Each year, since 1978, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City hosts central bankers from around the globe at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to assess monetary policy. The conference is closed to the public and the Kansas City Fed does not make its program available to the public until the day of the event. Here’s what one can find when going to their website:
“The 2015 Economic Symposium, “Inflation Dynamics and Monetary Policy,” will take place Aug. 27–29, 2015. (The program will be available at 6 p.m., MT, Aug. 27, 2015).”
This information is treated as if it’s “top secret.”
But it’s not a top secret that the Federal Reserve lacks transparency, is not bound by any monetary rule, has more power than ever before (as a result of the unconventional monetary policies pursued since the 2008 financial crisis), and opposes a congressional audit—even though the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate the value of money.
Luckily, the American Principles Project will be holding a parallel conference near the Fed’s site in Jackson Hole to evaluate the Fed’s performance after more than 100 years and offer alternatives to a regime of pure discretionary government fiat money.
The topic of the APP conference—“Is Central Banking the Problem or the Solution?”—will give participants the opportunity to offer advice on how to improve the monetary regime, not just monetary policy. (On the same topic, see the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of the Cato Journal: “Alternatives to Central Banking: Toward Free-Market Money”)
Mark Calabria, director of Cato’s Financial Regulation Studies, within Cato’s newly established Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, will be speaking at the APP conference on Friday, August 28. His topic is “Regulatory Failure at the Fed.” Tune in.
