My review of Hunter Lewis’s book Free Prices Now! Fixing the Economy by Abolishing the Fed was published in Barron’s last weekend:
In this lively and largely persuasive indictment of the Federal Reserve, investment consultant and free-market advocate Hunter Lewis summarizes key points in the often-admired tenure of departing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that are comparable to those of previous Fed chairmen.
Just before the housing bubble burst, Bernanke assured us that there was no housing bubble, only to declare immediately after that its “impact on the broader economy” seemed “likely to be contained.” A month into the Great Recession, Bernanke announced that the Fed “is not currently forecasting a recession.” This same economic “Wizard of Oz” then proceeded to do more of what caused the problems in the first place—via his policy of zero interest rates and quantitative easing—except on an even greater scale than before.
Read the rest at Barron’s (click through to page 3).
Also see my review of Lewis’s companion volume Crony Capitalism in America: 2008-2012.
