Whatever the Fed imagines they can control and whatever their real intentions are, a central authority cannot optimally set prices that are in line with people’s preferences. This is especially important for interest rates, which have far-reaching influence throughout the economy.
Robert Wenzel discusses a Cato Institute post on the basic income that ignores libertarian principles.
The biggest technology problem we face today is not the rise of technology in the private sector. New technologies only improve worker productivity and wealth accumulation. The real problem is in the many ways that the state will use technology against us.
The European Central Bank (ECB) made waves recently with its decision to lower interest rates on its deposit facility to -0.30%. That means that banks wanting to park their money at the ECB have to pay the ECB for that privilege.
This decision is a major victory for Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who has long advocated the potential for block chain, the technology behind bitcoin, to decentralize — and revolutionize — the financial services industry.
The last time the target rate exceeded 0.25 percent was in November of 2008 when the higher bound of the target rate was 1 percent. In December of 2008, the Fed lowered the target rate to 0.00-0.25 and it has stayed there ever since.
After the Fed’s November meeting, when the Fed decided not to hike interest rates, the stock market fell, indicating the disappointment of market p
In a recent exchange with Janet Yellen, Senator Ted Cruz blamed the Fed for being too "tight" with monetary policy, thus causing the financial crisis of 2008. Cruz is right that the Fed was at fault, but he's wrong about how.
Pew recently reported on how the homicide rate in the US has been cut in half over the past twenty years, even as gun ownership has greatly expanded in the US. The US public, meanwhile, thinks the murder rate is increasing.
