Debt Relief and the Fed's Money-creation Power

Monetary policy is running out of gas. Six years ago, in the heat of crisis, the Federal Reserve's response was awesome. The Fed created trillions of dollars and flooded the system with easy money--enough to stabilize financial markets and rescue wounded banks. It brought short-term interest rates down to near zero and long-term mortgage rates to bargain-basement levels. It provided a huge backstop for the dysfunctional housing sector, buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, nearly one-fourth of the market. Flooding Wall Street with money saved the banks, but it didn't work for the real economy, where most Americans live and toil. And official Washington now appears to have opted for an unspoken policy of complacency. The Fed knows, even if politicians do not, the danger of sliding into a liquidity trap, which would utterly disarm its monetary tools. So the Fed wants Congress and the White House to borrow and spend more because, when the private sector is stalled and afraid to act, only the federal government can step in and provide the needed jump start. The country needs a stronger Fed--a central bank not afraid to use its awesome powers to help the real economy more directly. One of the ways it can do this is by revisiting--and extending--its bold ideas on debt relief. By harnessing the power of money creation, the Fed can help clear away the overhang of mortgage and student debt holding back the economic recovery. This policy note draws from articles originally published in "The Nation". Portions are republished with permission.