Federal Reserve

Archive for Federal Reserve

Blatant Falsehood at Financial Times

[UPDATE below.] Robin Harding of the Financial Times starts her article, “Fed Critics Run Risk Their Attacks Will Backfire,” like this: Bigamy, grave robbing and passing false checks are pretty much the only crimes that Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have not been accused of in the past few weeks. That is a flat-out […]

Quotable Quotes

Wittiest thing I heard today: A client whose check for my traveling expenses hadn’t shown up wrote something like, “Sorry Bob I mailed that on November 24. It’s not impossible that the Post Office just hasn’t delivered it yet, with the holiday. As my husband says, that 44-cent stamp is 14 cents for postage and […]

Could the Fed Become Insolvent?

I discuss this possibility today at Mises.org. I walk through three separate (hypothetical) Fed balance sheets to show how it could occur. An excerpt: Although our central bank appears to be insolvent, in practice what would hinder its continued operation? Its liabilities consist in the legal-tender fiat money of the land. If someone walks into […]

How Does Scott Sumner Really Feel About “Income”?

I was reading Scott Sumner’s blog and was moved to send him this email (with links added): I was going to do a really smarmy post once I realized this, but I want to give you a chance to defend yourself. Here’s my problem: (A) You have been arguing that income is a meaningless concept, […]

“The Day the Dollar Died”

This is the coolest commercial for a non-profit organization I have ever seen. Their doomsday scenario is very plausible, in my view. (HT2 Jeff Tucker)

A Question for the Money Printers

I am being serious with this one, so if you actually know what you are talking about–always a plus–please help me out. We’ve got lots and lots of economists (like Paul Krugman but also Scott Sumner and even Tyler Cowen) who think QE2 might help a little bit, but that it’s not enough to get […]

The Fed and the Ratchet Effect

I apply Bob Higgs’ justly-famous metaphor (or is it an analogy?) to the Fed’s recent announcement that it would replace its maturing MBS holdings with more Treasury debt. My favorite part: Say what you will about Bernanke, he’s one crafty fellow. (As Bob Wenzel warns, “Don’t play poker against Bernanke.”) Whether through luck or design, […]

See Mishkin Squirm

I actually had a tough time watching this, I got so embarrassed for Frederic Mishkin. (HT2 von Pepe for the tip.) Lately I’ve begun to think the guys at ZeroHedge aren’t as clever and informed as they believe, but their scorn is definitely justified on this one.