I always enjoy watching the regular commentary segment with Mark Shields and David Brooks on PBS Newshour on Fridays (though I find David Brooks to be the more interesting by far). This week I was struck by comments that both of them made about quantitative easing (QE). They both admitted that they don’t understand enough about the issue to know whether the Federal Reserve’s strategy is right or wrong.
The video is below and the section about QE starts at 9:35. Brooks’ comment is at 10:00 and Shields’ is at 10:42. I’m not necessarily criticizing these guys – I’ve been spending quite a bit of time trying to assess the pros and cons myself – but it is interesting that two of the nation’s leading news analysts feel they don’t know enough to form an opinion about one of the key economic issues of the day.