Government and monetary authorities claim that the worst of the postcovid lockdown disruptions are past and a "return to normal" is just around the corner. It will be a very long corner.
Central bankers follow inflation "target" in their pursuit of "price stability." Not surprisingly, they usually miss their targets -- quite badly -- and we now are living one of those moments.
Two days before Christmas, 1913, the infamous "creature from Jekyll Island," the Federal Reserve System, was birthed into our body politic. It has been devouring the economy ever since.
Wall Street has convinced itself that the Fed will soon engineer a "soft landing" by bringing down inflation without an accompanying recession. They need to rethink their beliefs.
By all measures, the economic downturn that began in 1920 was worse than what occurred in 1930, yet the economy recovered quickly in 1921. Why the difference?
One hardly can imagine a better tool of social control than a digital currency. Not surprisingly, U.S. monetary authorities are moving in that direction.
Federal Reserve officials, for all of their alleged wisdom and education, have a knowledge problem. Hayek and other Austrians could have told them their grandiose plans will fail.