After climbing to 12.2 percent in April last year, the yearly growth rate of combined commercial bank real estate and consumer and business loans plunged to –2.6 percent in early March.

The Federal Reserve is barely challenged in the court of public opinion. The latest Summary of Economic Projections, which the Federal Reserve Board members as well as the bank presidents, published last week, illustrates how a handful of central planners influence the world. They start by defining “appropriate monetary policy,” in the absence of further shocks to the economy, as:

Mask tyranny reached a new low recently when a family was kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight because their four-year-old autistic son was not wearing a mask. The family was removed from the plane even though the boy’s doctor had decided the boy should be exempted from mask mandates because the boy panics and engages in behavior that could pose a danger to himself when wearing a mask.

Besides, four-year-olds do not present much risk of spreading or contracting coronavirus. Even if masks did prevent infections among adults, there would be no reason to force children to wear masks.

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.

Do not believe government pronouncements that the economy is rebounding from very minimal damage caused by unprecedented covid-19-inspired closures of businesses. Government will use its favorite statistic of the health of the economy to justify its actions—gross domestic product (GDP).

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.

The Washington Post has published a long piece calling for NATO to take on a new official enemy—China. The piece is written by Sara Bjerg Moller, an assistant professor in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.