If Wall Street Crashes, Does Main Street

If You Are Not Happy With Yourself, Even The Loftiest Achievements Won't Bring You Much Satisfaction.

There's No Denying That A Collapse In Stock Prices Today Would Pose Serious Macroeconomic Challenges For The United States. Consumer Spending Would Slow, And The U.s. Economy Would Become Less Of A Magnet For Foreign Investors. Economic Growth, Which In Any Case Has Recently Been At Unsustainable Levels, Would Decline Somewhat. History Proves, However, That A Smart Central Bank Can Protect The Economy And The Financial Sector From The Nastier Side Effects Of A Stock Market Collapse.

I Think That Having Good Data, Good Statistics-and The United States Generally Has Better Macroeconomic Statistics Than Most Countries-and Having Good Economists To Interpret Those Data And Present The Policy Alternatives, Has A Substantially Beneficial Effect On Policymaking In The United States.

Monetary Policy Cannot Do Much About Long-run Growth, All We Can Try To Do Is To Try To Smooth Out Periods Where The Economy Is Depressed Because Of Lack Of Demand

The Amount Of Currency In Circulation Is Not Changing. The Money Supply Is Not Changing In Any Significant Way.