The consequences of our government’s rigged society are all around us, be it the increasing reliance on food stamps, a far reaching tax system, or the gratuitous examples of well-connected elites enriching themselves from state intervention.
Asking wealthy elites to provide opinions about central banking generally results in reticence on their part. After all, many billionaires became rich or stay rich only because the global economy has been "financialized".
The BIS has just released a research report questioning whether negative interest rates are effective in achieving policymakers' goals of staving off a (phantom) deflation without adversely impacting the financial sector and the overall economy.
Taxes usually aren't terribly popular with the people who pay the taxes. Fortunately — from the government's perspective — the central bank is there to help tax the people more without their noticing.
It is high time to turn to Rothbard in the search for advice. His recipe for dealing with depressions and how to avoid turning a recession into a depression is of timeless relevance.
Why, with interest rates historically low, are businesses not investing in the much predicted boom? Could it be business owners know more than the central bankers?
Bernie Sanders says he wants to reform the Fed, but Bernie's wrongheaded views on Fed policy demonstrate why it's important to oppose the Fed for the right reasons.
Central banks worldwide are putting their faith in negative interest rates. Unfortunately, these central bankers do not understand what interest rates are supposed to do, or how manipulating them will lead to a bust.
This incident is one more example that demonstrates the contempt with which the US government holds private companies. Private companies are literally being conscripted to serve the state.
Central Banks now pay interest on bank reserves held at the Fed. It may sound like only a minor change, barely worthy of notice, but it's actually a very recent and radical experiment for central banks, with large implications for monetary freedom.
