Inflation is ultimately and always a monetary phenomenon. The Federal Reserve’s extraordinary actions during the recent crisis now require executing a difficult exit strategy without short-circuiting the recovery and most especially without letting inflation get out of control. Comments by Fed officials beginning with Chairman Ben Bernanke suggest they are …
The Treasury Department and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank have just released a highly complex 253 page draft bill that is supposed to deal with questions ranging from indentifying and dealing with systemic risk facing the financial services system, regulating and closing failing “too big to fail” financial …
Not only do government wage controls not work, they usually backfire. Perhaps worse, like a lot of ill-conceived government schemes, they often punish the wrong people. The Federal Reserve yesterday announced a bank pay limits affecting every bank employee in America in (over)reaction to controversy to big bonuses at a …
Yesterday the United States Department of the Treasury Special Master of Compensation Kenneth Feinberg announced a wage control scheme for the 175 executives of the seven companies that have received the most funds from the taxpayer funded Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). At first the Obama administration denied any involvement …
The rumblings of the dollar’s decline are louder than usual at the moment, tied to speculation that oil producing countries are seeking to move to a basket of currencies in oil pricing, rather than using the dollar alone. There are genuine developments behind such rumblings, mostly concerning American economic policy. …
Yesterday, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Ben Bernanke to a second four-year term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Bernanke’s tenure coincided with the most chaotic and painful period in modern financial history. Bernanke has overseen a previously unimagined expansion in the range of Fed programs, and …
The snarky aside is a common tool substituting for a sound argument. Sadly, a Wall Street Journal editorial today gave in to the temptation. The subject was the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it would maintain its basic, highly accommodative monetary policy stance for “an extended period”. The Fed …
We have long believed that the Treasury Department’s TARP interventions have become possibly the single most disruptive force in the global economy. Under the header The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves, EconLog’s David Henderson flags a New York Times story suggesting that the Fed has become just as unhelpful …
Following the testimony this morning of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the House Budget Committee turned to three economists for their recommendations. Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, outlined his views on crafting a long-term, pro-growth economic policy. Here’s video of his opening statement: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIfVkAL55ck[/youtube]
