Michael Pullaro over at Forbes.com warns that the Austrian measure of the money supply is exhibiting a deceleration in its growth rate indicating potential trouble ahead in bubble related economic activity.

Joseph Salerno on the True “Austrian” Money Supply

Con Temporary Art Auction Record — Sheep line up to be fleeced

Inflation revealed its ugly head again in New York City — where the money is.

Christie’s set another record contemporary art auction record of $852.9 million exceeding both the high estimate for the auction and also the recent record it set in May of this year.

How many do you have in your collection?

A surprising range of news and opinion outlets have memorialized a string of anniversaries related to the Great War over the last few months: the assassination of the Archduke, the July Crisis, the start of the war, etc. Newspapers, magazines, the blog world, the top ten list sites, and Youtube channels have all feature anniversary observations.

The present global plague of asset price inflation — with its origins in Federal Reserve quantitative easing policies and featuring much irrational exuberance — is transitioning into a new phase. Some optimistic commentators suggest a benign and painless end to the plague lies ahead. They cite the skill of the Federal Reserve in “ending QE.” These optimists even suggest that meanwhile, controlled injections of new viruses of asset price inflation by the Japanese and European central banks could have a good outcome, and this justifies the risks of the procedure.

President James Bullard dissects the nearly six years of Zero Interest Rate Policy and asks the question: does low inflation call for an earlier return to normal interest rate policy.

Obama’s recent trip to Beijing revealed that China is ready to begin the operations of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)—another international financial institution in the dazzling panoply of development banks—as early as next year. The AIIB is supposed to finance infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region, in the ballpark of $8 trillion over the next decade.

One of the central tenets of progressivism has been that more democracy is the solution to “what is wrong with politics.” That is why progressives have aimed at circumventing limitations on popular opinion’s power over legislation and regulation, as if in response to Woodrow Wilson’s lament that “something intervenes between the people and the government…there must be some arm direct enough and strong enough to thrust aside the something that comes in the way,” and Theodore Roosevelt’s declaration that “I have scant patience with this talk of the tyranny of the majority.”

Hundreds of great photos from our sold out Mises Circle event in Southern California can be found here, including photos of Ron Paul, David Gordon, Lew Rockwell, and Judge Andrew Napolitano. Over 300 attendees participated in our energetic discussion of Society Without the State. Be sure to make plans now to join us in Houston in January!