Words and Politics

Whenever political correctness fades from the headlines, another example pops up. The latest installment comes from Washington State Senate President pro tem Rosa Franklin. She has proposed replacing 54 references to “at risk” or “disadvantaged” children in state law with the term “at hope,” so negative labels won’t undermine their ability to succeed.

The Fed as Giant Counterfeiter

San Jose State economics professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel tells all his students that the easiest way to understand the Federal Reserve is to think of it as a giant, legalized counterfeiter. I had always known that the Fed and other central banks were like counterfeiters, but I still thought that the actual mechanics of open-market operations and so forth actually provided some important distinctions.

In large part because of my frequent email exchanges with Hummel, I now realize that I was being naïve.