Topic: Fiscal Policy

Financial Markets, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy

Where New Zealand Goes, the World Goes

– March 26, 2021

“In the 1990s New Zealand pioneered inflation targeting, an approach that every major country followed for the next three decades. In a few years we might look back at this fleeting Kiwi attempt at incorporating asset markets into monetary policy with the same admiring eyes that we now see their move to inflation targeting. Where New Zealand goes, the world tends to follow.” ~ Joakim Book

Economic Education, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy

MMT’s Inflation Battle Will End In A Draw

– March 25, 2021

“Maybe this time is different, and perhaps this is the turning point – for MMT or for inflation. More likely, the fears and the ebullient promises will converge in a middle-of-the-way third option similar to what we saw after 2008: Politicians, pundits, economists, and central bankers talk, yet nothing much happens.” ~ Joakim Book

Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Government

This Is a Pandemic of Fiscal Profligacy

– March 19, 2021

“Very few seem to care that we’re closing in on $30 trillion in debt, the symptom of our insane spending. In fact, it has become fashionable to claim that we can borrow without fear of a debt crisis or of any consequences. Admittedly, one reason for this belief is that people like me have been warning about the mounting debt and the potential deleterious implications for years.” ~ Veronique de Rugy

Books, Crisis, Fiscal Policy

Debts, Deficits, and the Entitlement Crisis

– March 17, 2021

“The US government’s debt is soaring like never before and promises to only bring economic stagnation if not outright disaster. Looking past Covid-19, we should strive to implement bold reforms to our costly but important entitlement programs to truly deliver on fiscal stability. These reforms may not be popular or easy but there is no doubt that they will be necessary.” ~ Ethan Yang

Economic Education, Fiscal Policy, Government

Contra Nicholas Kristof, Presidential Ink Will Never ‘Scrub’ Away Poverty

– March 17, 2021

“It cannot be stressed enough that if poverty were about money, then it would have been wholly erased long ago given the trillions spent on its mitigation. Admirable as Kristof’s idealism is, it’s just that. Nothing more. The perfect world he envisions cannot and will not be created by the stroke of a pen.” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Government

Politicians Turn Problems Into Power

– March 5, 2021

“Politicians make grandiose claims about their various and sundry programs because those claims resonate with the people who receive government largesse. In the end, people receive pennies on the dollar compared to what they could have received had we decided just to write a check. Our government has become a tool that politicians use to turn national problems into political power, so it should come as no surprise that they are not interested in solving problems at all.” ~ Antony Davies & James R. Harrigan

Economic Education, Education, Fiscal Policy

Forgiving Student Loans: Not The Great Idea You Think It Is

– March 1, 2021

“Like Bryan Caplan, I love learning so much I decided never to leave school. I live for the lightbulb moments students have when they realize what economists mean by ‘at the margin’ or when they start using and applying the concepts we cover in class. Economically speaking, those are private benefits, however, and the case for sticking taxpayers with the bill is shaky indeed.” ~ Art Carden

Economic Trends, Financial Markets, Fiscal Policy

Are the Conditions Right for Another Commodity Super-Cycle?

– February 26, 2021

“With unemployment rates still elevated and much of the global economy in some form of lockdown, it is hard to imagine the conditions for an economic boom, especially one that will see wage increases, but the size and scale of the global monetary and fiscal response to the pandemic is unprecedented. It creates the conditions for a continued appreciation of a wide range of essential commodity prices as the pandemic ends and demand rebounds.” ~ Colin Lloyd

Fiscal Policy, Government, Inflation, Taxation

How Will We Pay for a $1.9 Trillion Spending Bill?

– February 12, 2021

“Politicians are quick to ignore the costs of government spending in proposing legislation and obscure those costs by issuing debt rather than raising revenues. It is politically popular to issue debt and send checks to everyone. The benefits of the policy are clear: people get checks. The costs, which ripple out through financial markets as interest rates are bid up, are difficult to tie to the policy.” ~ Nicolás Cachanosky

Fiscal Policy, Government, Inflation

Yellen was Right, the Federal Debt “Should Keep People Awake at Night”

– February 11, 2021

“If the burden of interest payments increases, will Congress make the difficult decisions required to reduce federal spending? What contingency plan do Yellen and Powell have in their back pocket if the dollar suffers a speculative attack owing to an unsound fiscal position? Yellen was right: ‘It’s the type of thing that should keep people awake at night.'” ~ James L. Caton

Economic Education, Fiscal Policy, Technology

A Pro-UBI Talking Point Debunked

– January 29, 2021

“Perhaps the robot apocalypse really will come at some point. Perhaps not. But what is clear is that it hasn’t come yet. Until it does, we should target our aid to Americans in need – not to the entire population.” ~ Nick Buffie

Economic Education, Fiscal Policy, Government

Is France Suffering from Excessive Austerity?

– January 26, 2021

“Given that the United States, with its medium-sized government, does so much better than France, with its large-sized government, how can Rokhaya Diallo reconcile those numbers with her dogmatic view that society will be better off if government is even bigger?”~ Daniel J. Mitchell