Marc Faber (& Bill Barker) Take On The Fed

Central bankers are “counterfeit money printers” and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should resign for messing up the U.S. economy so badly, Marc Faber, author of the "Gloom, Doom and Boom," told CNBC on Friday.

He said Bernanke was one of the main proponents of an ultra-expansionist economic monetary policy that was to blame for the latest financial crisis.

“If I had messed up as badly as Bernanke I would for sure resign. The mandate of the Fed to boost asset prices and thereby create wealth is ludicrous - it doesn’t work that way. It’s a temporary boost followed by a crash,” Faber said.

Faber, who rose to prominence after predicting the 1987 financial crash report and dubbed "Dr Doom" for his negative predictions, said: “This unlimited "quantitative easing," buying mortgage-backed securities and continuing operation twist  has the implication of simply having asset prices go up and the money flows down to the Mayfair economy.”

(A Mayfair economy is one which benefits the wealthier and better off in society.)

Faber said this latest round of QE would not help "the man on the street”.

“QE helps rich people whose asset prices go up and whose net worth then increases but it doesn’t flow to the man on the street who is faced with higher costs of living with price rises. You just have a small economy that is booming but the majority of the economy is damaged by QE,” Faber said.

Bernanke announced on Thursday that the Fed would buy $40 billion a month in Mortgage Backed Securities, giving the impression that this time around there would be no time limit to the program, which would only stop once a sustained uptick in employment is visible.

MY FRIENDS... THE FEDERAL RESERVE WAS NEVER DESIGNED WITH THIS SORT OF STAND-ALONE POWER IN MIND. MY GOD... THINK ABOUT IT... $40 BILLION A MONTH... SIMPLY CREATED OUT OF THIN AIR... BACKED BY THE "FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT" BUT WITHOUT DEBATE - LET ALONE VOTE - IN CONGRESS? WITHOUT THE SIGNATURE - OR ABSENT BEING PASSED OVER THE VETO - OF A PRESIDENT? THIS IS INSANITY! THIS IS TYRANNY! THIS MAKES A MOCKERY OF "ONE MAN, ONE VOTE." (NONE OF US HAVE A VOTE OVER WHO SITS ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD!)

WHY DOES CONGRESS ALLOW THIS? WHY DOES THE PRESIDENT ALLOW THIS? SIMPLE. THESE BASTARDS FEEL THAT "IF IT WORKS" THEY'LL BASK IN THE GLOW AND GET CREDIT, WHILE IF IT FAILS (AS IT CLEARLY HAS TWICE NOW - QE1 & QE2)... THEY BLAME BERNANKE... THEY BLAME THE FED.

MY GOD, PEOPLE... AND YOU WONDER WHY I OFTEN WONDER IF THERE'S TRULY ANY HOPE FOR AMERICA SHORT OF ANOTHER REVOLUTION?

“The money printers are responsible for this crisis. If we continue with this expansionist monetary policy we won’t be facing a fiscal cliff it will be a fiscal grand canyon,” Faber added.

“If we have an economic crisis in the Western world it’s because the government makes up 50% or more of the economy. This is a cancer that is taking away people’s freedom,” Faber said.