Why the Federal Reserve Controls So Much of the Economy | WSJ

Summary

يستعرض الفيديو دور الاحتياطي الفيدرالي الأمريكي كمؤسسة محورية في إدارة الاقتصاد الأمريكي، موضحًا كيف يوزع النقد ويدير السياسة النقدية. يتتبع الفيديو تاريخ تأسيس الاحتياطي الفيدرالي في 1913 ردًا على الأزمات المالية وكيف تطور دوره عبر السنين، خاصة بعد الكساد الكبير وأزمة التضخم في السبعينات. يسلط الضوء على الدور الحاسم الذي لعبه في التعامل مع الأزمة المالية 2008 وجائحة كوفيد-19، مؤكدًا على أهمية استقلاليته السياسية ودوره كـ'شرطي الاقتصاد' الذي يضمن استقرار النظام المالي ويدعم النمو الاقتصادي.

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Q & A

ما هي الجهة المسؤولة عن توزيع العملة في الاقتصاد الأمريكي؟

الاحتياطي الفيدرالي هو الجهة المسؤولة عن توزيع العملة في الاقتصاد الأمريكي، على الرغم من أن العملة قد تأتي من وزارة الخزانة.

لماذا تم إنشاء الاحتياطي الفيدرالي في الأصل؟

تم إنشاء الاحتياطي الفيدرالي في الأصل في عام 1913 كنظام مصرفي مركزي للولايات المتحدة، وذلك بسبب عدم وجود مصرف مركزي لمساعدة البنوك في حالات الأزمات المالية، مثل حالات سحب الأموال الجماعية من البنوك (bank runs) التي كانت شائعة في ذلك الوقت.

ما هي مهام الاحتياطي الفيدرالي الرئيسية؟

تتمثل المهام الرئيسية للاحتياطي الفيدرالي في إدارة العملة المتداولة في الاقتصاد، وتحديد أسعار الفائدة، والإشراف على النظام المصرفي، والمساعدة في تحقيق استقرار الأسعار والتوظيف الكامل.

كيف تم توسيع صلاحيات الاحتياطي الفيدرالي؟

تم توسيع صلاحيات الاحتياطي الفيدرالي خلال الأزمات المالية المختلفة، مثل التضخم المرتفع في السبعينيات، وأزمة 2008 المالية، وجائحة كوفيد-19، حيث قام الاحتياطي الفيدرالي بالقيام بإجراءات غير تقليدية مثل إقراض المال لجهات غير مصرفية، وشراء أصول مثل الرهون العقارية، للمساعدة في تحفيز الاقتصاد.

ما هي الهيئة المسؤولة عن اتخاذ القرارات الرئيسية داخل الاحتياطي الفيدرالي؟

اللجنة الفيدرالية للسوق المفتوحة (FOMC) هي الهيئة المسؤولة عن اتخاذ القرارات الرئيسية داخل الاحتياطي الفيدرالي، مثل تحديد أسعار الفائدة وإدارة السياسة النقدية.

لماذا يعتبر الاحتياطي الفيدرالي مستقلاً سياسياً؟

يعتبر الاحتياطي الفيدرالي مستقلاً سياسياً لأن أعضاءه يتم تعيينهم من قبل الرئيس ويتم تأكيدهم من قبل مجلس الشيوخ، مثل قضاة المحكمة العليا، وهذا يساعد على عدم تأثر قراراته بالضغوطات السياسية.

ما هي الإجراءات التي اتخذها الاحتياطي الفيدرالي لمكافحة التضخم المرتفع في السبعينيات؟

لمكافحة التضخم المرتفع في السبعينيات، قام رئيس الاحتياطي الفيدرالي آنذاك بول فولكر برفع أسعار الفائدة بشكل كبير، حيث وصلت إلى حوالي 20%، مما أدى إلى ارتفاع معدلات البطالة إلى أكثر من 10%، لكنه ساعد في خفض معدل التضخم.

لماذا يعتبر بن برنانكي رئيس الاحتياطي الفيدرالي السابق مشهوراً؟

يعتبر بن برنانكي، رئيس الاحتياطي الفيدرالي السابق مشهوراً لاتخاذه إجراءات جريئة وغير تقليدية للتعامل مع أزمة عام 2008 المالية، وذلك لتجنب تكرار الأخطاء التي ارتكبها الاحتياطي الفيدرالي في الكساد الكبير في الثلاثينيات.

ما هي الانتقادات الموجهة للاحتياطي الفيدرالي؟

تتمثل بعض الانتقادات الموجهة للاحتياطي الفيدرالي في أن قراراته يتخذها عدد قليل من الأشخاص غير المنتخبين، وهم يتخذون قرارات كبيرة تؤثر على الاقتصاد، وقد تم توجيه بعض الانتقادات أيضاً لسياساته خلال فترات معينة، مثل فرض فوائد عالية في السبعينيات.

ما هو الدور الذي أصبح للاحتياطي الفيدرالي في الوقت الحالي؟

في الوقت الحالي، أصبح الاحتياطي الفيدرالي الجهة المسؤولة عن معظم أجزاء النظام المالي، وليس فقط عن إدارة العملة وأسعار الفائدة، حيث يمكنه اتخاذ قرارات بسرعة ودون تأثر بالضغوطات السياسية.

Outlines

00:00

🏦 The Federal Reserve: Money Printer Go Brr

This paragraph introduces the Federal Reserve, a central banking system in the United States responsible for distributing currency and managing the circulation of money in the economy. It briefly touches on the meme 'money printer go brr,' which became popular in 2020 when the Fed was creating money out of thin air to address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The narrator emphasizes the importance of the Federal Reserve in the US economy and its role in making decisions that may not always be popular, such as raising interest rates.

05:03

⏳ The Evolution of the Federal Reserve's Responsibilities

This paragraph delves into the history and evolution of the Federal Reserve's responsibilities. It begins by discussing the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, which was established to serve as a central banking system for the United States, providing a "bank for banks" to help prevent financial crises like the bank runs of the early 1900s. The paragraph then explores how the Fed's responsibilities grew in response to various financial crises, including the Great Depression, the Great Inflation of the 1970s, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the Fed's actions during these crises, such as setting interest rates, lending money to non-banks, buying mortgage securities, and increasing the money supply. The paragraph also touches on the Fed's role in oversight and regulation of the banking system, as well as its increasing influence on financial markets and the overall economy.

Highlights

The Federal Reserve distributes US currency, effectively managing the money in circulation within the economy.

The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 was a response to frequent bank runs and financial instability.

The Federal Reserve System includes 12 separate Federal Reserve banks across the country to decentralize power.

The Great Depression highlighted the Federal Reserve's failures in monetary policy, leading to reforms in 1935.

Congress established the Board of Governors in 1935 to oversee the Federal Reserve System, enhancing centralized control.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) plays a crucial role in setting interest rates and monetary policy.

In the 1970s, the Fed was given a dual mandate focusing on stable prices and maximum employment.

The Great Inflation of the 1970s underscored the need for a politically independent central bank.

Paul Volcker's tenure as Fed Chairman in 1979 is notable for drastically raising interest rates to combat inflation.

The 2008 financial crisis led the Fed to adopt unprecedented measures, including near-zero interest rates and broad financial interventions.

The Dodd-Frank Act expanded the Fed's regulatory authority in response to the financial crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed again utilized aggressive monetary policies to support the economy.

The Fed's actions during crises reflect its role as a central bank willing to take bold steps to stabilize the financial system.

Criticism of the Fed often revolves around its significant, unelected power in shaping economic policy.

The Federal Reserve's evolution reflects its growing role as a critical stabilizer and regulator of the financial system and economy.

Transcripts

- [Narrator] At the top of any US dollar bill,

you'll see this.

That's because even though the bill

may have come from the Treasury,

the Federal reserve is who actually distributes it.

- They're the ones that's charged with managing the currency

in circulation in our economy.

- [Narrator] In other words, they can kind of print money.

- Money printer go brr, right?

That was a popular meme in 2020 when the Fed

was creating money outta thin air.

- [Narrator] The Federal reserve is in many ways

in charge of the US economy.

As a former chairman once said,

"They're the economy chaperone who has ordered

the punch bowl removed just when the party

was really warming up."

Which means they know their decisions,

like raising interest rates, aren't always popular.

- The Fed is just this poorly understood

and really important institution in our country.

It's important for people to know

what's going on in the economy.

They should understand why we have the Fed,

why it does what it does,

and what role it plays in the country.

- [Narrator] So let's explain.

How did the Fed get put in charge of the punch?

The Fed, as we know, it has evolved over time,

after responses to financial crises

gave it more and more responsibility.

So let's start with why the Fed was created

in the first place.

In the early 1900s, bank runs were pretty common.

If a bank, a private business went out of business,

that meant everyone lost their deposits.

Fearful, people would run to their healthy bank

to withdraw their money.

Only banks didn't keep that much cash handy,

so they'd fail, causing more people to fearfully run

to their bank.

And back then there was nowhere for these banks

to get more cash to stop these runs.

After a large run in 1907,

wealthy bankers like JP Morgan, put up their own money

to essentially bail them out.

- After that panic in 1907,

business and political leaders got together and said

maybe this isn't the best way to run a modern economy,

to rely on a few wealthy individuals doing the right thing

in a time of crisis.

And so discussions began about creating a central bank,

or what became the Federal Reserve System.

- [Narrator] In 1913, the Federal reserve was created to be

the United States Central Banking System.

Basically a bank for banks.

It's 12 separate Federal reserve banks set up

all across the country.

- You had a lot of distrust still in the country

over having one bank.

The idea was that it might be too powerful.

So, you could go to different parts of the country

and say, well, the power won't be in New York.

It won't be in Washington, it'll be here.

There'll be a bank in Atlanta.

There'll be a bank in Kansas City.

There'll be a bank in San Francisco and Minneapolis.

- [Narrator] And two in Missouri.

- There was a senator from Missouri who was instrumental

in creating the Federal Reserve System.

And lo and behold, there's a Fed Bank

in St. Louis and in Kansas City.

- [Narrator] The idea was they would each represent

different regions of the country,

and would independently set their own policies

and interest rates on the money banks would keep with them.

There was also a president put in charge of each bank.

Then, the Great Depression hit.

It's widely agreed by historians

that the Federal Reserve Banks in action

and them keeping the circulation of money

and lending too tight, made the Depression worse.

And by widely agreed, nearly a century later,

a Fed governor said, "We did it."

- There were concerns even before the Great Depression

that the political compromise that had been necessary

to create this thing

had created too much decentralized power.

Nobody really was in charge.

- [Narrator] So in 1935, Congress put the

Washington based Board of Governors in charge.

It would be a group of seven people

from different parts of the country, including a chairman,

each nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate,

just like a Supreme Court Justice.

They oversee the Federal Reserve System, these banks.

They also serve on the Federal Open Market Committee,

the FOMC, which also includes five bank presidents,

one from New York and four that rotate.

This is the group of people who get together

and decide things like interest rates.

- When you talk about a Fed meeting,

you're talking about a meeting of the FOMC.

The terms become interchangeable,

because there are certain things that the FOMC does.

There are certain things that the Fed Board does,

and they all kind of blend together.

- [Narrator] So that's how we got to

the basic foundation of the Fed.

But the Fed as we know it today,

with its many responsibilities,

was built from responses to even more financial crises.

Let's start with inflation in the 70s,

and in 1978, when Congress gave the Fed,

or really the FOMC, two main priorities.

- The Fed was given a dual mandate to focus on stable prices

and maximum employment.

Now sometimes those goals conflict with each other.

When you're trying to crush inflation,

sometimes you're gonna do things that cause unemployment

to go up, but the mandate really said

the Fed should take both of these objectives into account

when they set policy.

- [Narrator] This was because in the 70s,

inflation was really high.

Called the Great Inflation now, a mix of bad luck

and bad policies saw inflation reach nearly 15 percent.

- There were concerns that the Fed succumbed

to political pressure in the early 1970s

because the Fed chair at the time, Arthur Burns,

was friendly with the president and Nixon did not want him

to raise interest rates before his reelection in 1972.

So the whole experience of the Great Inflation

reinforced this idea that we should have

politically independent central banking

that generally, when you kept politics out

of the FOMC boardroom, you had better economic outcomes.

- [Narrator] In 1979, President Jimmy Carter

put Paul Volcker in charge of the Fed,

and he raised interest rates, a lot, to nearly 20 percent.

Unemployment skyrocketed and rose above 10 percent,

and people blamed the Fed.

- Home builders would mail two by fours

to the Fed and say, "Stop these oppressive interest rates."

They would mail keys for cars and houses to the Fed saying,

"These are homes and cars that aren't being sold."

There were were tractors that protested,

driving around at the Fed's headquarters.

History has vindicated the moves of the Volcker Fed.

He's lionized today as this figure who did something

that was really hard and really unpopular.

But if you look at the US economy

over the 30 years that followed,

the US economy performed better

than most other advanced economies.

- [Narrator] The Fed gained credibility

because it was politically independent,

since politics don't always make great economic policies.

And when the 2008 financial crisis arrived,

the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke,

learned from lessons of the past.

- The bold measures the Fed took in response

to the recent financial crisis, reflected in part

its determination to avoid repeating

the same sorts of mistakes it made before and during

the Great Depression of the 1930s.

- [Narrator] Those bold measures included things

the Fed had never done before, like dropping interest rates

to near zero for the first time.

In addition to managing the currency

and circulation and the occasional treasury security,

it started loaning money, a lot of money to non-banks.

It also got into new markets,

buying things like mortgage securities,

all this to pump money into the economy.

This got the Fed even more involved in parts

of the financial system,

beyond just currency and interest rates.

- One of the things Bernanke was well regarded for

was that he just threw everything against the wall

to see what would stick.

He made sure that it didn't get worse.

We call it the Great Recession

and not the second Great Depression.

- [Narrator] And Congress also gave it more authority

of oversight and regulation of the banking system

through Dodd-Frank, and just kind of by default of inaction.

- Government spending retreated after the stimulus in 2009.

And so there was this saying that the Fed had become

the only game in town.

If you needed to stimulate your economy,

you weren't gonna be able to cut taxes or spend more money

because Congress didn't wanna do that.

What ended up happening was that financial markets,

to a greater and greater degree, began to hang on every word

and every utterance of the Fed chair,

because now monetary policy was just so important

to the markets,

and also to the economic outlook for the country.

- [Narrator] Then came COVID.

The Fed took from the Great Recession Playbook.

It bought those same assets.

It began loaning more money to even more non-banks,

and it raised the amount of money in circulation, brr.

- What you see is a central bank that during periods

of severe stress, really, you know, national emergency,

is willing to do quite a lot to make sure

that the economy and the financial system holds together.

- [Narrator] Including when inflation rises.

- Today, in support of these goals,

the FOMC raised its policy interest rate

by one quarter percentage point.

- [Narrator] The Federal reserve began as a response

to a financial crisis, and has only grown

with each one since.

Although, not always without criticism.

- The time has come, let's end the Fed.

- [Narrator] The Fed is primarily still a bank for banks,

but it has also become the stop gap

for most other parts of the financial system.

They can make decisions quickly

and without political fallout.

- To the extent you have a handful of unelected people

making huge decisions about the economy.

It's something that Congress and the White House,

our elected leaders, have really decided over many decades

to really outsource this to the Fed.

- [Narrator] Basically, it's easier for the parents

to rely on the chaperone.

(gentle music)