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The Perils of Straight Talk
When central bankers speak, everybody listens. Not everybody, however, understands. For a long time, the central bankers liked it that way. They seemed to recite high-toned gibberish on purpose: Say too much too clearly, the thinking went, and they could give away the secrets to their god-like power to make economies rise or fall. Then the global financial crisis ushered in a new consensus that straight talk is better, that giving investors useful guidance to steer expectations for interest rates — already near zero — would help them navigate the worst recession in a generation. All of the world’s big central ... (full story)