Now that few people read anymore (due to more pressing activities such as watching American Idol and having to work longer hours to earn enough money to keep up with the “Federal” Reserve-created inflation), it’s getting harder and harder to convince people to take the few hours needed to read Henry Hazlitt’s Econom... (more)
This week, national attention was fixated on JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, whose bold, creative, and controversial exit strategy could revitalize his future prospects. Not nearly as noticed was the Federal Reserve's decision on Tuesday to avoid finding an exit strategy for its own never-ending career trap. Unfortunately, the Fed's choices affect our lives much more than Slater's.
Just a few weeks ago, pundits were asking how Ben Bernanke would shrink the Fe... (more)
"Monetary policy is a useful tool, but it cannot solve every problem faced by the United States," Mr. Hoenig [Thomas M. Hoenig, the president of the... (more)
A little over a week ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner penned an article for the New York Times entitled “Welcome To The Recovery” in which he touted the great strides that the U.S. economy was making. But with unemployment still dangerously high and with foreclosures and personal bankruptcies continuing to set all-time reco... (more)
The Obama stimulus and bailouts haven't decreased unemployment rates or bankruptcy filings while home prices and home sales have fallen and can't get up. PIMCO's Bill Gross told Bloomberg this can all be fixed with nearly zero interest rates and additional debt to stimulate the animal spirits of investors and entrepreneurs. The federal-funds rate has been pegged at 0 to .25% since December 16, 2008, and Uncle Sam's debt is $13.3 trillion and counting. If this hasn't goosed the animal sp... (more)
At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.
Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while pri... (more)
On Friday, July 30, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank president, James Bullard, speaking on CNBC television, said that the Fed must weigh medium-term inflation risks against near-term deflation risks. For most economists and commentators, a general fall in prices, which they label deflation, is a terrible thing. They hold that a fall in prices generates expectations for a further decline in prices. As a result of this, consumers postpone their buying of goods at present because they expect to b... (more)
As gold hovers near $1,200 an ounce and pundits speculate about a 'gold bubble', it's important for investors to remember that a mere decade ago the picture was very different. In the year 2000, gold sat at an unimpressive annual average of $279 an ounce – a two-decade low. At that time, most analysts thought gold was finished as a monetary metal. They said its price would never recover and only kooks with tin hats would invest in it. I was one of the very few financial commentators pu... (more)
Rumors have circulated that the Obama administration is considering a partial mortgage forgiveness plan to help those who owe more than their homes are worth. Just 28% of U.S. voters favor such a proposal.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 58% oppose a proposal to have the federal government forgive a portion of the mortgage debt owned by troubled homeowners. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure about it.
It's no secret that many of the world's largest industrialized nations are somewhat eager to ease their reliance on the U.S. dollar. For months China and Russia have pushed ever subtly, for a new "global reserve currency," to give governments around the world enhanced economic stability in the event of greater fluctuations in the dollar's value.
But what wasn't known, until recently, is how far along the International Monetary Fund was in the planning of elevating its so-called "s... (more)
It was only a matter of time, but it's finally happened: The nation's Social Security system will pay out more than it takes in this year and next, as aging baby boomers begin entering retirement. The milestone marks the first time in nearly 30 years that the system is in the red, according to a report issued Thursday by federal officials overseeing the program.
INTERNATIONAL. Marc Faber the Swiss fund manager and Gloom Boom & Doom editor said the US Federal Reserve will create a "final crisis" by continuing to print money because it is underestimating the strength of the economy which shows no signs of stenghtening but signs of weakening everywhere in the world.
Speaking to CNBC Worldwide Exchange Tuesday in a live interview from Zurich, Faber said: " They will print and print and print until the final crisis wipes out the entire system.... (more)
"Nothing is more unpopular today than the free market economy, i.e., capitalism. Everything that is considered unsatisfactory in present-day conditions is charged to capitalism. The atheists make capitalism responsible for the survival of christianity. But the papal encyclicals blame capitalism for the spread of irreligion and the sins of our contemporaries, and the Protestant churches and sects are no less vigorous in their indictment of capitalist greed. Friends of peace consider our wars as a... (more)
A marvelous thing happened over on Paul Krugman's blog at the New York Times last week. Krugman effectively conceded defeat on a range of economic debates. Who defeated him? People who posted comments on his New York Times blog. Mere commenters.
For those who do not know, Paul Krugman is one of the few who still claim that Keynesian progressivism is the answer to America's (and Europe's) problems, not their cause. He repeats that claim many times each month. Amid these repeat... (more)
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (from an Austrian perspective it is a market correction of the malinvestments caused by central banks and governments) a lot has been written about the cause of the crisis and how to prevent it from happening again. In September 2009 the BBC aired a documentary called "The Love of Money." The series focused on the daily events that unfolded during the collapse of the global financial system including the fall of Lehman Brothers as if this ... (more)
In a recent piece I reported the shocking ignorance in a Huffington Post article on the alleged harmlessness of the federal deficit. Several readers wrote to tell me that as bad as the HuffPo article was, James Galbraith's interview with Ezra Klein was even worse.
They were right. In today's piece I'll walk through some of Galbraith's bigge... (more)
