Thomas Hoenig, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, took heat for arguing against easy monetary policy during the economic recovery that followed the financial crisis of 2008.

“I voted against the consensus several times and was not appreciated for it. It was not fun at all. It was gut-wrenching. But I was glad I did it,” Hoenig said at a forum Wednesday afternoon at Metropolitan State University in Denver.

In 2010, Hoenig argued that sustaining ultra-low interest rates would create a host of new problems, some of which are now starting to manifest. They include a surge in corporate borrowing, a lack of adequate savings and a big escalation in asset values.

In places like Denver, that run up in asset prices has left homes unattainable for many families.

Beyond the short-term shifts in rates and Fed policy pronouncements, Hoenig told his audience of mostly college students and faculty to also pay attention to deeper currents that are shaping the economy.

“It is important to think about more than what next month’s interest rate move will be. There are profound things affecting the U.S. and global economies as we speak,” said Hoenig.

Chief among those is an aging population, which has contributed to a halving in the nation’s rate of population growth.

Slower population growth means slower economic growth, which leaves a thinner cushion for policy mistakes, Hoenig said.

If things go right, Hoenig predicts the U.S. economy can expect to grow at an annual rate of 2 percent to 2.5 percent in the years ahead. But any reduction in that rate, carried across a long period of time, will cut into the standard of living of Americans and their ability to accumulate wealth.

Hoenig oversaw the Kansas City Fed, whose territory includes Colorado, for two decades before facing mandatory retirement in 2011. He joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as vice chairman in 2012 and left earlier this year.

Whether the country has accumulated too much debt is a question up for debate. But he said the U.S. shouldn’t take for granted that the rest of the world will keep buying the notes and bonds it issues to fund deficit spending.

“Too much debt is debt that you can’t pay back,” Hoenig quipped.

The deficits now accumulating will be paid back via higher taxes later, or if the country continues to issue money, in the taxing effects of higher inflation.

“You are going to be taxed,” he told his audience.

As interest rates rise, that will lift the cost of the deficit and squeeze out other spending priorities, such as higher education, and hurt the nation’s competitive position.

When asked about the financial crisis of 2008, which he attributes in part to loose monetary policy that allowed for a speculative bubble, Hoenig said the issue isn’t that the country and policymakers didn’t learn important lessons. The problem is that people have already started to forget the lessons learned, he said.