The U.S. monetary policy focuses too much on boosting consumption

Marc Faber : U.S. monetary policy focuses too much on boosting consumption. This is a short-term fix, but benefits often accrue elsewhere, namely in China, which provides the goods to feed American consumerism. The negative real interest rates and boost to Chinese incomes and investment also push up commodities prices, which then counteracts the stimulative effect for U.S. consumers by acting as a tax on income. Mr. Faber calculates the world’s bill for oil went from $250 billion in 1998 to $2 trillion in 2006 before doubling again by 2008 as the Fed started cutting rates towards zero. - Marc Faber said at World Commodities Week in London on Tuesday morning - via The Wall Street journal Blog