U.S. Economy

On this episode, Ryan and Tho are joined by Mark Thornton to debunk political talking points confusing the stock market with the real economy.

As the Fed engages in rollercoaster monetary policies, the errors that build up during the Fed-induced boom turn into a veritable “circus of errors.”

Paul Krugman claims that the real factor determining inflation is the rate of unemployment, not increases in the supply of money. As usual, he is wrong.

It is not surprising that some US states are facing large deficits between budgeted spending and incoming revenues. However, state bankruptcies occur when states cannot meet their bond obligations, which have little to do with operating expenses.

The Fed-launched real estate bubble did not just create havoc in residential markets, but also has distorted the commercial real estate market, too. And it is getting worse.

In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Fed chairman Jerome Powell gave assurances that the US banking system is sound. Ben Bernanke also claimed almost twenty years ago that real estate markets were not overextended. The hubris must be in the water at the Eccles Building.

Mark examines the increasing prospects of global warfare and the catastrophic results.

Many of the high-flying businesses that received massive publicity turned out to be the creation of a bubble economy. Not all businesses are flashes in a pan; many of them continue to serve as the backbone of our economy.

Many economic think tanks espouse that national defense spending benefits Americans at large. It doesn’t. The notion that military spending "bolsters" the economy is yet another Keynesian fable.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released January figures for Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) today, including the price index based on that data.