A remarkable statement by current Fed Chair Janet Yellen: she publicly stated, and without blinking an eye, that no new financial crisis will erupt in our lifetimes. With special emphasis on our lifetimes; if Yellen would have said my lifetime, things would be different (although even then she would be utterly wrong; a crisis is approaching and approaching fast). With 70 years of experience Yellen can be called a Fed veteran, and rightly so. But a veteran with “only” 16 years ahead of

Despite disappointing US economic growth in the first quarter of 2017, the Federal Reserve has, generally speaking, been quite positive about the economic recovery and that opinion is as a general rule shared by press reporters and investors. It has been sunshine and roses in the Fed´s wonderland. And it seems as if they are right. Seems, because in my quest to find out what is happening below the surface, I came across a curious development. One of those facts that would raise some eyebrows.

Jokes abound about economists, but one is particularly relevant to our article of today. A retired economics professor is back at the university where he studied and used to teach for his 50-year class reunion. He asks if he could see the current economics exam. After a little while, he receives the most recent version of the economics exam from a faculty member. He scans carefully through the exam, looks up somewhat surprised, and utters: “But this is exactly
the same exam that I wrote almost 50 years ago!” “Yes,” responds the faculty member, “the exam is exactly the same, but all the answers are different!”