The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday announced it will raise the target federal funds rate by 50 basis points, bringing the target rate to 4.5 percent. Wednesday’s rate hike followed four hikes in a row of 75 basis points, and is the smallest rate hike since March.

Throughout the better part of 2022 there has been one question that has consistently, and predictably, popped up in conversations with my friends, clients and readers. Those who know me and are familiar with my ideas are well aware of my position on precious metals and the multiple roles they serve, so I can’t blame them for them for being curious whether I still “stick to my guns” in this era of irrationality in the markets and the economy.

Six years after the election of Donald Trump, the Republican Party is still adrift. On the one hand, the GOP has embraced an antiestablishment and populist message. On the other hand, Republicans have not quite figured out how to balance populism with classically liberal values like constitutionalism and free markets. Indeed, populism and classical liberalism seem to be in direct conflict.

In the face of rampant crime, many individuals and businesses turn to private security as an alternative to government protection. One example is the Karco gas station in Philadelphia, which has hired heavily armed guards from Pennsylvania S.I.T.E. Agents to patrol its premises.

Attempts by the Chinese government to arrest the spread of Christianity have faltered since Christians are remaining steadfast in their faith. Over one hundred million Chinese are estimated to be Christians, and projections suggest that by 2030, China could have as many as 247 million Christians.

Taxes Have Consequences: An Income Tax History of the United States, 

By Arthur B. Laffer, Brian Domitrovic, and Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield

Post Hill Press, 2022; 440 pp.

[This article is the foreword to Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Decentralization, and Smaller Polities, by Ryan McMaken, available in PDF, at the Mises store, and on Amazon.] 

A relatively new area of study in economics, behavioral economics, has started to gain popularity. The behavioral economics framework emerged because of dissatisfaction with the neoclassical theory regarding consumer choice. A major problem with the neoclassical theory is that human beings are presented as if hardwired with a scale of preferences. Regardless of circumstances, this scale is considered to remain the same at all times.

The federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new price inflation data today, and according to the report, price inflation during the month decelerated slightly, coming in at the lowest year-over-year increase in twelve months. According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 7.1 percent year over year during November, before seasonal adjustment.