Categories
Gold

The dangers of politicising ‘independent’ central banks

Click here to get this article in PDF

Financial Times/Patrick Jenkins/12-19-2021

cartoon showing Santa Biden in his sleigh offering free stuff to allCartoon courtesy of MichaelPRamirez.com

“Today, close to 90 percent of the world’s central banks are classed as independent. But, as finance ministers wrestle with record debt burdens, the Covid-19 crisis and fast-rising inflation, worries are growing that central banks will become increasingly instrumentalised by governments.”

USAGOLD note 1: Last week, when Senator Joe Manchin stuck a fork in Democrat spending plans citing inflation concerns, a progressive Congresswoman was quoted as saying “The Build Better Act combats inflation and invests in what we need for a strong, stable, globally competitive economy.” The president himself went public in full inflation denial the same day, blaming the recent dip in the stock market on Manchin’s decision to vote against his $1.75 trillion spending program.

USAGOLD note 2: So, to what degree does pressure from the political sector affect central bank policy? Need we worry about too close a connection between the White House and the Fed? Jenkins quotes a former central banker now fund manager as saying, “The idea of independent central banks these days is a fiction.”

Share

The post Today’s top gold news & opinion first appeared on Today’s top gold news and opinion.