The left’s low-rate fantasy makes inequality worse
Easy money is not creating better jobs, it’s feeding market bubbles that make the asset-rich richer
By Rana Foroohar
Unlike many on America’s left, I’ve always been sceptical that ultra-low interest rates make things easier for the poor. Keeping rates too low for too long encourages speculation and debt bubbles. …And despite a bit of wage growth over the past six months, incomes on an inflation-adjusted basis are still below where they were in 2019, says Karen Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics. “This is the Kool-Aid: that ultra-low rates promote employment,” she says. “But they don’t.” Most people work to make money, and while central bankers can brew up asset inflation, they can’t create good middle-class jobs. Only business, helped along by the right policy incentives, can do that.
https://www.ft.com/content/ee70fa9f-45ac-4bd7-a0b0-694bbdffdb75