Here we go again. Since the original Gulf War in 1991, a certain pattern has emerged. Every few years, the regime in Washington attempts to whip the American people into a frenzy so that they will support the latest American invasion “necessary” for regime change, “spreading democracy,” or some other agenda item.

It’s been said: if you can’t convince them, confuse them. When it comes to Jerome Powell discussing inflation, he is never in short supply of words. At the first Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year, the Chair of the Fed set the stage for an end to easy money policies and voiced concerns over a new economic threat: entrenched inflation.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held true to its monetary-tightening timeline despite last week’s 10 percent drawdown in most major indices, effectively saying, “10 percent is not enough.” With retail sales numbers that will surely return to trend without more stimulus (see chart), a gridlocked Senate, and the prospect of higher interest rates surely to discount equity valuations, why aren’t more people selling?

David Friedman recently posted a critique of Austrian economics as laid out in the Rothbardian tradition.

The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released a new statement today purporting to outline the FOMC’s plans for the next several months. According to the committee’s press release:

In Washington the global US military empire is a bipartisan affair. With a trillion dollar yearly military budget, there are plenty of opportunities for both the position and the opposition parties to thrust snouts deeply into the trough.

Last November, the Federal Reserve System announced tapering (a gradual reduction of the central bank’s monthly asset purchases to the point of ending the asset purchase program, which means that the Fed would stop increasing its balance sheet). In December, it announced another decrease in monthly asset purchases.