Robert Luddy gave a lecture in sorely missed 2019 titled “Henry Hazlitt’s Long-Term Economic Thinking: Foundation of Entrepreneurial Excellence.” Throughout his talk, it’s clear that Hazlitt has had a profound impact on Luddy—an entrepreneur who’s exhibited excellence for decades. How is it that Luddy personifies success? One possible explanation is that he ignores the temptation of short-term gains while focusing on attaining long-term goals.
Most commentators label increases in the prices of goods and services over a period of time as inflation. Ludwig von Mises however, held that the popular definition of inflation is erroneous. He wrote in Economic Freedom and Interventionism (p. 99),
The front-page headline in the Wall Street Journal on October 14 says it all, “Inflation Is Back at Highest in over a Decade.” The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 5.4 percent from a year ago. This should not have been a surprise to Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and his fellow board members nor to its hundreds of PhD economists who drill into the economic data to forecast the economy.
The film It’s a Wonderful Life invokes the feeling of the small local bank at the heart of a small town. Yet it seems like we’ve strayed far away from Bedford Falls and are living in something closer to Pottersville…
Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman recently gave a speech called The Lack of New Bank Formations is a Significant Issue for the Banking Industry, where she asked the question:
There has been no constant concept of asset price inflation through the modern age of fiat money even amongst those who recognize the condition. The term has become most popular in the present period of inflation targeting coupled with the use of radical monetary tools.
