Topic: Central Banking

What We Can Learn from Other Bear Markets Since the Late Sixties

– June 2, 2020

“The fiscal spigot of government largesse is more arbitrary; it will require a deeper understanding of corporate value to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sadly, markets will be no freer but they may, at least, be untethered from the coattails of the Fed.” ~ Colin Lloyd

Central Banking, Crisis, Sound Money

Fed Lending Programs Might Be Legal, but They’re Still Bad Policies

– May 31, 2020

“Congress should not use the Fed to accomplish fiscal goals through monetary means. There is no good reason to give the Fed a free pass just because their irresponsible decisions come with statutory cover.” ~ Alexander W. Salter

Central Banking, Crisis, Economic Education, Economic History

The Guns of August: A Look Back at the Financial Shock of the Great War

– May 24, 2020

“Many of the extraordinary policies we see governments wielding right now are not as unprecedented as some commentators may think.” ~ Joakim Book

Central Banking, Crisis

Powell Admits that the Fed’s Actions Vastly Exceed Its Mandate

– May 22, 2020

“Powell admits what’s happening now is outside the Fed’s purview. And, yet, the Fed is doing more than ever.” ~ Alexander Salter

Central Banking, Economic Trends

The Fed is Failing, Again

– May 20, 2020

The Fed has refused to do the sensible thing. Rather than focusing on monetary stability, it has embarked on a host of misguided experiments that threaten the long-run integrity of markets.

Central Banking

How the Fed’s COVID-19 Response Undermines Federalism

– May 13, 2020

We should do everything we can to make sure City Hall and the state capital are more responsive to the voices of ordinary citizens in their jurisdictions than the whims of central bankers.

Central Banking, Crisis

The Fed Wants to Become a Financial Central Planner

– May 11, 2020

To everyone as outraged by this process as I am: it’s time we shouted far and wide what the Fed is up to. If we let them get away with it, politicians and macroeconomic policy experts will be able to control financial markets, and hence our lives, to a degree never before obtained in a free society.

Central Banking, Crisis

Inflation and Coronavirus Monetary Policies

– May 4, 2020

Not knowing the relationship between monetary policy and inflation is a risky way to conduct monetary policy. Maybe everything will work out fine; maybe not.

Central Banking

Small Business Lending Is Not the Fed’s Job

– April 24, 2020

During times of economic crisis, should emergency loans to small businesses be made by the Department of Defense, Department of Education, or Department of State? I suspect most Americans would say “No” to all three. If needed, emergency loans to small …

Central Banking

Why Relief Payments Are So Slow to Arrive

– April 22, 2020

The Federal government has started sending relief funds to Americans. But, according to the New York Times editorial board, it is not doing so quickly enough. “The government has made matters worse by dawdling,” it writes. The editorial board is …

Central Banking, Economic Trends, Monetary Policy

The Technocrats Will Not Save Us

– February 24, 2020

Besides the certainty, as they say, of death and taxes, one other highly likely event will be an end to the general “good times” of relatively low price inflation and low unemployment in America. In other words, the United States will eventually experi …

Central Banking, International, Monetary Policy

Dollarization in Ecuador after 20 Years

– February 18, 2020

In January, Ecuador celebrated its 20th anniversary of dollarization. The Bastiat Society of Guayaquil and the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economia Política organized a conference to discuss the pros and cons of Ecuador’s monetary regime. Internatio …