Federal Reserve

Archive for Federal Reserve

Charles Plosser, Our Man on the Fed?

I explain at Mises.org. However, we Austrians must always engage in product differentiation and so: [B]ecause the Austrians have a rich model of capital, they can explain why a painful bust, or recession, is necessary. In other words, after the central bank backs off and lets interest rates rise to their correct level, the entrepreneurs […]

Paul Krugman Hearts Sweatshops

Not really, but then again neither does Tom DiLorenzo support slavery. Anyway, David R. Henderson does a great job defending Tom from Clay’s attacks. (Sorry for people who don’t know what I’m talking about–I refer to Ron Paul’s first hearing on the Fed since assuming his new post. But I’m finally back home from a […]

Suggestion for Cool YouTube on Federal Debt

Darren C. sent me this neat website where you can graph the US federal debt going way back to 1791. I was playing with it and came up with (what I think would be) a really cool 3-minute YouTube. But to see my vision, you have to do the following on the site: * First […]

Bask on MBS

(Note for newcomers: “Bask” is short for “Blog ask.” There is no begging at Free Advice.) I was looking at the NY Fed’s page on its SOMA holdings and noticed that in a footnote on the $965 billion in mortgage-backed securities it says: Guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. Current face value […]

“If the Fed Started Monetizing the Debt, We’d Be in Trouble.”

So say the people who think people like me are worry warts. It’s always useful to show things like this (HT here, but they in turn got the image from ZeroHedge):

Are Sumner and Krugman Incorrectly Claiming Victory?

A friend who is a very sharp economist mentioned to me that when he reads my critiques of Sumner, it is very challenging to discern my argument. So if he was having trouble following my posts, I pity the fool with a normal IQ. So for this post, I will start out at Square One. […]

It’s Official! Next Week Murphy Will Debate…

…Jerry Dwyer, an economist with the Atlanta Fed. I am going to be one-half of the lunchtime presentation at the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) meeting in Atlanta on Thursday February 10th. They have graciously made an option for people who just want to go to the lunch and watch the debate. Be careful […]

I Demand Answers From the Aggregate Demanders

Just to clarify, when I say I’m an aggregate demand skeptic, I don’t mean to deny that aggregate demand exists, at least in principle (though we might not measure it well). I also don’t mean to deny that it does indeed sometimes fall sharply. Further, I concede that these falls are caused by human activity, […]