The Fed

I have lived in Auburn, Alabama, for more than three decades and have never seen a Super Sized Construction Crane. Last week, two were erected in the middle of town.

Even the Fed, which has for years been describing the economy as "expanding at a moderate pace," and which a few months back was saying it was "hawkish," has, through Janet Yellen's testimony today, been forced to admit that a rate cut may again be on the horizon.

Thanks to our bankrupt economic policies, faith in our regime will soon be shaken whether we like it or not. Fortunately, we don't need a majority to make some changes for the better.

Congressman Jeb Hensarling mentions Hayek's Fatal Conceit regarding the Fed bureaucracy's ability to manage money and interest rates. 

Global markets are showing they can't handle even a tiny bit of tightening by the Federal Reserve, and other central banks are doubling down on rock-bottom interest rates. After six years of "recovery" can we ever abandon endless easy money?

This week’s Iowa caucuses mean that election season has officially begun. While the names may change, the spectacle every four years represents the triumph of compulsion over cooperation.

Watch Bob Murphy's talk from last weekend's Mises Circle in Houston.

Lately, the Fed has been more and more involved in directly funding the Federal government by handing over Fed revenues to the Treasury. In fact, the Fed is handing over enough money to fund the entire food stamp program, and then some.

In 2016, the Fed's annual stress test on banks will include a scenario in which the interest rate on the three-month U.S. Treasury bill becomes negative in the second quarter of 2016 and then declines to -0.5%, remaining at that level until the first quarter of 2019.

Recorded at the Mises Circle in Houston, Texas, on 30 January 2016.