Money and Banks

Both Republicans and Democrats think they can tinker their way to creating an economy with less inequality. Both sides miss the point, and ignore the central role of government fiat money in the problem.

The world's central banks have been pouring new money into the financial system, which has produced a dangerous amount of distortion to prices in the market. And what do we have to show for it? Economic growth is anemic, at best.

It appears that even economists are now being replaced by machines. At least it seems that way given a recent paint-by-numbers attack from the New York Times on James Grant's new book The Forgotten Depression.

Japan finally joined the US and the EU in their grand 2-percent-inflation-forever experiment in 2005. Many Japanese politicians have benefited from this. Meanwhile, nothing has been done in Japan to actually help the economy defend itself against the next economic disaster.

Governments worldwide are turning to "financial repression" to manipulate the economy through easy money and aggressive regulation. In the end, we'll find it will amount to little more than slapping a band-aid on a serious problem.

Joe Salerno discusses why governments—at least modern western governments—have always hated cash transactions.

The European Central Bank is continuing with its negative interest rate policy, but it's not having the desired effect. Instead, the central bank is just filling the void by buying up government debt with newly created money.

Everyone knows about the Great Depression which brought massive government intervention and lasted a decade. But few know of the Depression of 1920–21 which was ignored by government and lasted eighteen months.

Jeff Deist and Jim Ostrowski discuss how progressives managed to capture the 20th century.

The William H. Peterson Lecture, sponsored by Robert L. Luddy.