henwood think things would improve
> if we got rid of people like Parry (a voting member of the
> Open Market Committtee) and replaced him with someone who could
> see the unemployed? I do. Gene Coyle
>
