Money and Banks

Michael Pence seems to be under the mistaken impression that the United States has an unregulated free market economy.

Central banks never recovered and "normalized" their balance sheets after the 2008 crisis. That means the current system is very fragile.

When inflation is seen as a general increase in prices, then anything that contributes to price increases is called inflationary.

Steve Mnuchin has said little publicly, but his resume does seem to contrast sharply with Trump's populist campaign.

Inflation has increased costs for the makers of the Toblerone chocolate bar. In response, they have changed the bar and outraged some customers.

When it comes to understanding how money works, recent attempts to re-define money to fit new economics models miss the point.

American chain banks have become just glorified ATM machines. But there is a model of banking that offers something quite different.

The Fed's policies continue to cripple the middle class while favoring those few who benefit from the Fed's inflationary policies.

The markets are betting on a new Trump-driven economic miracle to soften the blow of the next recession. It may be a vain hope.

The dollar will remain the world's reserve currency so long as other governments are happy to keep propping it up.