Austan Goolsbee

I started the Fed in 2023.

So if you got complaints about inflation, that was before I got there.

We have been trying to fix that since I was there.

What's one lesson...

that applied in both times.

This is a good question.

2008 and the inflation crisis, they're pretty different.

They're pretty different because one, of course, is the financial collapse and the slow comeback.

And this inflation was partly overheating from stimulus and low rates and partly a bunch of big supply shocks, whether that's the supply chain breakdowns from COVID or the Russian oil.

I think for policymakers, Paul Volcker, I worked with very closely in the financial crisis.

And he was a great friend and a personal hero of mine.

And as it was going through the crisis, I was the most annoying young guy ever because I was like, tell me about 1978.

What happened with this?

You know, I would ask him.

I'm asking him all the time.

And he always said, when the crisis comes, the only thing that you have, the only true asset that you have is your credibility.

And don't do anything to blow your credibility.

As you blow your credibility, it just makes your job that much harder.

And that was true in the financial crisis.

And that has been true with the inflation crisis, if you want to call it that.