RICK PERRY, THE man who hopes to become the next president of the United States, has been accused of making murder threats against the chairman of the US Federal Reserve after he said another round of quantitative easing would be akin to treason.

The Guardian reports that the Texas governor warned a crowd of supporters in the key early caucus state of Iowa of the consequences if Fed chairman Ben Bernanke printed more electric money to fuel another round of asset purchases in what’s known as quantitative easing:

If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.

Perry, on his first full day of campaigning in Iowa since he announced his intentions at the weekend, added: “Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion.”

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His remarks have been criticised by those on the right and left of the political spectrum.

Tony Fratto a former press secretary to George W Bush, whom Perry succeeded as governor of Texas, said the remarks were “inappropriate and unpresidential” whilst the economics professor dubbed Doctor Doom, Nouriel Roubini, said that the “Texan thug” was making “murder threats” against Bernanke.

The US has already had two rounds of QE with a third effort being mooted by many economists in order to stimulate sluggish economic growth.