Money and Banking

The US dollar continues to enjoy the confidence of markets, governments, and central banks. But faith in the US dollar is weakening, and many are trying to help the process along.

Since real savings enable the production of capital goods, obviously real savings are at the heart of the economic growth that raises people's living standards.

In the blurry world of conflicting economic indicators and forecasts and policy surprises, activist policymakers at the Fed do not know exactly what the “right” monetary policy is today. Neither do their activist critics.

People do not save and accumulate capital because there is interest. Interest is neither the impetus to saving nor the reward or the compensation granted for abstaining from immediate consumption. It is the ratio in the mutual valuation of present goods as against future goods.

Real GDP does not measure the real strength of an economy, but reflects monetary turnover. Thus, the more money is pumped, the stronger the economy appears to be.

The tactics used by central banks don't just create bubbles or drive up prices. They actively destroy value and act as a tax on real producers in the economy.

The slowdown of the European economy is a disaster considering the enormous stimulus we are immersed in.

Would it be possible for the boom-bust cycle to emerge in the free market economy where the central bank does not exist and where gold is money?

Loose monetary policy can appear to work so long as real wealth is expanding. But money expansion weakens wealth creation over time, eventually leading to slower growth, lost wealth, and economic busts.

The introduction of money does not alter the fact that individuals still have to produce something useful in order to secure some other useful goods for themselves.