Elon Musk calls Jeremy Siegel’s rant towards Fed ‘clearly right’

On Friday, Siegel went on an animated tirade towards Powell, telling CNBC’s Halftime Report that the Fed underneath Powell is making a giant mistake by elevating rates of interest and tightening financial coverage too aggressively.

Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, tweeted a video of the rant, writing, “Siegel is clearly right.” 

Siegel, a famend economist and the most effective inventory watchers alive, argued the Fed erred final yr by not tightening financial coverage earlier than inflation went uncontrolled. He mentioned it was making one other mistake now by climbing rates of interest and tightening financial coverage too aggressively. 

“The final two years [are] one of many greatest coverage errors within the 110-year historical past of the Fed, by staying really easy when every thing was booming,” Siegel mentioned.

He added: “After we had all commodities going up at speedy charges, Chairman Powell and the Fed mentioned, ‘We don’t see any inflation. We see no want to lift rates of interest in 2022.’ Now when all these exact same commodities and asset costs are happening, he says, ‘Cussed inflation that requires the Fed to remain tight during 2023.’ It makes completely no sense to me in any way.” 

He now expects a recession, he added, with working- and middle-class Individuals paying the value. 

Oil costs, he famous, have fallen, and residential costs and home-building exercise are beginning to drop as effectively.

“The one factor that’s not happening is wages—and by the best way, wages are in catch-up mode,” he mentioned. “Don’t argue they’re pushing inflation, they’re lagging inflation. I imply, staff are attempting to get slightly bit again of what the inflation occurs to be.”

Siegel questioned why Powell is “placing the burden on these working individuals, on the employed individuals, when each different commodity worth goes down.”

“I’m very upset,” he continued. “It’s like a pendulum. They have been manner too simple via 2020 and 2021, and now [impersonates the Fed], ‘We’re going to be actual powerful guys till we crush the economic system.’ I imply, that’s simply to me completely, poor financial coverage could be an understatement.”

In July on the identical present, Siegel mentioned, “Powell have to be forward-looking.” Noting June inflation knowledge was backward-looking, he added, “Printed numbers are going to stay dangerous regardless that the precise numbers are going to be getting a lot better.”

“I assume Powell is aware of this,” he added. 

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