Financial Markets

So no matter what GDP numbers the Commerce Department spins out, the interest rate Chairman Bernanke controls will stay low "for an extended period."

Presented to the Auburn University Economics Club; Auburn, Alabama, on 25 March 2010. Includes a Question and Answer period.

These are the people who said that there was no housing bubble, that there was no danger of financial crisis, and then that a financial crisis would not impact the real economy. These are the same people who said they needed a multitrillion dollar bailout of the financial industry, or we would get severe trouble in the economy.

"This myopic focus on 'price stability' made policymakers blind to other possible pitfalls, such as the surge in credit and the rapid growth in asset prices, and the concomitant misallocation of resources led on by distorted price signals."

"The notion of self-accountability is being eliminated by so-called 'progressives' who believe it unfair to struggle."

This lecture was presented remotely from the Mises Institute to Dr.

It shouldn't come as a surprise if it eventually turns out that the real danger is, like so often in the past, inflation rather than default.

Recorded at Jekyll Island, Georgia; 27 February 2010.

"There is no such thing as a nonspeculative investment.… In a changing economy action always involves speculation. Investments may be good or bad, but they are always speculative."

Finally, the most interesting aspect of the giant credit-card industry is the simple fact that it works.