The endgame of monetary side manipulations is upon us. Since 2008, central banks have done what they thought was needed to bring the markets back from the pain they experienced during the crash. The problem, of course, is that these Keynesians and Monetarists placed the high level of stock markets as the goal of “policy” and confused booming asset levels with economic growth.
The Federal reserve has bowed to the interests of Wall Street and the financial sector yet again, and announced that it will not raise the target federal funds rate above the 0.5 percent target rate where it has been since December. At its regularly-scheduled meeting today, the FOMC announced in a statement that
[Excerpt from Human Action]
A critical examination of the philosophical systems constructed by mankind’s great thinkers has very often revealed fissures and flaws in the impressive structure of those seemingly consistent and coherent bodies of comprehensive thought. Even the genius in drafting a world view sometimes fails to avoid contradictions and fallacious syllogisms.
Bloomberg had an interesting report this week looking at the political contributions of Federal Reserve employees this election season. Unsurprisingly, Hillary Clinton is dominating the field, receiving $18,747 in contributions — over four times more than all other candidates combined.
Remember back in December when we highlighted that one of the responses to central banks’ introduction of negative interest rates might actually be a raising of interest rates by banks to borrowers?
Former Mises Fellow Mateusz Machaj has published a new paper, “Can the Taylor Rule be a Good Guidance for Policy? The Case of 2001–2008 Real Estate Bubble,” in the journal Prague Economic Papers. The full text (PDF) can be found here.
Rick Santelli yesterday went on one of his trademark rants, this time extolling the virtues of Wall Street and complaining about the anti-Wall Street sentiment that has become prevalent during the current election cycle.
On the banks and Wall Streeters, he says, they have a “big bulls-eye in their back” and proclaims “these are great industries and they are run well.”
History was made this weekend in Brazil as protesters numbering in the millions took to the streets to protest for the removal of President Dilma Rousseff, who has been embroiled in a massive corruption scandal while Brazil’s economy has suffered from a devastating recession.
Demagogue politicians love to play on popular fears that low-wage foreigners are “stealing” good paying American jobs by way of outsourcing and globalization. The claim is made by protectionists of all political stripes, whether leftists complaining of a “rigged economy” or rightists speaking of other countries “beating us” economically.
