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Unanimous decisions by the FOMC are fairly common as a way to build “confidence” in the economy. The recent FOMC decision on Fed policy going forward was not unanimous. Let’s take a look at who voted against the rest of the committee. It’s Ester L. George the president of the Kansas City Fed. She is from Missouri and graduated from a Missouri

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 18, no. 4 (Winter 2015): 572–577 It is a shame that most economic students, whether at the undergraduate or graduate student level, are exposed to precious little about the different schools of economic thought. Most course work is based on the “Neoclassical synthesis” with mathematical models and

The pages of Mises.org have been filled with analysis on the impacts of ZIRP, or Zero Interest Rate Policy (of the Federal Reserve) for many years. Even though the recession officially ended 6 1/2 years ago, the policy has remain in place for the last 7 years. The main results of the policy has been to benefit the large banks and to generate

The signatures have been collected and submitted paving the way for a vote to establish 100% reserve banking in Switzerland. In doing so, the Swiss people join with Iceland in attempting to abolish fractional reserve banking. According to the Telegraph : Under Switzerland’s direct democracy, a referendum can be held if a motion gains 100,000

With more financing in place, the world’s tallest skyscraper is moving forward. Recent media reports indicate that the final segment of financing has been obtained for the $1.2 billion Jeddah Tower project in Saudi Arabia. This is the financing that would be necessary to bring the project to record heights. Media reports also show that the

Barron’s is writing about skyscrapers and the Skyscraper Curse: The Bigger Asia Builds, The Harder It Falls : Could the opening of the world’s second largest building in the heart of Shanghai portend a financial crash? They also quote me on the subject: Could there be more to so-called Skyscraper Curse than just fun and games? Let’s hope not as

I have lived in Auburn, Alabama, for more than three decades and have never seen a super-sized construction crane here. Last week two were erected in the middle of town. One is being used to build a seven story building for retail, apartments, and parking. The other is on the Auburn University campus and is being used to build something in front

This little known chart (below) is the Fed’s attempt to anticipate a recession in the US economy. The reading from last November is only 3.84%, but that is higher than all but 3 months when a recession did not immediately proceed. According to the Fed’s website (FRED): Smoothed recession probabilities for the United States are obtained from a

The movie The Big Short is really a pretty good movie. It was closer to the truth than most products out of Hollywood regarding “capitalism.” Plus, it gives the audience at least some idea of what Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), and Swaps are. The two main things it leaves out—and both are critical for

Simon Black reports that Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, just released the government’s audited financial statement for 2015 and it makes Bernie  Madoff’s  books look like Warren Buffet’s financial statements! To begin with, the federal government reportedly has $3.2 trillion in assets, but that includes rusty tanks, outdated weapon systems,