Our Federal Government’s Balance Sheet: Putting the Cart Before the Horse The Financial Report of the U.S. Government for 2020 included a balance sheet with $6 trillion in assets and $33 trillion in liabilities, leaving a negative net position of about $27 trillion. Those reported liabilities exclude tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded
United States citizens are watching a deteriorating tango between banks and the federal government. Bank depositors have been losing confidence in the value of their bank deposits, while credible market signals flag higher concerns about the credit quality of the United States Treasury. In recent months, credit default swap spreads for Treasury
Last week, two federal government entities produced financial reports. The Treasury Department issued the latest annual (FY2022) Financial Report of the United States Government (FRUSG), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors issued its weekly H.4.1 report on the financial condition of the Federal Reserve Banks. These reports deserve closer
The Fed has embarked on a massive expansionary quest in recent years. In 2020, total Reserve Bank assets rose from $4.2 trillion to $7.4 trillion amidst the pandemic and related government lockdown and fiscal “stimulus” policies. That was roughly three times the extraordinary growth in the consolidated balance sheet for the Reserve Banks in the
Before, during, and after the 2007–09 financial crisis, the masthead of the Federal Reserve Board’s main webpage included the following assertion right below its name at the top of the page: The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, provides the nation with a safe, flexible and stable monetary and financial system. This statement
Florida Senator Rick Scott recently kicked over a beehive when he included an income tax increase for most Americans in his 11-point plan to ‘Rescue America.’ The fifth point of that plan, titled ‘Economy/Growth,’ included ‘All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans
The Fed says it “provides the nation with a safe, flexible and stable monetary and financial system.” Can we all breathe easier now? Original Article: “ The Fed Says It Stabilizes the Economy. I’m Skeptical. “ This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael
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The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.