Chart: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers Illustrates Lack of Ammo to Combat a Recession

There has been considerable discussion of late, and for that matter in recent years, of the Fed’s dwindling reserve of firepower to help mitigate the next recession. It has been a while, but surely one will come at some point. They always have. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers sums the situation up nicely with a recent tweet:

There is little room for interest rate cuts. In every US recession since the 1970s, the fed funds rate was cut >500bps. In most, the real rate fell >400bps below the neutral rate. Now, the max. feasible cut is 200-300bps, bringing the real rate only 150-250bps below neutral. 2/ pic.twitter.com/6QfiaVykU7

— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) August 22, 2019