Back in the 1980s, rapper Run-DMC put out a somewhat catchy riff titled “You talk too much.” The chorus goes like this: “You talk too much, you never shut up, I said you talk too much, Homeboy you never shut up.” I don’t know about homeboys, but there are plenty of other people who should, but never do, shut up.

If you could get anyone to shut up, who would it be?  There are many people I wish would shut the heck up, and members of the Federal Reserve are towards the top of the list. First, a few close contenders…

AOC and her homeboys and homely girls really grate, but their incessant incantations are laughably ludicrous.  Listening to them is almost as entertaining as watching an awful movie in the sheer disbelief that someone had such self-unawareness that they could make that.  They can keep talking, I suppose, for they are just digging a hole for themselves.  Perhaps they appeal to a small minority of anti-American malcontents, but they are likely unelectable on a national level.

Those screechy members of The View (and MSDNC, CNN, etc.) are up next.  I’ve never, ever, watched a single show, but various clips on social media are useful indications of early onset dementia, including what can happen to an unenlightened mind trapped in leftism. As Mr. Run-DMC sang, “I said your mouth’s moving fast, and your brain’s moving slow.”

Speaking of fast-moving mouths, has there ever been a bigger blabbermouth than James Carville?  Nevertheless, at least the raging Cajun is somewhat entertaining, and offers very occasional insights.

On the contrary, ghastly Hillary Clinton is not, and does not offer anything beneficial.  The old, wrinkly hag grates so much that she’s towards the top of the “please shut up list.”  Again, in the inimitable rhymes of Mr. Run-DMC, “I said your mouth is big, size extra-large and when you open it, it’s like my garage.”

I wish Premier League soccer analysts would shut up because their common accents, lacking any semblance of diction, truly grate. Their banal analysis offers no value, so shut up — just stick with the main play-by-play announcer, who tends to be more professional and polished.  Soccer is a simple game that doesn’t require simpletons repeating the bleeding obvious, like “that goal was important.”

But whom I really wish would shut up are members of the Federal Reserve, especially chair Jerome Powell, because they are truly dangerous underneath their superficial cloak of effete respectability.

Powell and his gang of un-merry men and women frequently give self-serving speeches and interviews as if their opinions even partially reflected reality.  Instead, their track record (e.g., “inflation is transitory”) is awful.  They are not even pretend economists, but “econo-misseds.”  The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates.  The EU recently cut rates.  Even China just cut rates.  All that is happening, but we are stuck with fuddy-duddy Jerome Powell, a political ponce who not only never shuts up, but drones on in sleep-inducing monotone.

As I type (prior to the Fed’s interest rate decision announcement), on the day of their scheduled policy meeting, the Fed is overwhelmingly likely to leave our rates unchanged.  Still, if past is prologue, he’ll blabber on interminably after the announcement.  He has already shown his political proclivities, though I wish he would respect President Trump instead of being spiteful.  Darn it, why don’t they ever shut up?

Federal Reserve policy meetings often dominate the financial headlines for days.  In fact, individual members who blabber their economic prognostications and hint at the trajectory of interest rates can also influence market gyrations.  One suspects that they secretly relish making market-moving statements, if only to get attention and bolster their bloated egos.  There may be some occasional benefit in telegraphing their decision-making processes (their vaunted “dot plot” and whatnot) so as to not shock the markets, but stop the constant, wishy-washy musings.  To once again invoke Mr. Run-DMC, “Twenty-five hours, eight days a week, thirteen months outta year, is when you speak.”

Plodding Powell and his Fed plotters are so dour, while taking themselves too seriously.  Ideally, I wish the Fed would just go away and let markets rule.  At a minimum, just lock themselves in their plush offices and become as silent as monks, at least between their regularly scheduled meetings. How nice it would be if they would stop gabbing at their plush confabs.  As Mr. Run-DMC’s songwriters wrote, “I’m tired of listening to the garbage you talk.”

Image: Public domain.