Definition of an American neo-conservative: A liberal mugged by reality. The new poster child for the budding European neo-conservative: Oskar Lafontaine? Lafontaine, German history majors will recall, is the Social Democrat and former German finance minister who helped launch the European Monetary Union (EMU). He is also the latest European-style …
Do the risks from the Federal Reserve’s trillion-dollar annual stimulus program justify the rewards? That was the central question at Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke worked hard to defend the Fed’s quantitative easing policy, but he appears to oversell the rewards by a mile …
The National Small Business Association’s economic report finds, “The growing national debt is the number one thing small businesses thin[k] Congress and the administration should address.” Small businesses employ the majority of American workers and are vital to the innovation that grows the American economy. After a severe recession, the …
The Federal Reserve Board today announced the introduction of yet another hyper-aggressive monetary policy, dubbed “QE4” by some for the fourth round of quantitative easing. Three times a dud, fourth time a charm? Not likely. The Fed’s concerns for the economy are well-founded. The economy continues to struggle badly under …
In this special Heritage podcast, listen to distinguished Stanford economist John Taylor discuss his new book, First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America’s Prosperity. PODCAST: John Taylor On Returning Economy to Prosperity What should guide policy proposals going forward? Are we in full economic recovery mode? Is inflation a threat …
My recent post explained why President Obama’s newly proposed $447 billion spending package aimed at boosting total demand is doomed to fail. Some commenters offered a challenge to that assertion. The basis for assessing the spending package: Economic growth is determined by the supply side of the economy, beginning with …
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress today before the House Financial Services Committee. What will he say about unemployment, if anything at all? The stakes are high with Bernanke’s approval rating at an all-time low. The hearing starts at 10 a.m. …
The recent global financial panic and recession had many authors. Millions of individuals and businesses made bad decisions about investing and debt. Scores of big shots like Dick Fuld, former CEO of now defunct Lehman Brothers, gambled big and lost bigger. And then there were those few who were in …
Interpreting statements of Federal Reserve Chairmen has long been considered a high art form. During Alan Greenspan’s time, journalists and financial analysts made huge efforts to understand his cryptic comments on the economy, with the result that a few sentences could spawn literally pages of analysis designed to “explain” the …
