Power & Market

As we noted back in July, Americans are buying guns in record numbers, with millions of Americans buying guns for the first time in recent months. Now, the New York Post reports that California is very much part of this trend:

About 47,000 Californians bought guns for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to researchers who also found a staggering amount keep their weapons locked, loaded and readily available.

But the Post article also makes some rather odd assertions, implying people are buying guns because of a "health crisis":

An estimated 110,000 people in the Golden State recently purchased firearms and did so because of the global health crisis, including the 47,000 new owners.

But why would people buy guns because of a public health crisis? It's a safe bet new gun buyers don't think guns will protect them from a disease. If we look a little further, we then see it's the lockdowns that are the problem, not the disease:

The coronavirus pandemic and efforts to lessen its spread have compounded this burden. (emphasis added)

So there it is. By destroying the economy, social services, churches, and commerce, governments have laid the groundwork for more violence. Consequently, many more Americans now feel unsafe:

People who bought guns during the pandemic cited concerns over lawlessness, prisoner releases, the government going too far, government collapses and gun stores closing, the research found.

Not surprisingly, we have seen real-world increases in crime this year over last year. In some cities, the increases in homicide have been substantial, although overall homicide continues to be relatively low in a larger historical context. Moreover, many Americans have figured out that if civil unrest comes to your neighborhood, the police won't be doing much to protect you. The smoking ruins of Minneapolis have made this abundantly clear to many.

So much for that mythical "social contract" the governments keep talking about whenever it demands more power over the people it allegedly "keeps safe."

With all the history, lore and media spotlight the Federal Reserve receives, how many people stopped to ask: What is the Fed’s purpose?

According to their website’s FAQs, the Federal Reserve system exists to:

provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.

It aims to carry this out through free market intervention including:

influencing money and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of full employment and stable prices.

While the method of operations may leave some questioning the efficacy of its ability to reach its goals, it’s still much different than what San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly told the Wall Street Journal, in a one-on-one interview on Thursday:

If you go back to our forefathers, in 1913 they created the Federal Reserve and created clear roles. The Federal Reserve’s job is to use the short-term interest rate and its asset-buying capabilities to stimulate the economy, accommodate and stimulate the economy, through the interest-rate channel, making it cheaper for households and businesses to buy and sell goods.

The problem with “stimulate the economy” is that it signifies very little, as all platitudes do. How much stimulation does an economy need? And whether they may over- or understimulate can hardly be articulated. Concluding the Fed makes goods cheaper is an untenable position to hold considering they seek to fight deflation. What is possible to explain are interest rates and asset buying. Once understood, the redundancy of the Fed is exposed.

The first tool is interest rates, in which there is either an ideal rate or not. If the position of an “ideal rate” is believed, the question to follow is: How is this calculated? With over a hundred years of experience, we still have yet to find a verifiable method. No one can prove why a 0.25 percent rate is preferred to 0 or 0.50 percent.

If there is no ideal interest rate, we must come to terms with understanding that the Fed has no business in setting benchmark rates for an entire nation, if not the entire world.

The second key tool is the “asset-buying capabilities,” the act of money creation for the purpose of buying real assets. This is an act that, if done by anyone except the Fed, would lead to lengthy prison sentences.

Similar to the notion of an ideal interest rate, there is no such thing as the “optimal money supply.” Like interest rates, if such a number exists, it still has yet to be proven. Money creation comes with side effects such as rising inequality, as those who receive the new money first have an advantage over those who receive it late, while allowing central planners to pick favorites. At $18.7 trillion, the M2 money supply has increased by over $3 trillion since the start of 2020. It appears to be on a path to growing exponentially!

Once understood there exists no ideal interest rate or optimal money supply, the Fed’s value to society gets called into question. Of course, there may be value to some members of society as Vice Chair for Supervision Randal K. Quarles said in a Q&A on Wednesday about the Treasury market:

It could be that “the sheer volume there may have outpaced the ability of the private market infrastructure to support stress of any sort there.”

In other words, the private market for treasuries can no longer function without the help (asset buying) of the Fed. Hardly shocking, considering the mortgage crisis was over a decade ago. Yet the Fed still buys mortgage-backed securities. And, like the Bank of Japan, which cannot exit the stock market, or the European Central Bank, which can never exit the corporate bond market, in 2020 the Fed entered territory it will never be able to leave, while simultaneously advancing in areas it never belonged in in the first place.

The ascent refers to the difficult climb nations face as they “come back from the depths of crisis.” It promises to be “long, uneven and uncertain,” as explained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, at an event hosted by the London School of Economics (LSE). This “path forward” for the 189 member countries serves as a precursor to the IMF’s 2020 Annual Meetings which commenced this week. A great deal of effort has gone into these economic plans, yet the question remains: Is this actually economics?

According to the director, the “whatever it takes” approach by advanced economies greatly helped the situation and “put a floor under the world economy.” As she tells it :

We have reached this point, largely because of extraordinary policy measures that put a floor under the world economy. Governments have provided around $12 trillion in fiscal support to households and firms.

A $12 trillion “floor” laid by government cannot be substantiated. We don’t know whether the floor would have been there if the government support did not take place. Nor can the various pernicious effects, such as loss in purchasing power, increase in cost of living, and greater world reliance on debt can be factored into the cost of said floor.

Even though she praises the increase to the money supply, she notes that risk remains high due to rising bankruptcies and stretched valuations in financial markets. She goes on to say many countries have become vulnerable and:

We estimate that global public debt will reach a record-high of about 100 percent of GDP in 2020.

While implied world debt levels are concerning, debt levels have long taken a back seat to central planners, especially in times of crisis. This is fortunate because heavy debt-laden/ inflationist policies underline the IMF’s four priorities:

First, defend people’s health.

This includes coordinated vaccine efforts, distribution and contact tracing. It seems out of scope for the IMF considering it’s an economic, not a health organization. This would be akin to the World Health Organization discussing the need for central banks to reign in their balance sheet!

Second, avoid premature withdrawal.

They agree “tax deferrals, credit guarantees, cash transfers, and wage subsidies,” should be given to firms and workers. This may sound promising but the sheer allocation of resources is beyond comprehension. These interventions could initially help, yet the government would never know if the positive effects of the program outweighs the negatives. If a wage subsidy, for example, leads to higher consumer prices and a higher national debt level, the government would have no basis to know if the effort and various trade-offs were worthwhile.

But it doesn’t stop on the fiscal side as the IMF notes the equal importance of “continued monetary accommodation and liquidity measures to ensure the flow of credit, especially to small and medium-sized firms.” Unfortunately, this too is problematic. Any notion of the optimal level of liquidity cannot be measured and immeasurable goals are normally difficult to achieve.

Third, flexible and forward-leaning fiscal policy.

This explicitly calls for governments to reallocate capital and labor to support the transition, requiring both “stimuli for job creation, especially in green investment,” as well as measures such as expanded unemployment insurance. This follows the pattern of governments using money to take action which cannot be reasonably calculated or justified, but acceptable since it’s perceived preferable than to “do nothing.”

Fourth, deal with debt.

For low-income countries especially, the goal is to create “more grants, concessional credit and debt relief, combined with better debt management and transparency.” This includes restructuring of sovereign debt. As many countries continually struggle with national bankruptcy because of debt, it’s ironic more debt would be a solution.

Piecing it together, we find there may be a long ascent after all; not the struggle of having the IMF corral the world to embrace more anti-capitalist policies, but the struggle required to build a future where the IMF ceases to exist. While a tall order, it seems justified considering the economic methods employed by the IMF appear devoid of economic explanation.

House financial services chair Maxine Waters and Senator Elizabeth Warren have introduced the Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act. This legislation directs the Federal Reserve to eliminate racial disparities in income, employment, wealth, and access to credit.

Eliminating racial disparities in access to credit is code for forcing banks and other financial institutions to approve loans based on the applicants’ race, instead of based on their income and credit history. Overlooking poor credit history or income below what would normally be required to qualify for a loan results in individuals ending up with ruinous debt. These individuals will end up losing their homes, cars, or businesses, because banks disregarded sound lending practices in an effort to show they are meeting race-based requirements.

Forcing banks to make loans based on political considerations damages the economy by misallocating resources. This reduces economic growth and inflicts more pain on lower-income Americans.

The Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act has already shown what happens when the government forces banks to give loans to unqualified borrowers. This law played a significant role in the housing boom and subsequent economic meltdown. The Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act will be the Community Reinvestment Act on steroids.

This legislation also requires the Fed to shape monetary policy with an eye toward eliminating racial disparities. This adds a third mandate to the Fed’s current “dual mandate” of promoting a stable dollar and full employment.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has already publicly committed to using racial disparities as an excuse to continue the Fed’s current policy of perpetual money creation. Since inflation occurs whenever the Fed creates new money, Powell and his supporters want a policy of never-ending inflation.

Supporters of this scheme say that inflation raises wages and creates new job opportunities for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. However, these wage gains are illusory, as wages rarely, if ever, increase as much as prices. So, workers’ real standard of living declines even as their nominal income increases. By contrast, those at the top of the income ladder tend to benefit from inflation, as they receive the new money—and thus an increase in purchasing power—before the Fed’s actions cause a general rise in the price level. The damage done by inflation is hidden and regressive, which is part of why the inflation tax is the most insidious of all taxes.

When the Fed creates new money, it distorts the market signals sent by interest rates, which are the price of money. This leads to a bubble. Many people who find well-paying jobs in bubble industries will lose those jobs when the bubble inevitably bursts. Many of these workers, and others, will struggle because of debt they incurred because they listened to “experts” who said the boom would never end.

The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of the money supply lowers the dollar’s value, creates a boom-and-bust business cycle, facilitates the rise of the welfare-warfare state, and enriches the elites, while impoverishing people in the middle and lower classes. Progressives who want to advance the well-being of people in the middle and lower classes should stop attacking free markets and join libertarians in seeking to restore a sound monetary policy, The first step is to let the people know the full truth about the central bank by passing the Audit the Fed Bill. Once the truth about the Fed is exposed, a critical mass of people will join the liberty movement and force Congress to end the Fed’s money monopoly.