'The Lords of Easy Money': How the Federal Reserve Enriched Wall Street & Broke the U.S. Economy

As the Federal Reserve signals it will raise interest rates in March, we talk to Christopher Leonard, author of the new book "The Lords of Easy Money," about how the Federal Reserve broke the American economy. He details the issues with quantitative easing, a radical intervention instituted by the federal government in 2010 to encourage banks and investors to lend more risky debt to combat the recession. "The Fed's policies over the last decades have stoked the world of Wall Street," says Leonard. "It has pumped trillions of dollars into the banking system and thereby inflated these markets for stocks, for bonds. And that drives income inequality."

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[bravecaucasian]

End the Federal Reserve banking cartel and kick the bankers OUT.

[dpdystro]

The federal reserve IS Wall Street. Confiscate all banks. Let’s have a single bank, owned by the government of the people, located at and managed exclusively as a savings and loan operation out of our post offices.

[yurielcundangan]

Worse stuff about bad guys is they think they're actually the good guys

[aggieschoonover]

Thank you for this article. I am afraid that the only way to correct some of the income inequality is to allow the asset markets to fully crash. For example, the real estate markets were never allowed to fully reset after 2008. The result has been runaway inflation in housing. Now, fewer and fewer members of the Middle Class, including many young people, cannot afford to buy a home. Big investors were allowed to buy and inflate the prices of average homes. This market needs to collapse, to better align itself with middle class incomes.

[rbnsyjy]

Corporations are just as responsible. Stock buybacks, price hikes for no reason but to make more profits.

[deacon]

As long as we all continue to feed the monsters, we will stay on this course.

[Cooper]

I'm so glad to be seeing this being talked about. I've been bitching about the FED for 15 years already but no one listens to the turtle

[charlesharrison]

Great video! BTW who knows the easiest ways to make money now, Real estate, Stocks RESEARCH POOL📌)

[cinema]

Wages have not kept up with the increases in prices since before 1980. It's not just a recent occurrence.

[dulynoted]

How do you fight it? Stop stock buy backs, Tax people who make over a million dollars And make the CEO's of the companies invest in their workers. Break up monopolies. .. etc

[veritas]

There are 3 classes, Working class, Middle class, upper class. apparently somewhere along the way of the "American Dream" people forgot the difference between the middle and working class. Id like to remind people that the working class is still the one producing everything while also keeping society from crumbling and building everything, if you are a middle class your interest of keeping things as they are has oppressed the majority of people just as much as the upper class, therefore i don't see a difference between bourgeoisies and bootlickers (middle class) that keep the status quo just so they can enjoy a better life then the ones doing all the meaningful work, Bullshit jobs are not jobs, they are just there to keep up the ideology that everyone needs to work in order to "earn a living".

[Damacles]

Great interview, thank you! More please!

[billedley]

Excellent point .... Two types of inflation...Asset inflation vs Consumer Price inflation...

[krokodyl]

Sadly, Christopher Leonard is absolutely correct. Our middle class is getting crushed from all sides. And will eventually disappear entirely. 🌝

[leiag]

"the economy I believe. will be the thread that completely unravels our entire society"- Raul Garcia

[MR-inyi]

5 years ago I suggested, and a few others suggested reforming/eliminating the FED. It is out of control.

[infledermaus]

It's devastating for the poor more so than any other group.

[bonitaroache]

You cannot escape Responsibility for tomorrow by evading it today...

[sarahs]

Crazy! I just was just thinking about the FR yesterday and it’s effects on our country, our culture and our daily lives.

[dustinjones]

"Cracking down on monopolies"??? And who exactly would execute this strategy? Certainly neither of the 2 right wing parties.