Este paper tem como objetivo descrever, segundo a Escola Austríaca de Economia, como as políticas monetárias adotadas pelo Federal Reserve a partir de 2008 (Quantitative Easing – QE, Qualitative Easing – QL e Zero Per-cent Interest Rate Policy – ZIRP) prolongaram os desajustes na alocação de recursos, enfraqueceram a economia americana (indivíduos e empresas tor-naram-se mais dependentes de juros artificialmente baixos) e aumentaram os riscos e a alavancagem presentes no mercado financeiro. Argumenta-se que, após a adoção destas políticas, o Fed não seria capaz de normalizar a política monetária, o que se confirmou em 2019, quando Fed voltou a diminuir o FFR e a realizar QE, e, sobretudo, em 2020, quando retornou ao ZIRP e aumentou o QE. Conclui-se, portanto, que o Fed enfraquece a economia e aumenta a ala-vancagem do mercado financeiro. A economia real é prejudicada em detri-mento do mercado financeiro (grandes empresas de capital aberto e instituições financeiras) e do governo (que aumenta seus gastos e endividamento).
This paper aims to describe, according to the Austrian School of Eco-nomics, how the monetary policies adopted by the Federal Reserve since 2008 (Quantitative Easing - QE, Qualitative Easing - QL and Zero Percent Interest Rate Policy - ZIRP) prolonged the mismatches in resource allocation, made the US economy weaker (individuals and companies became more dependent on artificially low interest rates) and increased the risks and leverage in the finan-cial market. It is argued that, after the adoption of these policies, the Fed would not be able to normalize monetary policy, which was confirmed in 2019, when the Fed began to cut the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) and did QE, and, mainly, in 2020, when it returned to ZIRP and did a bigger QE. It is concluded, therefore, that the Fed makes the economy weaker and increases the financial market’s leverage. The real economy is harmed, while the financial market (large pub-licly traded companies and financial institutions) and the government (which increases its spending and indebtedness) are benefited.