Economics

Archive for Economics

“The World Is Ending! The Market Value of Money Market Accounts Is Dropping! Aaaaaaaa!”

[UPDATE below.] I need to do some more research before I open fire on David, Robert, Ambrose, and all my friends, but I think these guys are all missing some really basic stuff here. Fortunately for their self-esteem, I am really busy and don’t know when I can deal with this in a careful (and […]

Murphy on Krugman on Hoover…Again

The one new thing in this piece is that I put a bunch of my arguments into chart form. Maybe this time they will sink in. If you are bored feel free to email the article to Krugman. I would really love to hear what he has to say about my points. I suppose he […]

Scott Sumner Says What We’ve Been Waiting For

He’s been tip-toeing around it for over a year, but this is the clearest expression I’ve yet seen: “Monetary policy is the Achilles Heel of free market economics.” Now you might be thinking, “Exactly! I can’t stand all these ‘free market’ economists who think the one good the market can’t produce is money. They’ll talk […]

Bernanke Calls to End the Fed! He Endorses ABCT!!

OK not quite, but I am not making up this quotation: US FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has warned against government interference in monetary-policy setting, saying it contributes to boom-bust cycles and inflation risks. “Political interference in monetary policy can generate undesirable boom-bust cycles that ultimately lead to both a less stable economy and higher […]

Why You Read Free Advice

The Breaking News headline at CNBC: The Federal Reserve Does Not Expect to Sell Any Assets Until the Economy Recovers (story developing) They have painted themselves into a corner, folks. They only time they will seriously consider reducing the monetary base, is when milk and gasoline prices are rising at significant monthly rates. At the […]

Krugman Lets the Cat Out of the Bag?

Remember in 1984 that there was one Party enthusiast who was so dogmatic and zealous for Big Brother that they had to take him out? I wonder if that’s Paul Krugman. He is almost charmingly transparent in his advocacy of bigger government. For example, check out this blog post on financial regulation, with the revealing […]

CPI Up 2.2% Over Last Year

The CPI numbers are out. According to our trusty government officials, prices rose 2.2% from April 2009 to April 2010. Of particular interest is that the “energy” component of the CPI is up 18.5% for that 12-month period. Now I know some of you are mad for two reasons: (1) I keep making forecasts instead […]

Producer Prices Up 5.5% For the Year; Krugman Draws a Line

Again kids, I acknowledge that the official price inflation measures are not behaving as I was warning last year. Even so, let’s also realize that we are not on the verge of a deflationary spiral. The latest PPI report shows that producer prices for Finished Goods in April were up 5.5% from 12 months earlier. […]