WASHINGTON — Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is known for using colorful analogies in his speeches, but he may have reached a new high — or low, depending on your point of view — by comparing Congress to Lindsay Lohan, whose problems with drugs are well known and who was recently charged with shoplifting.
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"Like Ms. Lohan, the American Congress is a beautiful creation, blessed with enormous talent," said Fisher on Monday, in remarks at a conference held by the Institute of International Bankers. "But it has been waylaid by addiction — in the case of the Congress to spending and debt and by a proclivity for shoplifting in the case of the Congress to pocketing for their immediate gratification the economic future of our children and grandchildren and our grandchildren's children."
This isn't the first time Fisher has compared the two, previously saying that "we have suffered far too long from 'Lindsay Lohan Congresses'."
Congress wasn't the only thing Fisher was critical about. A voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, he said barring any developments, he would vote against any program that might extend or enlarge the Fed's quantitative easing measures.
"I remain doubtful enough as to its efficacy that if at any time between now and June, it should prove demonstrably counterproductive, I will vote to curtail or perhaps discontinue it," said Fisher. "As I said, the liquidity tanks are full, if not brimming over. The Fed has done its job. What is needed now is for business to be incentivized to commit that liquidity to creating American jobs. That is the task of the fiscal authorities, not the Federal Reserve."
