Fed Acted Like a Liquidity Drug Dealer: Economist

CNBC
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Federal Reserve, which has encouraged excessive borrowing, is to blame for the credit crunch that has gripped world markets for more than a year, Marc Faber, the author of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC on Tuesday.

“About 15 percent of U.S. households have negative equity. Who supplied the leverage into the system? It’s called the Federal Reserve Board,” Faber said.

“If I’m the drug dealer I’m not responsible that everybody takes drugs, but I facilitate it, especially if I give it out free of charge, I can enlarge the market share, and that’s what the Fed has done.”

Liquidity will dry up even more, volatility will stay high and financial assets are going to suffer as the crisis continues to unfold. The bailout plan is unlikely to work and the global economy will take the hit, he predicted.

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“People rely on the people in Congress, at the Fed, at the Treasury, people that brought us into this trouble, to take us out of trouble. I don’t think they will succeed,” Faber said. “We can have recovery rallies but a new high on the S&P is practically out of the question for a very long time. In real terms, equities are still very high and economically, I think the world will go into a slump.”

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The main provider of global liquidity was the U.S. current account deficit, which increased at a fast pace over the past 10 years, but this will no longer be the case.

“Next year, if the economy in the U.S. is as weak as I think it would be, the trade and the current account deficit will continue to contract,” Faber said. “When global liquidity contracts, it’s not a good time for financial assets.”

Other sources of funding, such as foreign reserves of resources-rich countries, are also likely to dry up, Faber said. “I think sovereign wealth funds are going to be very busy supporting their own markets, they won’t have much money to buy assets around the world.”

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