On the EU’s Bank Bailout Fund
On Wednesday, I posted a Wall Street Journal article on the EU’s plan to levy taxes on banks that would fund a bank bailout system. The article states, But the commission is adamant that the funds shouldn’t be used to pump capital into banks or for ot …
READ MORE“When Will the Eurozone Collapse?”
“As a long-standing critic of the concept of a single European currency, I have not rejoiced at the current problems in the eurozone that threaten the very survival of the euro. Before discussing the events surrounding the Greek debt crisis further, I …
READ MOREAbout the Fed
“How does monetary policy affect the U.S. economy? The point of implementing policy through raising or lowering interest rates is to affect people’s and firms’ demand for goods and services. This section discusses how policy actions affect real interes …
READ MORE“Free Banking for Zimbabwe”
“Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is destroying the economy, pushing more of its inhabitants into poverty and forcing millions of Zimbabweans to emigrate. Since 1997, inflation has surged by 1,030,217%, while living standards (as measured by real GDP per capi …
READ MOREFree Banking in Britain
“Free banking, generically speaking, denotes a monetary system without a central bank, under which the issuing of currency is left to private banks. This book explores how this could work in practice by examining how this has worked historically, speci …
READ MORE“EU Proposes Tax to Support Bank Crisis Funds”
“The European Commission Wednesday proposed that each European Union government levy a tax on its banks and use the proceeds to create a fund dedicated to ensuring the “orderly failure” of troubled banks. The proposal would create a European network of …
READ MOREBudgetary Impact of Fed’s Actions During the Crisis
“Over the past several years, the nation has experienced its most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. To stabilize financial markets and institutions, the Federal Reserve System used its traditional policy tools to reduce s …
READ MOREGood Money
“This is the true and remarkable story of private coinage and banking in Britain in the early years of the Industrial Revolution (1775-1850). Making money was a business in demand. The needs of business for small denominations were changing. Merchants …
READ MORE“Monetary-Policy Disasters of the Twentieth Century”
“The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 and soon did what central banks almost always do: it started printing lots of money. During World War I the Bank of England inflated its money supply, and as a result a significant amount of gold flowed o …
READ MOREThe Fed’s Balance Sheet
The Wall Street Journal has created a good graphic illustration displaying the development of the Fed’s balance sheet during the financial crisis. Assets on the balance sheet are currently $2.333 trillion, of which the main part consists of mortgage-ba …
READ MORE“Can the Government Regulate Inflation?”
“In a recent column, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman claimed that the government needs to have two important duties in finance. First, it must keep interest rates low; second, it must strictly regulate where the newly created money goes. Now …
READ MOREThe Euro – a Greek Drachma in Disguise
The Euro keeps tumbling as international investors are loosing faith in the Eurozone. The currency has so far fallen 14 percent against the dollar this year. There is fear that contagion could trigger “Greek” debt crises among other EU countries with w …
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