Surprising no one, the FOMC announced this week that they would maintain the status quo on the federal funds rate. Meanwhile housing prices are outpacing household wages, with Ryan McMaken noting that the Fed’s suppression of interest rates has led to consumers replacing “saving with consumer debt (i.e., mortgages) and a hope that people can continue to make the high payments every month. It’s not a terribly wise long-term economic strategy, but it’s one the Fed is banking on.” Meanwhile C. Jay Engel highlights a few more troubling indicators, including a decline in durable goods orders, the Atlanta Fed being forced to lower GDP estimates, and the “the difference between pro forma and GAAP corporate earnings numbers are at the highest since the previous financial crisis.”
The only good news this week came for Uncle Sam, who set new records in tax collection for 2015.
Jim Grant joined Jeff for this week’s Mises Weekends. They discuss his recent cover article in Time magazine, and the reaction it received from Krugman and others on the left. They also discuss comments recently made by Ben Bernanke, arguing in favor of the Fed to seriously look into helicopter money. When did fiscal and monetary sanity become a radical position in America? This is an episode you won’t want to miss.
And in case you missed any of them, here are the articles featured this week on the Mises Wire:
- We Need Separation of Bathroom and State by Roy Cordato
- Penthouse Interviews Murray Rothbard
- Flush with Cash: US Government Collects Record Taxes in 2015 by Ryan McMaken
- The Real Meaning of Competition by Peter Klein
- Drugs, Prohibition, and the Suburban Overdose Crisis by Mark Thornton
- Federal Reserve Appointees and Their Campaign Contributions by Paul-Martin Foss
- Why the UK Shouldn’t Nationalize Its Steel by Ben Ramanauskas
- Why We Need a Recession: To Kill the Central-Bank Casino by C. Jay Engel
- Why Socialism Will Always Fail by Ludwig von Mises
- Dennis Hastert Sentenced to 15 Months for Non-Crime of Improper Cash Withdrawals by Ryan McMaken
- Fed Holds Rates Steady by Paul-Martin Foss
- With Fiat Money, Everything Is Relative by Frank Shostak
- Global Warming Activists Want to Make Food More Expensive by Ryan McMaken
- Economics, Entrepreneurship and the NFL Draft by Tho Bishop
- Booms, Busts, and the Boundaries of Economics by Jonathan Newman
- In Defense of Deflation by Philip Bagus
- Home Prices Outpacing Official Inflation Rate, Household Income by Ryan McMaken
- The ABCs of a Market Economy by Henry Hazlitt
