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It's time for the Federal Reserve to fire James Bullard

How does one with such a poor track record stay employed?

By Stephen Guilfoyle

Good Afternoon,

Several years back, Ron Paul wrote a book titled "End the Fed." People called him crazy. I did not. I still see the proper price of credit (or anything else for that matter) as the very point where the most aggressive buyer and the most aggressive seller meet in agreement at specific place in time. I know that ending the Fed is too much to ask for. It's like me living in a castle or playing center-field in the major leagues ... it's not going to happen.

How about a compromise? You all saw the comments made this morning by the ever more ridiculous president of the St. Louis Fed, James Bullard. He is one of the most outspoken members of the FOMC and likes to get out and make his opinions known. He's also extremely irresponsible about changing his mind publicly—and on a whim at that. We all saw the low end of the range for FOMC fed funds rate projections into 2019 drop dramatically from 2.1% to 0.6% on Wednesday.

Now we know that this incredible turn of opinion in such a short time was made by Bullard, who has also been the Fed's most hawkish speaker over the last few months. Wait ... doesn't that make Bullard the most hawkish—and the most dovish—voting member of the committee within several weeks time? Didn't he move markets on many days with his words on interest rate direction? Didn't real people make real money and lose real money based on comments that were made with what could only be assumed to have had no conviction behind them?

How does one with such a poor track record stay employed? Doesn't happen—not in the private sector.  Only in the "Land of Make Believe"—also know as academia—would this kind of subpar job performance ever be tolerated. It's time to apologize, Mr. Bullard, for drawing a salary, for wasting our time, and in many cases, other people's money. It's time for a new district president in St. Louis.

Let's be clear on this. I am not being critical of a dovish stance by the Fed at this time. I actually see the need for it. I am being critical of a job poorly done. A lot of folks out there could do a lot better.

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