speeches · June 21, 2012
Regional President Speech
Jeffrey M. Lacker · President
Press Releases
June 22, 2012
Richmond Fed President Lacker Comments on FOMC
Dissent
Richmond, Va.
“The Federal Open Market Committee voted on June 20, 2012 , to continue the maturity
extension program. Under that program, which began in September 2011, the Fed purchases
Treasury securities with remaining maturities of six years to 30 years and sells an equal amount
of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of three years or less. The Committee decided to
continue the maturity extension program in order to put downward pressure on longer-term
interest rates and promote a stronger economic recovery.
“I dissented on this decision because I do not believe that further monetary stimulus would make
a substantial difference for economic growth and employment without increasing inflation by
more than would be desirable. While the outlook for economic growth has clearly weakened in
recent weeks, the impediments to stronger growth appear to be beyond the capacity of monetary
policy to offset. Inflation is currently close to 2 percent, which the Committee has identified as its
inflation goal. A significant increase in inflation could threaten the Fed’s credibility and make it
more difficult to achieve the Committee’s longer-run goals, including maximum employment.
Should a substantial and persistent fall in inflation emerge, monetary stimulus may be
appropriate to ensure the return of inflation toward the Committee’s 2 percent goal.
“My views on the economy and monetary policy are also available on richmondfed.org.”
The Richmond Fed serves the Fifth Federal Reserve District, which includes the District of
Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and most of West Virginia. As part
of the nation's central bank, we're one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that work together with the
Federal Reserve's Board of Governors to strengthen the economy and our communities. We
manage the nation's money supply to keep inflation low and help the economy grow. We also
supervise and regulate financial institutions to help safeguard our nation's financial system and
protect the integrity and efficiency of our payments system.
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© 1997-2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Cite this document
APA
Jeffrey M. Lacker (2012, June 21). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20120622_jeffrey_m_lacker
BibTeX
@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_20120622_jeffrey_m_lacker,
author = {Jeffrey M. Lacker},
title = {Regional President Speech},
year = {2012},
month = {Jun},
howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20120622_jeffrey_m_lacker},
note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}