Economy News

from AIER

Established 1999

New England, USA

Subscribe   Donate

Latest

  • •

    “The Great Depression According to Milton Friedman”

    “Few events in U.S. history can rival the Great Depression for its impact. The period from 1929 to 1941 saw fundamental changes in the landscape of American politics and economics, including such monumental events as America ’s going off the gold standard and the founding of Social Security. It was a watershed for the growth…

  • •

    “A Stable Price Level Standard for Federal Reserve Monetary Policy”

    “In a recent article in the Cato Journal dealing with the transparency of Federal Reserve monetary policy, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Chairman Ben Bernanke provided an authoritative account of current Federal Reserve strategy (Cato Journal, vol. 28, No. 2, Spring/Summer, 2008, “The Fed’s Road Toward Greater Transparency,” pp. 175-186). Bernanke notes that “inflation-targeting” does…

  • •

    Chile Starts Monetary Tightening

    Chile has rebounded strongly from the global recession, in spite of the devastating earth quake that hit early in 2010. In response to the financial crisis, the monetary authorities cut its key lending rate from 8.25 per cent in September 2008 all the way down to 0.5 percent in July 2009 where it has stayed…

  • •

    “Fed limits card fees to $25”

    “Most credit card penalties will be limited to $25 and fees for customers who don’t use their cards will be eliminated under rules released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve. The Fed also ordered a review of all credit card interest rate hikes imposed since January 2009, including most of the record increases that came in…

  • •

    The Gulf Spill, the Financial Crisis and Government Failure

    The Gulf oil spill and the global financial crisis both demonstrate the failings of big government. Partisan politics obscures the linkage, with the consequence that each political party repeats the mistakes of the other as its turn to govern arrives. First, consider the oil spill. BP and its contractors are surely responsible for the accident.…

  • •

    Hans F. Sennholz and his sound money legacy

    One of the last lectures by Dr. Sennholz Hans F. Sennholz I first met Hans Sennholz in Argentina. It was 1976 or 1977 (I told part of the story on http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/chafuen1.html). For our classes in Monetary Economics at our beloved Grove City College, he gave us “The Theory of Money and Credit” by Mises. During…

  • •

    “Politicizing the Fed”

    “For 97 years the 12 regional banks of the Federal Reserve system have operated relatively free of political interference from Washington. The looming financial reform bill threatens that independence, not least through an effort to impose new presidential appointees at the regional banks. The biggest underreported threat comes from Subtitle I, Section 1801 of the…

  • •

    “AIG Bailout ‘Poisonous’ to Wall Street”

    “A Congressional watchdog sank its teeth into the Federal Reserve for its 2008 bailout of insurance crook AIG, calling the billion-dollar magic pill “poisonous.” The panel also criticized the Fed for not acting earlier, or tougher, with AIG for its credit-default swaps, sending a signal to the rest of the Wall Street giants that risky…

  • •

    “Congress Begins Conference on Financial Regulation”

    “Today begins the televised political theatre that Barney Frank has been waiting months for: the first public meeting of the House and Senate conferees on the two financial regulation bills. While there are a handful of important differences between the House and Senate bills, these differences are overshadowed by what the bills have in common.…

  • •

    Controlling the Fed

    Blame goes to the Fed. They allowed a financial crisis due to lack of regulation and oversight of the banking/financial industry. At least that is the claim of today’s policy makers. While I may not disagree that the Fed holds much of the responsibility for the mess of the last few years, but I do…