The Fed put morphs into a Fed call

When stocks boomed early in the pandemic, an internet meme captured the madness of the moment. On the left-hand side of the image, a worried man exclaims that simply creating money cannot save the economy; on the right, a man representing the Federal Reserve replies “Haha money printer go brrr” while cranking out dollars. Joseph Politano, author of Apricitas, an economics newsletter, recently tweaked the meme to better fit the present situation. On the left, the worried man laments that excessive monetary tightening is increasing the risk of a recession; to the right, the Fed representative retorts “Haha money vacuum go brrr”, while hoovering up dollars.