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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Fed Chair Powell Attempts to Blame U.S. Inequality on Globalization – Gets Smacked Down by Bloomberg Reporter

Courtesy of Pam Martens

Michael McKee, Bloomberg TV

Michael McKee of Bloomberg TV

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conferences are typically snooze sessions. Yesterday’s virtual press conference got off to a similar start with mainstream media reporters asking about inflation and monetary policy instead of the more critical questions they should have been asking in the midst of the worst labor market and business closures since the Great Depression and food pantry lines that stretch for blocks.

Fortunately, two reporters shook things up at the very end of the press conference. Nancy Marshall-Genzer of Marketplace, which airs on public media stations, bluntly asked Powell this: “Is there more the Fed could do to deal with inequality, for example, use the Black unemployment rate as a benchmark.”

Powell’s answer was an abomination. First Powell stated that inequality is not related to monetary policy. Next, he decided to target a more specific villain – globalization, saying this: “Globalization called for rising skills and aptitudes and education and U.S. educational attainment kind of flattened out, certainly relevant to our peers….” Powell said that has a lot to do with stagnant wages in the U.S.

The reporter that followed Marshall-Genzer, Michael McKee of Bloomberg TV, challenged Powell on his answer, stating this:

McKee: “Inequality is not just about wages. It’s also about wealth and a number of studies have suggested that by keeping rates low for so long and targeting the markets after the Great Financial Crisis, that the Fed did contribute to wealth inequality in this country. And I’m wondering if you think there is some tweak or some message that you could give that would affect that?”


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