On 15 March, the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 basis points, bringing the band of the official rate to 0.75 – 1.00 percent. The move was widely expected. However, the market seemed surprised when the Fed reaffirmed that it would stick to its plan to raise rates no more than three times this year because inflation has already taken off. In February, the consumer price index was up 2.7 percent compared to last year, while the “core inflation rate” stood at 2.2 percent — well above the 2 percent mark typically seen as the level of “targeted” inflation.

ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet recently gave a speech in Brussels. The underlying theme captures the convenient positioning of world central banks. They want to be seen as saviors of collapsing financial markets, but neither the cause of the instability nor the continued struggle for economic growth. From the speech:

According to conventional analysis, a key factor in exchange rate determination is the state of the balance of payments. It is held that as long as the US continues to run a large trade account deficit, which stood at $48.5 billion in January 2017, this is likely to keep pressure on the US dollar exchange rate against other currencies.

“The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism.” — Murray Rothbard

Earlier this week Donald Trump took steps to streamline the executive branch. As the summary of the order reads:

This order is intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch by directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Director) to propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies.

Was the Potato Famine an ecological accident, as historians usually say? Like most famines, it had little to do with declines in food production as such. In fact, the most glaring cause of the famine was not a plant disease, but England’s long-running political hegemony over Ireland. The English conquered Ireland, several times, and took ownership of vast agricultural territory. Large chunks of land were given to Englishmen.

Earlier this month, the 2nd of March, there was quite a fuss on Wall Street. The long-anticipated IPO of Snap Inc. (also known as Snapchat) was imminent. The CEO and founder Evan Spiegel rang the bell at the NYSE together with his co-founder and CTO Bobby Murphy.

As much as the Fed pretends it is data dependent, in actuality they do what they want and use the data to justify their actions. Or, in the case of GDP, they shoo it away as if it doesn’t matter. We always hear how important GDP is as a summary of the economy’s health (the Austrian view is that the GDP is quite overrated). But when the narrative is that “it’s all good!” the Professional Monetary Bureaucrats can’t let a lousy GDP number get in the way.

The Trump administration has released its proposed 2018 budget, and within it are some things worth cheering. Trump’s “America First budget” includes needed cuts to the regulatory state, defunds efforts to purchase more Federal land, eliminates funding for 19 minor government agencies, and makes significant cuts to a number of more significant ones — including the State Department, HUD, and Commerce.

Last week, Tucker Carlson asked Univision correspondent Jorge Ramos about earlier comments in which Ramos contended that “in 2044, the white population will become a minority.” 

In response, some conservative sites seized upon Ramos’s comments as an attempt to milk outrage from their readers.