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* Von Pepe sends me this 2002 Krugman piece (via Arnold Kling). The money quote: The basic point is that the recession of 2001 wasn’t a typical postwar slump, brought on when an inflation-fighting Fed raises interest rates and easily ended by a snapback in housing and consumer spending when the Fed brings rates back […]

Black Swan Hyperinflation Fund

Von Pepe passes along this story: 36 South Investment Managers Ltd., whose Black Swan Fund gained 234 percent in 2008, is raising money for a new hedge fund, betting that government efforts to pump money into economies could result in hyperinflation. The Excelsior Fund targets returns that will be five times the average annual rate […]

Krugman’s Record on Inflation Forecasts

Bob Roddis sent me this 2004 National Review piece in which Donald Luskin tears Krugman a new one, assuming the items are authentic. I don’t have the time right now, but at some point I may discuss the differing inflation forecasts of monetarists and supply-siders in the 1980s. Specifically, the ratio of M1/real GDP rose […]

Do Non-Believers Burn in Hell?

At lunch at the Rothbard Graduate Seminar last week, Walter Block was explaining that he knew some atheists who were reluctant to visit the Mises Institute because the people in Auburn “are so religious.” Walter would always tell such people not to worry, that he for example was an atheist and none of the personnel […]

More Tinkering With Official Price Statistics

The WSJ reports (HT2EPJ): The inflation gauge tracked most closely by central bank policymakers will no longer exclude restaurant prices starting next month. The government plans to add purchased meals and beverages into the “core” inflation calculation — the one that excludes other food and energy costs — when it releases comprehensive revisions to its […]

Jon Stewart on the Pay Czar

This is pretty funny. As usual, we are getting the worst of both worlds: Government control coupled with the very same “excesses” of a free system. If the government regulated executive pay and actually insisted on (the voters’ sense of) fairness, that would be horrible economically but at least it would make sense. The Daily […]

Full-Length Book Review by Tom Woods

In all the excitement over Rothbard Graduate Seminar this week, I neglected to blog Tom Woods’ over-the-top Mises.org review of my book on the Depression. Here’s a good excerpt: Although many readers will be able to name at least several important titles on the Depression and the New Deal, I cannot insist strongly enough that […]

Is "the Market" Forecasting Inflation?

* Let’s be frank: Those of us who expect significant price inflation–and very soon–are disagreeing with the market “consensus” as gauged by market prices. But this shouldn’t be a deal breaker. After all, “the market” incorrectly forecast real estate prices for years, and the same for oil prices in the summer of 2008. If I […]