Since 2008, many have complained that the European Central Bank—unlike its very active Japanese and American counterparts—remained idle in its response to the sluggish European recovery. In the fall of last year, the ECB embarked on a program of asset purchases designed to perk up prices in the Eurozone, which have been growing at levels below the 2% target. At the time, ECB chief Mario Draghi had promised to keep the quantitative easing ‘lite’; that is, the ECB would buy only asset-backed securities and covered bonds, and steer clear of government debt.

Just in case you have any thoughts that people at the Fed might have become slightly less dovish on inflation, rest assured, they have not. 

Today on Squawk Box on CNBC, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans averred (Pardon the all caps, but that’s how the transcript came in):

... is that you know who your enemies and opponents are. They will speak out against your ideas, your actions, or maybe just you on a personal level.

One reason we value these freedoms is that they help make those in power accountable. Those who disagree with particular policies or actions can say so without fear of being sanctioned, whether they were undertaken completely transparently, or undertaken with fraud and corruption.

Last year, British entrepreneur Mike Watts made headlines when he opened England’s first private toll road in more than a hundred years. The road has now been closed, but its brief history provides a sad (and all-too-typical) example of how government sabotages entrepreneurs and hurts their customers.

Those who are familiar with the history of advertising may remember reading about the conspiracy theory behind new Coke which holds that the Coca-Cola company introduced new Coke as a means of generating interest in old Coke. The removal of old Coke from the market, and the fact that people could no longer buy it, prompted people to demand the old Coke back, and in greater volume since, the thinking went, people want what they can’t have.

Norman Singleton, former legislative aide to Ron Paul writes: