The Fed

Interest rates should be determined by the market, according to its needs, to operate efficiently and effectively distribute society’s financial resources.

Once upon a time, American firms built with the long term in view, and the government did not try to hinder them. Today, thanks to reckless federal government spending, we are living hand-to-mouth, accumulating massive debts, and soon enough will be broke.

Once upon a time, American firms built with the long term in view, and the government did not try to hinder them. Today, thanks to reckless federal government spending, we are living hand-to-mouth, accumulating massive debts, and soon enough will be broke.

The political establishment is trying to stoke panic that Trump is “politicizing” the Federal Reserve. But it’s already political. The real danger, from their perspective, is not that Trump is changing the Fed; it’s that he’s making its true nature harder to hide.

Mainstream economists have justified the creation of the Federal Reserve because they claim that a growing economy—especially the banking system—needs an “elastic” currency. In other words, the economy “needs” at least some inflation. Austrian economists know better.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s claims to want to protect the “independence” of the Federal Reserve ring hollow. Following sound monetary policies is more important than the theoretical “independence” of the central bank.

In case you haven‘t noticed, housing prices are not rising like they did a short time ago, thanks to higher interest rates. Bringing down those rates, however, will increase inflation and make housing less affordable.

Brendan Brown reviews Ben Bernanke's 21st Century Monetary Policy. Bernanke gives a blow-by-blow account of his actions as Fed chair and justifies them as the "evolving" nature of the Fed. Unsurprisingly, he refuses to recognize the malaise of monetary inflation.

Greg Kaza reviews Ben Bernanke's 21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19. The book is a candid yet self-justifying defense of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy that refuses to acknowledge how stimulus has driven inflation.

Peter Earle reviews Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions. This edited volume delivers a timely critique of the Federal Reserve's discretionary monetary policy, arguing that a binding legal structure is needed to check its mission creep.