Bob Murphy

Author Archive

A Quick Note From Baltimore

I’m in a hotel in Baltimore right now, getting ready to deliver a lecture to Tom DiLorenzo’s “Capitalism and Its Critics” class, as well as a public lecture on the New Deal. So I won’t be blogging much, if at all, until Wednesday. In the meantime, look at this blog post from Brad DeLong regarding […]

The Most Ridiculous Argument Against Auditing the Fed Yet…

…comes from Barry Ritholz, as relayed by Bruce Bartlett: While I have been critical of the Federal Reserve (especially the Greenspan years), my beef with them has been their judgment and decision-making process. Congress, on the other hand, is a whole different matter. It[‘]s not their judgment, but rather, the fact they are owned not […]

Arnold Kling’s Bizarre Monetary Theory

At EconLog Arnold Kling has been trading blows with Bryan Caplan. In his justified revulsion at Scott Sumner’s views, Kling swings too far in the opposite direction when he declares: There is a short run in which monetary policy cannot control nominal GDP, and there is a long run in which monetary policy cannot control […]

Imagine if you had to rely on Paul Krugman to filter your information…

Hey kids, pop quiz time! (1) Using this Paul Krugman NYT column from September 24, tell us how costly the CBO says Waxman-Markey’s cap-and-trade plan will be, in the year 2050. (2) Using this Paul Krugman blog post from September 27, tell us how costly the CBO says Waxman-Markey’s cap-and-trade plan will be, in the […]

Fed Bailouts Don’t Simply Threaten "Taxpayers"

Tom Woods makes a point that I keep forgetting to make myself, in his LRC post-game show from his Congressional testimony: Michele Bachmann (R-MN) graciously held up a copy of my book Meltdown, which she said she was reading and enjoying very much. She was likewise concerned about the extent of the Fed’s discretionary powers, […]

Thomas Sowell Also Using the "But Loans Are Down!!" Argument

Bill R. sends along this interview with Thomas Sowell. Start it at the 5:00 mark, and you’ll see that Sowell makes the same point regarding the alleged “rescue” of the credit markets as I did on Kudlow. From the timing, I’m guessing it was an independent discovery. I’m surprised more people aren’t using this argument.

Bernanke Considers the Biddle Option?

In a fascinating article, Lilburne explained that Nicholas Biddle did what he could to wreck the US economy to prevent Andrew Jackson from de-chartering the Second Bank of the United States. Is Bernanke thinking of something similar? From Bloomberg (HT2LRC): Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott Alvarez said audits of monetary policy by the U.S. Congress […]

"My God, It’s Full of Stars!"

Putting this down into words will not do it justice, but I wanted to share my experience late Friday night. While walking home from the open bar on Mackinac Island, I was struck by how many stars I could see. If you’ve lived in a big city your whole life, you might be amazed at […]