The Fed

The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.

Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 6th, 2022.

The US dollar is not the world's "reserve" currency because of responsibility on behalf of the monetary authorities. Instead, the dollar's "strength" wages from the USA's self-appointed role as the world's protector.

Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.

The current bout of inflation is the latest disaster in a string of disasters caused by government debasement of once sound money.

The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.

The Fed claims 2 percent inflation promotes "price stability." However, that policy also causes the boom-and-bust cycle, which is anything but stable.

Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.

The money supply is on a long and fast downward trajectory. This points toward recession and is just one more indicator of economic weakness in addition to negative GDP and an inverted yield curve. 

Standard economic theory states that as an economy grows, the money supply should grow with it. Appealing to the Austrian tradition, Frank Shostak shows that belief is mistaken.