Why the Crash Was Delayed

Whatever happened to the mother of all crashes that was supposed to arrive when the Federal Reserve began tightening its balance sheet back in 2022? For several years, I’ve been scratching my head, convinced that draining the balance sheet by trillions of dollars should have triggered a systemic banking failure or some other Black Swan event. In the past, crises like Lehman/AIG or the 2020 lockdowns took the blame, when in reality, the root cause was always monetary.

The Feds Collect Twice as Much in Taxes than State and Local Governments Combined

On April 15, Americans face the deadline for sending to the federal Internal Revenue Service a report on all their income. Most Americans do this because failure to do so is likely to result in fines and possibly imprisonment. If one obstinately resists this, of course, one will find himself subject to deadly force from state agents. 

There Is Nothing New About Trump’s Economic Populism

The Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision invalidating Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, followed almost immediately by the President’s response reinstating and increasing them, reminds us once again how rapidly American politics evolves. Yet, in some cases, it pays to recognize that certain underlying threads in government policy remain constant, regardless of the period or the leaders in charge.

Trump Will Need Plenty of Inflation to Finance His New War

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its consumer price index (CPI) report for March, and price growth surged to highest levels reported in nearly two years. Measured year over year, the CPI was up in March by 3.3 percent, the highest since May of 2025. Measured month to month, the CPI rose by 0.85 percent from February to March, the highest growth rate since June of 2022, 53 months ago.