John Tamny of RealClearMarkets
Recently, Nashville’s Vanderbilt University staged an economic conference at which past and present heavy hitters in the area of monetary policy participated. Attendees included Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, and past Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
In a question-and-answer session following Kohn’s presentation, Volcker exclaimed “I don’t get it” in response to Kohn’s suggestion that the Fed would target 2% inflation and “price stability” at the same time. Volcker observed that in making 2% inflation its objective, the Fed is “telling people in a generation they’re going to be losing half their purchasing power.”
