“We don’t know what we’re doing.” That’s what one Fed governor recently told investor and bestselling author Jim Rickards at a small private dinner.
This Fed official continued saying, “We try stuff, and if it works, we do a little more. If it doesn’t, we back off and try something else. We don’t know what we’re doing.” It’s a pervasive feeling among central bankers, Rickards says.
He recalls another private conversation he had this time with former Fed head Ben Bernanke. “He described everything he did as ‘an experiment’ and said, ‘We won’t know whether it worked or not for another 30 years.’”
In the video excerpt above, from a broader interview with Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough, Rickards describes the hubris of central bankers tinkering with their economies. “The problem with all this activism is that it creates uncertainty, and the capital goes on strike,” he says. “That’s the situation you’re in today.” When Jim Rickards speaks, investors listen.
Rickards has worked on Wall Street for the past 35 years, including as general counsel for hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management. Rickards is also the best-selling author of the book “The Road to Ruin.”
He is currently an economic adviser to the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence community. Rickards brings all of this past experience to bear in the interview above with McCullough.
- Source, Hedegeye TV
