The Fed Beats Marie Antoinette With “Let Them Eat iPad2s”

03-13-2011 • NakedCapitalism.com/

In fairness, I must point out that Marie Antoinette has gotten a bit of a bum rap. The infamous “let them eat cake” was actually “qu’ils mangent de la brioche” which is “let them eat brioche”. The only French queen who might have said that was Marie Therese, about 100 years before the French Revolution. In addition, Marie Antoinette was concerned with the welfare of the poor, so such a clueless remark seems even more unlikely to have come from her. However, there is no excuse for this telling example of how out of touch Fed officials are, specifically, New York Dudley of the New York Fed. From Reuters: Dudley faced persistent questions from the audience on food inflation. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said people forget that even as the price of food is rising, other prices are falling. He mentioned the price of the iPad 2, prompting guffaws from the audience.