Topic: Monetary Policy

“Totally Standard Hyper-Inflation”

– December 1, 2010

“Sure, buying and selling government debt in the open-market is how central banks control short-term interest rates. That’s why the Fed Funds rate is a target, and the actual outcome in the marketplace is instead known as the Effective Fed Funds. Biddi …

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“The Return of Stagflation”

– November 30, 2010

“We are entering an era of high inflation, to judge by the massive growth of the money supply in the United States, Europe and Asia, and the stubbornness of central bankers who insist that high unemployment demands the creation of even more money. The …

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“The Dance of the Dollar” – Steve Hanke

– November 30, 2010

“The dance of the dollar counts — and it counts a lot. With few exceptions, when the dollar weakens against the euro, commodity prices soar, and when the dollar soars against the euro, commodity prices plunge. Every commodity trader knows the importanc …

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“Public Still Feels Inflation’s Pinch” – WSJ

– November 29, 2010

“Of course, the inflation any individual faces almost surely differs from the government’s aggregate data. Outside of housing, middle-income consumers have experienced more inflation than other income groups over the past year, in part because they dev …

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“Fed’s Move Doesn’t Impress Top CEO’s”

– November 29, 2010

“The sudden increase in capital investments would create jobs and encourage economic growth, which would then make it possible to weather the interest rate hikes the Fed would inevitably adopt to keep inflation from getting out of hand. That’s the theo …

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“The Triumphant Return of Hayek” – Newsweek

– November 29, 2010

“Last year the consensus opinion was that we are all Keynesians now. Virtually everyone in the commentariat believed that John Maynard Keynes’s solution for the Great Depression—heavy government spending to resuscitate the economy—was also the answer t …

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“Here’s Why the Fed Plan Is Failing: We’re All Austrians Now” – CNBC

– November 24, 2010

“We may all be Austrians now. Not since the New Deal has Austrian economics enjoyed the political popularity it does now. Austrian economists are awfully popular with the Republican Party, especially its Tea Party wing. Peter Schiff, the Austrian econo …

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The Fed: Defending the Indefensible

– November 24, 2010

“Although the credibility of the Fed has been questioned for years in some quarters, the first major crack in the wall took place in May, 2009, when Elizabeth Coleman, inspector general of the Federal Reserve, was directly and repeatedly questioned abo …

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“Bust Cycles and the Fed”

– November 24, 2010

“In 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank lowered the Fed funds rate down to 1.25%. This was the lowest level that the Fed funds rate had been since 1954. Again, the low interest rate gave birth to the housing and credit boom. This rally or boom cycle lasted …

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“Bernanke’s Raid on the Middle Class” – James Bacon

– November 23, 2010

“Twenty-four conservative economists and writers have published an open letter calling upon the Federal Reserve to abandon a second round of “quantitative easement” that entails borrowing another $600 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. “The planned asset …

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“Brazil’s Inflation Tops Estimates…”

– November 23, 2010

“Inflation, as measured by the IPCA-15 price index, quickened to 0.86 percent in the month through mid-November from the same period a month earlier, the fastest pace in 9 months, the national statistic agency said today. Economists forecast a 0.72 per …

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“Fed Adopts Political Tactics on Critics”

– November 23, 2010

“Faced with unusually sharp ideological attacks after its latest bid to stimulate the economy, the Federal Reserve now faces a challenge far removed from the conduct of monetary policy: how to defend itself in a hyperpartisan environment without becomi …

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