How Will the Fed Get Out of This?
'The real issue on everyone's mind is the same. How can you get back to normalcy? Debt levels will have to go down. It will have to happen someday. But how?'The good news is that it can happen without a major calamity. It's already been done once – after World War II. Back then average sovereign debt-to-GDP levels were nearly 100%.'What happened then was also a form of repression... but it was barely noticed. Inflation rates rose while bond yields remained low and the economy grew. This had the effect of reducing the real value of debt without triggering an economic shutdown.'This was not the intended, or expressed goal of central bankers at the time. But the result was that much of the war debt was inflated away. Debt levels went to normal levels after a few years. And then interest rates could rise.'
'The calculations I have seen suggest that the same thing could happen now. But it will take at least seven years to achieve this sort of 'soft landing'.'The trouble is, landing a plane over a seven year period is a very difficult thing to do. There are two presidential election campaigns in that period. It is hard to imagine that the economy, the markets, the Fed, and the federal government will be able to keep themselves headed in the right direction for that long. It would be nice to think this soft-landing could happen. But I don't think it is very realistic.'