A new journal article from Adrian Ravier and Nicolas Cachanosky: “A Proposal of Monetary Reform for Argentina: Flexible Dollarization and Free Banking” Abstract:
So-called insider trading may take place in publicly traded firms. It occurs when an individual privy to private information (the insider) attempts to profit on the buying and selling of stocks using non-public information to anticipate the stock’s future price.
The really bad employment report came out on Friday. The Conference Board issued its own Employment Trends Index (ETI) this morning. Their report was “positive” for December and 5 out of the last 6 months.
There is controversy on the Indian River in southeast Florida where fishermen are complaining about the fertilizer runoff from sugar farms. The fertilizer runoff leads to an overgrowth of algae in the Indian River lagoons and cuts down on the amount of fish that can be caught. Sugar subsidies provide large incentives to grown sugar inside the US and it also encourages sugar farmers to use more fertilizer than under free market conditions.
I believe it was Alan Coddington who coined the term “hydraulic Keynesianism” to describe the typical macroeconomics textbooks of the 1950s, “conceiving the economy at the aggregate level in terms of disembodied and homogeneous flows.” The term also has a great visual quality, bringing forth an image of the economy as a giant machine with pumps and tubes and dials and levers, carefully controlled by wise government planners.
[A selection from Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow]
by Ludwig von Mises
Two hundred years ago, before the advent of capitalism, a man’s social status was fixed from the beginning to the end of his life; he inherited it from his ancestors, and it never changed. If he was born poor, he always remained poor, and if he was born rich-a lord or a duke-he kept his dukedom and the property that went with it for the rest of his life.
During Senate confirmation hearings on the nomination of new Fed chairman Janet Yellen, Mike Johanns ( R-Neb) expressed the opinion that Fed stimulus is putting the economy on an unsustainable “sugar high.” Pat Toomey (R-PA) described it as a monetary “morphine drip.” The Fed insists that it can quickly reverse all the new money it has conjured up to create this “sugar high” or “monetary morphine.”
Retiring chairman Ben Bernanke said on 60 Minutes that he had 100% confidence about this. But the facts suggest otherwise.
In a recent not-an-interview on Harvard Business Review‘s HBR Blog Network, Alan Greenspan reveals his true self as a central banker and student of ”economics.” One might think that the former Collective member would understand and appreciate the workings of the market, but if there ever truly was a Greenspan like that he’s long gone.
Mark Thornton explains what the latest government employment report really tells us.
