Booms and Busts

The Federal Reserve was supposed to prevent recessions that people blamed on the lack of central banking. Not surprisingly, the post-Fed recessions have been worse.

Ben Bernanke once claimed that a monetary gold standard caused economic instability. He failed to mention that his fiat money standard causes the boom-and-bust cycles.

Ryan McMaken joins Jeff and Bob for a hard look at the economic reality Americans face today.

During April 2022, year-over-year money supply growth was at 7.23 percent. That's down from March's rate of 7.41 percent and April 2021's rate of 36.8 percent.

The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates in hopes of reversing some of the inflationary damage it has done for more than a decade. Unfortunately, the Fed already has done incalculable damage to the economy.

Peter Schiff once joked that Obama should have appointed Bernie Madoff secretary of the Treasury. The government's easy money policies ultimately lead to Ponzi schemes.

Though Kuttner thinks the New Deal a great success, he himself lays out some of its many problems.

Economists have failed to explain the mechanism by which an inverted yield curve signals an impending recession. But the Misesian explanation of the business cycle quite easily explains the pattern we observe in interest rates.

Bob Murphy and Ross McKitrick discuss the government policies, Fed actions, and banking movements that lead up to the 2008 crisis, and why the current economic situation is different. 

The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates in hopes of reversing some of the inflationary damage it has done for more than a decade. Unfortunately, the Fed already has done incalculable damage to the economy.