This article is excerpted from July 9 testimony to the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy, House Committee on Financial Services.

Thank you for the opportunity to present my appraisal of the administration’s proposal for regulatory changes. I share the belief that change is needed and long delayed, but appropriate change must protect the public, not bankers.

During much of the past 15 years, I have written three volumes entitled A History of the Federal Reserve. I speak from that perspective. Two findings are very relevant to the role of the Federal Reserve.

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The rules of Swiss banking have taken a sharp turn toward more transparency and less secrecy. Swiss bank accounts are suddenly a lot less private than they were a year ago.

Your “life strategy” is something you should be working on during your twenties, if not before. This means taking control of your life. It means setting, and diligently pursuing, personal long-term goals for adulthood. To put it one way, people often wonder what they will be or do when they “grow up.” Well, now you’re a grown-up, and directly in charge of shaping your present and future. Your goals might be academic, artistic, material—or any mix of these and other strands. For certain, these goals are personal: They are yours. This book can’t tell you precisely what your goals should be.

Many have interpreted the slight drop in the national unemployment rate from 9.5 percent in June to 9.4 percent in July as yet another sign that the economy is improving. This interpretation is misleading.

Price inflation plays a major role when it comes to the value of money, particularly in the long term. In fact, according to AIER’s most recent CPI (Consumer Price Index) update, it now takes about $1.30 to buy what $1 bought 10 years ago.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the “stimulus bill,” was intended to jump-start the economy in the short term and fund long-term investments. Quick funding of state-based projects to fight the recession was a major rationale for expediting the law's passage. However, six months have passed and little of that money has been delivered.

Self-taught economist Henry George was the most famous proponent of a tax on the site value of land. The 19th-century author and politician, best known for his 1879 book, Progress and Poverty, advocated abolishing all other taxes except a single tax on unimproved land.

Peirce’s talk—Who Killed Land Value Taxation in Ohio? Will the Killer Strike Again Elsewhere?—was one of several presentations by distinguished guest speakers at this year’s Summer Fellowship Program. He chatted with Walker Todd, director of the program, shortly after his talk. Click here to Listen to William Peirce's interview (11 minutes).

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 2.1 percent in July from its level a year ago, according to data released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was the largest year-over-year decrease since 1950. This "deflation" is largely due to energy prices, which have fallen 28 percent from the extraordinary peak they reached one year ago, in July 2008.

The recent banking crisis along with Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme has heightened awareness of the potential of fraud in financial services. That was the topic of William Black’s lecture to students at AIER’s 53rd year of the Summer Fellowship Program.

Black, an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, is a former senior bank regulator best known for his efforts to prosecute Charles Keating. Keating was eventually convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy following the savings and loan debacles of the late 1980s. Black’s book The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One describes the strategies Keating and hundreds of others used to defraud the S & Ls.

The speaker, pictured at left, was one of several distinguished presenters at this year’s Summer Fellowship Program. He spoke with Walker Todd, director of the program, shortly after his presentation. Click here to listen to an interview with William Black that followed his talk, Identifying Fraud in Financial Services. (10 minutes).

The total debt owed by Americans increased to $51 trillion in the first quarter of 2009. One way to put such a mind-bogglinig number in perspective is to compare it to the value of what Americans produce. Gross domestic product is roughly $14 trillion per year. Thus, Americans now owe $3.62 for every dollar of GDP. As can be seen in the chart below, this is a record.