Close but No Cigar: Is the Fed a Legitimate Target?

Can one bomb bring down the U.S. financial system? Fox News today published a report on a bomb threat by a Bangladeshi man with alleged ties to Al Qaeda. The man, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, claimed that he “wanted to “destroy America” and determined that the best way to achieve that goal was to target the economy.” He was also documented as targeting the New York Stock Exchange.

Clearly Nafis has not read Martin Wolf, Joseph Stiglitz, or Paul Krugman. If he had, he would know that it would take more than one bomb and the destruction of one building to bring down the American financial system. The potential terrorist attack was a danger to innocent bystanders and those individuals within the building, but, as Krugman explains, it is not the destruction of physical structures that endanger U.S. economics. Rather, Krugman references the tequila crisis in Mexico and the financial flop in Asia as precursors to a potential depression in the United States. The danger comes from recessions that undo years of economic progress because “the conventional policy responses don’t seem to have any effect.” What the U.S. economy needs is an FBI-level of efficiency in weeding out the financial abuse more damaging long term than anything Nafis could effect.

The point here is not to discount the danger of the attack or the brilliance of law officials in protecting the American people. Rather, I wish that we had similar institutions in place to save the American economy. Krugman writes: “reform of the weaknesses that made this crisis possible is essential, but…first we need to deal with the clear and present danger” (184). The way to do this, he insists, is to “get credit flowing again and prop up spending” (184). Instead of being a physical threat to the economy, Nafis’ actions are instead a physical manifestation of the havoc wreaked on the world economy during this period of depression economics.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/17/feds-arrest-man-who-tried-to-blow-up-federal-reserve-bank-in-nyc-sources-say/