Later, Ehrlichman would record a typical scolding: “The President made you chairman of the Fed, Arthur,” Ehrlichman said. Burns believed inflation, or its appearance, would abate if Nixon and Congress placed some government restraints on wages and prices. For Nixon, a political victory — the measures masked the inflation and pumped growth enough to get Nixon a second term. A storm of inflation followed when the price controls ended; Burns’s interest rate increases proved far too modest. Burns, the prophet who had spent a career warning of inflation, had carried out policies that caused it.

Source: New York Times November 16, 2019 19:30 UTC