Central Banks

Not all debt is equal. When lending comes from real savings, the economy benefits, but when it arises from government credit expansion, it usually ends in economic disaster.

While mainstream economists add an “inflation premium” to interest rates, Murray Rothbard looked at the complete picture, knowing that the real rate of interest dealt with many factors within the structure of production.

More than a decade ago, Zimbabwe became synonymous with hyperinflation. While that era has mercifully passed, the nation’s central bank still is following inflationary policies.

The US is not the only country with an out-of-control central bank. Brazilians are feeling the pain from decades of irresponsible central bank and government decisions.

The possibility that there may be offshore oil deposits in Jamaica has brought some to say that finding oil would actually be harmful to the nation’s economy and social fabric. Jamaican Lipton Matthews takes issue with that claim.

Mainstream economists believe that if government increases spending and injects new money into the economy, then productive wealth will follow. Austrian economists would like to differ.

The standard line among most economists is that deflation is as bad or even worse than inflation. In reality, the economy needs deflation now more than ever.

The standard line among most economists is that deflation is as bad or even worse than inflation. In reality, the economy needs deflation now more than ever.

Inflation is not neutral, it is a hidden tax, a distortion of entrepreneurial signals, and a corrosive force against social trust.

This is not a cycle of greed. It is spontaneous order doing what it always does: finding the path around the obstruction.