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Talk to Me Like I’m a 4-Year-Old: Why Aren’t Banks Putting Those Reserves to Work?

Carlos Lara and I just spent 5 hours in the car driving to an undisclosed location in Indiana to meet with some life insurance people for our forthcoming book. Not surprisingly, we talked about the $1.1 trillion in excess reserves, and what it would take for them to start trickling (gushing?) out. I explained that […]

CNBC Doesn’t Anger Me on Inflation Report

They didn’t say, “Inflation is back! Ru-u-u-un!” but they at least didn’t say anything aggravating like, “Inflation pressures remain modest.” Here’s CNBC terse discussion: U.S. Consumer Prices Rose 0.4% in Nov., Deficit Widens U.S. consumer prices rose in line with expectations in November on a surge in energy costs, but prices were flat, excluding food […]

What Kind of Nutjobs Raised Andy Williams?

Did any of you grow up with a family tradition of telling scary ghost stories around Christmas?

Matt Yglesias, Inflation Denier

Despite the theoretical connection between printing money and rising prices, and the empirical evidence staring him in the face, Matt Yglesias continues to raise doubts in the minds of the public over the threat of purchasing-power change. Here’s Yglesias telling us up is down: Inflation continues to be very low. But here’s how Daniel Costello […]

Watch the BLS Try to Explain Away the (Price) Inflation…

Jeff Tucker reminded me that the PPI came out today (CPI tomorrow!). From the BLS’ news release: The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.8 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This increase followed a 0.3-percent advance in October and a 0.6-percent decrease in September. In November, […]

Murphy to Be Interviewed By Judge Napolitano

This Wednesday at about 1:30pm EST I’m doing a phone interview with Judge Napolitano on my recent article about the fate of the USD. (I am leaving right after for a business road trip so that’s why I’m phoning it in, as they say.) I don’t know if it will be live; I don’t have […]

Paul Samuelson, RIP

[UPDATE below.] I should probably say something in light of the death of Paul Samuelson. Here’s a link to some Samuelson quotes (by and about), and here’s Mario Rizzo kicking a dead guy. Others can list the numerous contributions Samuelson made to just about every field in mathematical economics; his output was really incredible. In […]

Did Krugman Get the Inflation Go-Code at the G30 Meetings?

All year, Paul Krugman has been pooh-poohing the ability of the Federal Reserve to do anything to get us out of recession. Because we’re in a “liquidity trap,” monetary policy is either ineffective or politically impossible, and the only cure is massive deficit spending. Krugman has been so vocal on this point–even though it violates […]