There was an interesting article in the Merc over the weekend saying how technological advances are reducing the power of the Fed. So nowadays, you buy your whatever and it’s instantly tracked. The stores can instantly order more or stop warehouse orders, and warehouses can similarly instantly increase or decrease factory orders. It’s become incredibly efficient, and will only become more so.
But what happens is that this causes almost immediate price and production fluctuations, and it happens too fast for the effects of the Fed rates to influence. That’s what Greenspan has been saying recently.
So I don’t know, that kind of worries me, if the Fed is unable to influence things to the same extent that it has. Last month there were signs of simultaneous recession and inflation, and I don’t know enough to understand it, but it makes me think.