• 287 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 287 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 289 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 689 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 694 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 696 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 699 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 699 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 700 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 701 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 702 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 706 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 706 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 707 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 709 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 710 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 713 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 714 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 714 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 716 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Irony of the Day: Yellen Moans About Income Inequality; Seven Things That Cause Inequality

Those seeking the irony of the day will find it comes straight from the mouth of the Fed Chair. Please consider Janet Yellen Bemoans Rising US Inequality.

Janet Yellen decried rising inequality on Friday in an unusual speech that may lead to accusations of politicising the US Federal Reserve.

Speaking at a conference in Boston, the Fed chairwoman said she was "greatly concerned" by rising income and wealth inequality, and asked whether it is compatible with American values.

Her remarks will delight the Democrats who championed her as Fed chair, but risk a backlash from Republicans, who may feel she is using the platform of the central bank to promote the causes of their political rivals.

It marks a big step in defining Ms Yellen's term at the Fed. She has tried to popularise the role, meeting with unemployed people, and now speaking out on issues beyond monetary policy. Despite recent turmoil in financial markets, Ms Yellen made no reference to economic conditions or Fed policy in her speech.

"The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me," said Ms Yellen. "The past several decades have seen the most sustained rise in inequality since the 19th century after more than 40 years of narrowing inequality following the Great Depression."


Look Inward Janet!

Instead of bemoaning income inequality as "incompatible with American values", the Chair ought to look at the cause of it.


Seven Things That Cause Inequality

  1. Fed-sponsored bank bailouts
  2. Fed interest rate suppression that punishes savers and those on fixed income
  3. Fed QE to goose financial assets (primarily held by the wealthy)
  4. Fed-sponsored inflation that benefits those with first access to money: banks, the already wealthy, and government (via property and other taxes)
  5. Government deficit spending, war-mongering, and other inflationary policies
  6. Government interference in the free markets, especially housing, health care, and education


Is Inequality Always a Bad Thing?

Notice, I said seven but only listed 6. Here's the bonus 7th: Innovation.

Those who invent better ways of doing things (or simply do things better than anyone else) often succeed wildly.

But the 7th is the way it should be. It is the essence of free-market-capitalism. Looked at properly, income inequality is actually a necessity!

It's the way income inequality is achieved that makes it good or bad.

Of seven major things that cause income inequality, four are Fed-sponsored, two are government-sponsored, and one is as it should be.

Which one does Yellen bitch about? The 7th of course.

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment