Tag Archives : Monetary Policy
Will More Federal Debt Improve the U.S. Government’s Creditworthiness?
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 so-called stimulus plan, but Summers claims to have a much more modest goal of prudent […]
read more...If We Can’t End the Fed, Can We at Least Subject It to Competition?
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 now commonplace. Statists used […]
read more...
The Gold Standard Is a Good System, but Governments Can’t Be Trusted to Operate It Honestly
I’ve linked before to Professor George Selgin’s masterful video on the Federal Reserve’s horrible track record, and I’ve done my own video on the origin of central banking. These types of posts often generate questions about what reforms we should support, and a lot of people ask about the gold standard. I’m not a monetary […]
read more...Ten Reasons to Dislike the Federal Reserve
Nothing compares to the depth and substance of Professor George Selgin’s scholarly take-down of the Federal Reserve, but this video by a local libertarian has a very authentic feel. Julie lists 10 reasons to dislike the Fed. 1. The Fed has too much power. 2. The Fed has devalued the currency. 3. The Fed hurts […]
read more...
What’s the Solution to Europe’s Fiscal Crisis: Spending Cuts, or Bailouts and Easy Money?
In hopes of stopping investor panic about Europe’s fiscal crisis, the world’s major central banks just announced that they will do whatever is needed to ensure financial markets don’t freeze up. This could be an appropriate and relatively benign use of the lender-of-last-resort powers, or it could signal another round of reckless easy money and […]
read more...
The Federal Reserve, the “Twist,” Inflation, QE3, and Pushing on a String
In a move that some are calling QE3, the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it will engage in a policy called “the twist” – selling short-term bonds and buying long-term bonds in hopes of artificially reducing long-term interest rates. If successful, this policy (we are told) will incentivize more borrowing and stimulate growth. I’ve freely […]
read more...Another Fed-Bashing Video
I generally try to avoid commenting on monetary policy. Not because I don’t have opinions, but for the simple reason that I don’t follow the issue closely enough to feel fully confident about what I say. This doesn’t mean I’m happy with Fed Chairman Bernanke. But I’m most likely to be upset that he is […]
read more...Easy Money from the Federal Reserve Is Not the Solution for America’s Economic Problems
Allen Meltzer, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University, writes today in the Wall Street Journal about the Fed’s worrisome announcement that it will continue the easy-money policy of artificially low interest rates. Professor Meltzer’s key point (at least to me) is that the economy is weak because of too much government intervention and too much […]
read more...Ben Bernanke: Political Hack for Big Government
Ben Bernanke is definitely trying hard to overtake Arthur Burns and G. William Miller (those wonderful guys who helped give us the 1970s) as the worst Fed Chairman of the modern era. But unlike Burns and Miller, who “earned” their poor reputations with bad monetary policy, Bernanke is trying to cement his place in history […]
read more...
Private Digital Money and the Fight Against Oppressive Government
I’m depressed about the global network of tax police being organized by the OECD and high-tax governments. If successful, it will lead to much bigger, more oppressive government. But maybe there’s a way of fighting back. Here’s a video from the folks at Reason TV about something that governments would hate – anonymous, digital money. […]
read more...