Central Banking
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Debt or Taxes
“At the present juncture, developed country government bond yields are more likely to fall than rise. Fiscal spending will be financed by deferred taxation, the repayment of today’s (and probably tomorrow’s) obligations will be bequeathed to our children and grandchildren. Digital taxes, taxation on wealth and financial transaction fees may creep higher at the margins,…
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The Fed’s Policy Shift to Let Inflation Rip Higher Is Deeply Flawed
“It’s hard to see the Fed achieving higher inflation, given its recent failure in this matter. A quick look at the monthly consumer price index data over the last decade shows that for the vast majority of the period, inflation was well below 2%. Or put another way, despite all the money printing by the…
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Governments Are Faking It, and Copying Each Other
“A mystery for months is how it is that so many governments in so many different places on earth could have adopted the same or very similar preposterous policies, no matter the threat level of the virus, and without firm evidence that interventions had any hope of being effective.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
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ECB: On the Credit Wave towards Zombification
“As in the planned economies, negative productivity gains and painful prosperity losses will be unavoidable. Because productivity gains are the basis for real wage increases, the benign long-term credit conditions of the ECB increasingly become a burden for the young people in Europe.” ~ Gunther Schnabl & Nils Sonnerberg
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More Stimulus Checks: An Expensive Political Stunt
“Adding $400 a week to unemployment benefits would clearly be more than enough. When it comes to Economic Impact Payments the economically optimal amount is zero.” ~ Alan Reynolds
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What Did the “Stimulus Plan” Stimulate?
“The only conceivable rationale for repeating the latest of many failed experiments with fiscal stimulus (borrowing from Peter to pay Paul) might be to ‘stimulate demand.’ But we just tried that. It didn’t work. It never works.” ~ Alan Reynolds
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Government Can’t Police Itself
“I will always support more transparency and more oversight, if only because doing so is part of my job and makes that job easier– one of which I’m proud. But intoning ‘more transparency’ is no silver bullet for shrinking the size of government and for getting rid of bad programs. The only ‘substantive’ result of…
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Modern Monetary Theory is Playing With Fire
“Stephanie Kelton’s book is well-written and serves as an accessible insight into the world of Modern Monetary Theory. There are parts of the book that are essential pieces of economic knowledge that define the modern state, some that are questionable premises, and some that are blatant political talking points.” ~ Ethan Yang
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The Fiscal Centralization of Europe Will Not End Well
“Europe may be experiencing a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ but the path towards a federal Europe will remain both long and tortuous. Political opposition to the European experiment has been growing as the perceived costs of membership of the EU begins to eclipse the benefits for some members of the Union.” ~ Colin Lloyd
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Paul Krugman’s Ad Hominem Defense of Central Banking
“Paul Krugman may hide behind rude and crude ad hominem attacks on those who do not share his views, but that does not prove his case. It only serves to harm his own reputation and legitimacy in the arena of public policy debate.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
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•
Debt or Taxes
“At the present juncture, developed country government bond yields are more likely to fall than rise. Fiscal spending will be financed by deferred taxation, the repayment of today’s (and probably tomorrow’s) obligations will be bequeathed to our children and grandchildren. Digital taxes, taxation on wealth and financial transaction fees may creep higher at the margins,…
-
•
The Fed’s Policy Shift to Let Inflation Rip Higher Is Deeply Flawed
“It’s hard to see the Fed achieving higher inflation, given its recent failure in this matter. A quick look at the monthly consumer price index data over the last decade shows that for the vast majority of the period, inflation was well below 2%. Or put another way, despite all the money printing by the…
-
•
Governments Are Faking It, and Copying Each Other
“A mystery for months is how it is that so many governments in so many different places on earth could have adopted the same or very similar preposterous policies, no matter the threat level of the virus, and without firm evidence that interventions had any hope of being effective.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
-
•
ECB: On the Credit Wave towards Zombification
“As in the planned economies, negative productivity gains and painful prosperity losses will be unavoidable. Because productivity gains are the basis for real wage increases, the benign long-term credit conditions of the ECB increasingly become a burden for the young people in Europe.” ~ Gunther Schnabl & Nils Sonnerberg
-
•
More Stimulus Checks: An Expensive Political Stunt
“Adding $400 a week to unemployment benefits would clearly be more than enough. When it comes to Economic Impact Payments the economically optimal amount is zero.” ~ Alan Reynolds
-
•
What Did the “Stimulus Plan” Stimulate?
“The only conceivable rationale for repeating the latest of many failed experiments with fiscal stimulus (borrowing from Peter to pay Paul) might be to ‘stimulate demand.’ But we just tried that. It didn’t work. It never works.” ~ Alan Reynolds
-
•
Government Can’t Police Itself
“I will always support more transparency and more oversight, if only because doing so is part of my job and makes that job easier– one of which I’m proud. But intoning ‘more transparency’ is no silver bullet for shrinking the size of government and for getting rid of bad programs. The only ‘substantive’ result of…
-
•
Modern Monetary Theory is Playing With Fire
“Stephanie Kelton’s book is well-written and serves as an accessible insight into the world of Modern Monetary Theory. There are parts of the book that are essential pieces of economic knowledge that define the modern state, some that are questionable premises, and some that are blatant political talking points.” ~ Ethan Yang
-
•
The Fiscal Centralization of Europe Will Not End Well
“Europe may be experiencing a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ but the path towards a federal Europe will remain both long and tortuous. Political opposition to the European experiment has been growing as the perceived costs of membership of the EU begins to eclipse the benefits for some members of the Union.” ~ Colin Lloyd
-
•
Paul Krugman’s Ad Hominem Defense of Central Banking
“Paul Krugman may hide behind rude and crude ad hominem attacks on those who do not share his views, but that does not prove his case. It only serves to harm his own reputation and legitimacy in the arena of public policy debate.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling