The Great Deceiver

Ukrainian painter Oleg Shuplyak

On Fed Head Janet Yellen's rosy outlook on the economy, Dr. Roberts, who holds a Ph.D. in economics, debates, "I don't see how she can see that the economy is going to start growing.  What is going to make it grow?  Why should investors invest money when consumers don't have any money?  There are no retail sales.  I think it is just part of the rah, rah talk.  Everywhere else in the world is going down the tube.  So, what's going to push the American economy up?  Nothing that I know of."

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says, "What I find most amusing about this is they had to claim some real growth in the first quarter so, they eked out 1%.  Now we know they got that by rigging the inflation number they used to deflate the gross domestic product (GDP).  The real GDP in the first quarter, properly deflated, was negative and probably also in the fourth quarter.  Most likely, this coming quarter, they are not going to be able to hide the fact that it is negative.  I am convinced the first quarter was negative, and I don't see how it could possibly go positive in the second quarter."

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.  He was a columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate.  He has had many university appointments.  His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.  Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism, Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Greg Hunter