by Jeff Berwick
Dollar Vigilante
One of the inspirations for our name, The Dollar Vigilante, was what used to be called the Bond Vigilantes.
Last seen in full force in the inflationary early 1980s, bond vigilantes were anti-establishment figures who were said to have rebelled. They had decided to keep central banks and governments honest by raising long term interest rates in the open market. They would do so whenever the authorities kept their own interest rates too low, or let budget deficits grow out of control.
It was in 2010 that I overheard the term “bond vigilante” on a radio program once again and laughed for a moment, saying in my own head, Ah, yes, with interest rates at near zero or negative percent, Quantitative Easing to infinity and budget deficits in the US stretching the boundaries of belief, where are the bond vigilantes now?