Seeds of Destruction: Why the Path to Economic Ruin Runs Through Washington, and How to Reclaim American Prosperity

Chapter Three: Why an Easy-Money Street Is a Dead End

“There ain’t no right way to do the wrong thing.”

Country singer Toby Keith

When it comes to sowing the seeds of America’s economic stagnation, even the mighty U.S. Federal Reserve cannot avoid blame. Indeed, the Fed’s activism over the past decade has played a key role in creating the large, growth-killing structural imbalances in our GDP Growth Driver equation. With its extended walk down Easy-Money Street, the Fed has simultaneously overstimulated consumption, depressed business investment, accommodated excessive growth in government expenditures, and reinforced chronic trade imbalances.

Historically, the United States has had two types of Fed chairmen, embracing very different philosophies ...