Lee Iacocca Quotes

The one thing people don't appreciate, I think, is that central banking is not a new development. It's been around for a very long time.

Throughout the 19th century, when there was a laissez-faire mentality and insufficient regulation, you had one crisis after another. Each crisis brought about some reform. That is how central banking developed.

If Congress wanted to intervene with the Federal Reserve, well, we created the Federal Reserve. We could uncreate it. But would you want Congress regulating the money supply? We'd have drowned in inflation, or gone bankrupt, decades ago.

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 benefit of appointing a hawkish central banker is the increased inflation-fighting credibility that such an appointment brings.

The Fed's policy choices can always be debated, but the quality and commitment of the Federal Reserve as a public institution is second to none, and I am proud to lead it.

The Fed has the ability to put money out, it's got the ability to take money back in, and if they don't do that, we will have hyperinflation worse than we had in 1980 and 1981.

The Fed needs an approach that consolidates the gains of the Greenspan years and ensures that those successful policies will continue - even if future Fed chairmen are less skillful or less committed to price stability than Mr. Greenspan has been.

The principle that a central bank, charged with controlling inflation, should be independent from the government is unassailable. It may also be true that it's easier for the central bank to guard its independence from political pressure when it mainly holds government securities.

Of course, looking tough on inflation is part of any central banker's job description: if investors believe that inflation is going to get out of control, you end up with higher interest rates and capital flight, and a vicious circle quickly ensues.

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.

I don't have any influence over the Fed [Federal Reserve System], none at all. It's carefully isolated from any influence by the President or Congress.

The Federal Reserve's job is to take away the punch bowl just when the party gets going.

The Federal Reserve Board is indefensible in theory and indispensable in practice.

Tell the President [Jimmy Carter] not to appoint [Paul A.] Volcker [as Federal Reserve Chairman.] If he appoints Volcker, he will be mortgaging his re-election to the Federal Reserve.

The country needed someone credible to fight inflation and Volker was the man for the job…. He understood that the government had to establish credibility in order to give policy makers flexibility when they needed it.

If you believe in free markets, why do we have to have the Federal Reserve set interest rates?

Once an economy reaches a certain level of acceleration... the Fed is no longer with you... The Fed, instead of trying to get the economy moving, reverts to acting like the central bankers they are and starts worrying about inflation and things getting too hot.

The Reserve Bank cannot just exist; its ability to say 'no' has to be protected.

During the Greenspan-Bernanke era, the Fed has embraced the view that stability in the economy and stability in prices are mutually consistent. As long as inflation remains at or below its target level, the Fed's modus operandi is to panic at the sight of real or perceived economic trouble and provide emergency relief.

The Fed's job is not to stall growth or to prevent economic 'overheating.' It is to keep prices stable and the dollar a strong and reliable currency.

At the end of the day, inflation has been below 2% for quite a long time, and to me, symmetry means getting somewhere above 2% inflation at some point in my Fed career.

There are few historians who would challenge the fact that the funding of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War was accomplished by the Mandrake Mechanism through the Federal Reserve System.

Paul Volcker is a tremendous hero with the Federal Reserve system and for the American economy. He took very tough actions and helped to break the back of double-digit inflation at a time when it had to be done.

Alan Greenspan is going to go down in history as one of the worst Federal Reserve chairmen ever.