Fed Low Interest Rate Policy Distorts the Economy | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fed Low Interest Rate Policy Distorts the Economy | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Can anyone seriously believe that the runup in bond prices can continue indefinitely, or that the Fed's low interest-rate policy hasn't helped push up other asset prices, including gold and stocks?

Manipulating interest rates via central bank policy distorts the structure of asset prices and penalizes savers. Low nominal interest rates, even at low rates of inflation, can mean negative real rates. Pension plans are also harmed as promised benefits cannot be fulfilled.'

'Monetizing government debt and pegging interest rates are experiments in market socialism, not capitalism. The longer the Fed fails to let market forces determine rates, the more difficult the eventual adjustment will become.'

' the chief architect of the Constitution, James Madison, held that:

"It is sufficiently obvious that persons and property (not aggregate demand management) are the two great subjects on which governments are to act; and that the rights of persons and the rights of property are the objects for the protection of which Government was instituted."'