Fed Raises Rate, But Signals Potential Pause in May
“In 2021 they were looking for help from recovering supply chains. Now, they are looking for help from tight financial markets. It’s time FOMC members help themselves — or, God help us all.” ~ William J. Luther
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Words & Numbers: Peter C. Earle On The Death of Silicon Valley Bank
“Peter C. Earle, AIER Research Faculty and former Wall Street trader, joins AIER Senior Editor James Harrigan and Antony Davies on the Words & Numbers podcast to talk about what happened to Silicon Valley Bank.” ~ AIER
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Moral hazard is a fact of life. The Fed should focus on inflation.
“To the shame of two generations of economists-turned-policy-advisors, moral hazard is a fact of life. We don’t need to add permanent dollar depreciation to this mess.” ~ Alexander William Salter
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Is it a LOLR? No, It’s a Trap
“The reason this is infuriating is that we are being told that taxpayers should be willing to double down, to reimburse even-more-careless depositors for their negligent inattention to risk.” ~ Michael C. Munger
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Silicon Valley Bank: Bespoke, Woke, and Restoked?
“In a chorus which has become familiar, the S&P 500 futures just leapt upward, as the dollar fell with equal fervor. Relief for equities, a snub to the greenback. At 7:45pm EDT on an otherwise quiet Sunday night in March, this is what that kicking the can down the road looks like.” ~ Peter C. Earle
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Has the Discount Window Mystery been Solved?
“We won’t know for another twelve or fourteen months whether Silicon Valley Bank (or any of the other banks being thrown overboard today) were the ones borrowing at the Fed’s discount window. But it is increasingly likely that whatever firm(s) it was, exigency was the driver.” ~ Peter C. Earle
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The Fed Isn’t Powerless
“Responsible students of monetary policy must vigorously resist the ‘powerless Fed’ myth. All it does is absolve central bankers of responsibility for what, on the basis of good theory and mounting evidence, is primarily their fault to begin with.” ~ Alexander William Salter
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There’s No Such Thing as a Wage-Price Spiral
“The recent uptick in inflation is worrying, and the Fed needs to get a handle on the situation before higher inflation expectations become entrenched. But the Fed doesn’t need to take a sledgehammer to labor markets to ease the economy’s pricing pressures.” ~ Alexander William Salter
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Understanding Inflationary Finance
“Providing revenue to the state is one of the reasons (and, perhaps the primary reason) governments worldwide monopolize the issuance of high-powered money.” ~ Bryan Cutsinger
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The Tooth-Fairy Economics of Slavery Reparations
“If the US government tried to implement the reparations program that the 1619 Project espouses, we would get huge increases in both taxes and inflation. Yet the key economist advising on this proposal denies that any taxes would have to increase.” ~ David R. Henderson and Phillip W. Magness
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More Interest Rate Hikes Ahead
“Fed officials will likely continue tightening, and to a greater extent than previously projected. Their overreaction will not undo the damage of acting too late. It will make matters worse.” ~ Nicolás Cachanosky
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ESG as an Artifact of ZIRP
“Although it is unlikely to disappear completely, the ESG fad is probably past the crest of its popularity. It’s time again for firms to focus, singularly and completely, on the inestimable task of making money.” ~ Peter C. Earle
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