There are echoes of the 1973 oil shock in the current virus scare and resulting economic seize-up. Central banks are likely to respond similarly: with "stimulus" and inflation.
By being so dovish for so long, the Fed has greatly limited what it can do in case of recession without resorting to untried and radical solutions like negative rates.
During January 2020, year-over-year (YOY) growth in the money supply was at 6.32 percent. That's up from December's rate of 5.53 percent, and up from January 2019's rate of 3.38 percent.
Central banks are driving asset price inflation in stocks and real estate. That means people holding those assets get richer. But everyone else just gets higher prices.
The Fed's balance sheet has risen to $4.1 trillion from $3.7 trillion in August. Nomi Prins discusses what this policy shift means and what it portends for 2020.
Argentina is only going to prosper when it recognizes that its fiscal and monetary imbalances are not the fault of the citizens and their small businesses, but of the government.
There's now no difference between monetary policy and other government programs designed to prop up firms, industries, and other favored groups. The Fed is simply another government planning agency.
Price inflation is so difficult to predict, because there are so many moving parts: money supply, demand, money velocity, and supply of goods and services.
