With the economy expected to “grow by 2.8% in 2017” up from their April forecast of 2.6%, the Bank of Canada has decided to raise interest rates for the first time in 7 years to 0.75%

It may be minor, but it should be just enough for the Bank of Canada’s Stephen Poloz to cut them again when things start to get tough, and the 2.8% growth vanishes just as quickly as it was envisioned.

Tennessee Promise, and now Tennessee Reconnect, are the first programs of their kind in the United States. Through these programs designed by now gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd, the state will pay tuition for all that seek an associates degree from a community college. They are everything that progressives like Bernie Sanders have wanted for decades. President Obama has said that they should serve as an example for the entire nation. Tennessee, one of the most conservative states in the Union, has become a champion of single-payer education.

The large traditional oil-producing countries — both OPEC and non-OPEC — are still catching up with the new reality. After deciding to extend the production cuts — agreed upon half a year ago — for another nine months, oil prices plunged below $50/barrel. Not quite the effect these oil giants were hoping for, but nothing out of the ordinary.

There are a number of things you don’t want to hear a central banker say.

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 1 (Spring 2017)

Angela Merkel used to say that “the European Union is about 5% of the world’s population, about 25% of its GDP, and about 50% of global welfare spending”:

The real data is more concerning.

The European Union is:

7.2% of the World Population.
23.8% of the World’s GDP.
58% of the World’s Welfare Spending.

Something has to give.

The EU average tax burden on workers is 44.9%. The average worker in the EU spends half a year working for the tax man.

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Examples of government control over social and economic life are as old as recorded history, and they always have features that are universal in their perverse effects regardless of time or place. One of the most famous of these collectivist episodes was that of the Incas and their empire in South America.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently predicted that, thanks to the regulations implemented after the 2008 market meltdown, America would not experience another economic crisis “in our lifetimes.” Yellen’s statement should send shivers down our spines, as there are few more reliable signals of an impending recession, or worse, than when so-called “experts” proclaim that we are in an era of unending prosperity.