Ryan's Fed policy views well outside mainstream

[highplainsdem]

Source: Reuters via CNBC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan doesn't quite want to end the Fed. But if Mitt Romney's pick for vice president had his way, he might curb the central bank's powers enough to make it harder for policymakers to respond aggressively to economic downturns.

The Wisconsin Republican has supported controversial legislation that would strip the U.S. Federal Reserve of its mission to seek maximum employment, and has been a harsh critic of the central bank's continued loose monetary policy.

Further, he has hinted at sympathy for the days when the U.S. dollar was tied to gold, a regime that constrained the Fed from printing dollars to help the economy.

Romney's choice of Ryan suggests the campaign could step up attacks on the Fed if the central bank moves to ease monetary policy further as many economists expect, and that a Romney White House might want to restrict the institution's powers.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48717381

[DallasNE]

1. There Are Yardsticks To Measure Who Is Right

And who is wrong. The yardstick for loose monetary policy is the rate of inflation. Inflation is currently under the Fed target and the remedy for that would be further easing rather than tightening as Ryan wants.

I guess, with Republicans nothing ever gets settled. Republicans want to turn Medicare into a voucher system and end that program as we know it. They want to privatize Social Security. And now Ryan wants to repeal Humphrey-Hawkins. Can child labor laws be far behind? Oh, wait, they wanted to weaken those too.