George V. Hansen Quotes

The job of the Central Bank is to worry.

It's true that the Federal Reserve faces a lot of political pressure and is unpopular in many circles.

The Fed is the major U.S. firefighter. It's not the Treasury. It's not the Congress. We certainly saw that vividly in 2008.

The Fed is the biggest enemy of this economy. In fact, Ben Bernanke, as far as I'm concerned, he's public enemy No. 1. We're never going to have a recovery while this guy's in charge.

I think the Fed is not designed to have effective tools to deal with the economy. It should settle for just controlling the money supply. And - if it insists, it can worry about inflation.

Clear communication is always important in central banking, but it can be especially important when economic conditions call for further policy stimulus but the policy rate is already at its effective lower bound.

For the first time the committee [Federal Reserve] was using communication — mere words — as its primary monetary policy tool.

The government will always tell you that it wants low inflation. The real issue is the horizon over which to bring inflation down.

True enough, the Fed needs radical reforms. In particular, it needs to replace its failed forecasting models and be rid of the academics who overwhelm the Fed system.

When it comes to policies of central bankers, the biggest systemic risk we have... are those policies.

I don't want Congress setting monetary policy.

We want a money that some government mandarin can't just whisk into existence with a pen stroke.

The best way that a central bank can support growth on a durable basis is to ensure inflation is low, stable - there is financial stability - and that is the role that the central bank plays.

The Federal Reserve is incapable of accomplishing its stated objectives.

The Fed is the greatest hedge fund in history.

However, in spite of the general perception that monetary policy should be conducted so as to avert deflation, a central bank cannot lower interest rates below the zero lower bound.

I'm just opposed to a pure inflation-only mandate in which the only thing a central bank cares about is inflation and not employment.

The Fed is totally open.

The amount of currency in circulation is not changing. The money supply is not changing in any significant way.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is committed to policies that promote maximum employment and price stability, consistent with our mandate from Congress.

All the Federal Reserve can do is make loans against collateral.

Obviously, I haven't succeeded in defusing the political concerns about the Fed.

We made a decision that monetary policy will be made by an independent European Central Bank.

Of course I've already taken a very modest position on the monetary system, I do take the position that we should just end the Fed.

Every central banker in the world pays attention to credit growth, but not in the U.S.