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This December’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting might be the last time we get to hear a Q&A session from Chair Powell this year. The Q&A is televised, with the transcript presented on the central bank’s website, and continues to provide invaluable knowledge into the mind of one of the most powerful men in America. Of all the quotes Powell gave us this year, the one below stands as one of the best.
The latest two states to legalize recreational cannabis are New York and New Jersey. However, if one believes governors and legislators in those states have finally adopted a more libertarian view of the topic, one will be severely disappointed. Legalization of recreational cannabis in both states is driven by the need for tax revenue—tax revenue to plug the holes in state budgets for social programs, holes in the state budget that were exasperated by the failed covid policies in both states.
Just before the verdict was reached in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Gregory McKelvey, vice chair of the Oregon Democratic Black Caucus, tweeted this to his followers: “Employers, consider giving your Black employees a day or two off after the Rittenhouse verdict. Regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be hard for Black people to work and it isn’t fair to expect them to.”
The history of money and banking in the United States since World War II is one of extremes.
The great Per Bylund has claimed that “Experienced entrepreneurs are Austrians.” This is because they “Develop gut feel through trial-and-error,” but they “lack explanation (theory) and terminology.” In fact, Bylund goes as far as to say that “Most entrepreneurs fail most of the time often because they are not Austrians.” This makes sense considering Austrians put such heavy emphasis on entrepreneurship.
For more than a century, an inflationary monetary policy has plagued the United States. Most recently, price inflation has become the most obvious consequence of the Federal Reserve’s actions to the public. Other effects, while less visible, have been no less pernicious. Indeed, inflation is particularly insidious because rising prices can mask a transfer of wealth.
In his writings, the leader of the monetarist school of thinking, Milton Friedman, blamed central bank policies for causing the Great Depression of 1930s. According to Friedman, the Federal Reserve failed to pump enough reserves into the banking system to prevent a collapse of the money stock.
