Three Positive Signs from the New Chair of the Federal Reserve

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 28, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Minimum Wage

Like John Stossel and Thomas Sowell, I’m not a big fan of the Federal Reserve. It’s not just that I’m a libertarian who fantasizes about the denationalization of money. I also think the Fed hasn’t done a good job, even by its own metrics. There’s very little doubt,...

Can We Envision a World without a Central Bank?

by Dan Mitchell | Sep 20, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Monetary Policy

I’ve expressed concern about QE3 and other decisions by the Federal Reserve about monetary policy, but I have also admitted that it’s difficult to know the right monetary policy because it requires having a good idea about both the demand for money and the supply of...

QE3: A Risky Ploy to Solve the Problems of Bad Fiscal Policy with Bad Monetary Policy

by Dan Mitchell | Sep 15, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Monetary Policy

I posted this t-shirt about Bernanke’s easy-money approach a couple of days ago, but I should have waited ’til today since it would be a perfect accompaniment to any analysis of the Fed Chairman’s unveiling of QE3. But given the potential economic consequences, I...

Will More Federal Debt Improve the U.S. Government’s Creditworthiness?

by Dan Mitchell | Jun 6, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Keynesian

Writing in yesterday’s Washington Post, former Obama economist Larry Summers put forth the strange hypothesis that more red ink would improve the federal government’s long-run fiscal position. This sounds like an excuse for more Keynesian spending as part of another...

If We Can’t End the Fed, Can We at Least Subject It to Competition?

by Dan Mitchell | Apr 8, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Monetary Policy

Ron Paul has made “End the Fed” a popular slogan, but some people worry that this is a radical untested idea. In part, this is because it is human nature to fear the unknown. But there are plenty of examples of policy reforms that used to be considered radical but are...