A Federal Reserve Governor Asked A Brilliant Question About Interest Rates

Besides Bernanke, Charlie Evans of the Chicago Fed is probably the most important FOMC member to listen to these days. That's because he's the most aggressive dove, and the person most eager to see the Fed follow a rule in which they allow inflation go grow more than normal until employment is improved, a notion that's not that different from what Bernanke announced a couple of weeks ago.
He was on CNBC this morning, and at one point, Becky Quick asked him a fairly common question: What do you say to savers who are getting squeezed by low interest rates.
His response, which you can see at the 4:40 mark in the video below was basically: "Savers would be better off if interest rates were higher... the question is: What do you mean by higher interest rates?"
So naturally, this got him mockery from the likes of ZeroHedge and others. After all, a dovish Fed guy asking what the definition of low interest rates -- when low interest rates seem to the the bane of savers -- does seem at first blush to be the definition of out-of-touch.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/charlie-evans-what-do-you-mean-by-low-interest-rates-2012-10#ixzz284IY64S7