“Rather than consider whether the Fed should stimulate growth, we should recognize that its primary task is to prevent over- and under-production.” ~ William J. Luther
“Traditionally, NBER calls recessions and other phases of business cycles, but only retrospectively, and mostly just for scholars. Nobody actually involved in trading securities or making policy waits for its decisions and voters certainly won’t.” ~ Robert E. Wright
“Chasing after sensational headlines predicting doom and gloom do us a disservice. It hides the progress we have made historically and prevents us from using this history to guide public discussions.” ~ Vincent Geloso
“As stated by Thomas Sowell, in Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, ‘Transferring the fruits of human capital is not as fundamental as spreading the human capital itself.'” ~ Kimberlee Josephson
Given that protectionism violates the central purpose of any government, which is to benefit all its citizens, it replaces the justice of voluntary arrangements with the injustice imposed by involuntary arrangements.
“Chair Powell has repeatedly claimed that the Fed will use its tools to create price stability. Will he and other Fed officials finally bring inflation back toward their stated two percent target?” ~ Thomas L. Hogan
“Can Congress quit the Fed’s easy money policy that has allowed them to push debt levels well above 100% of GDP, or will the addiction demand more QE to support Washington’s spending habit?” ~ Peter T. Calcagno & Edward J. Lopez
“It must be hard to keep people ruled by fear of a variant ‘BA.5’ when the much more worrisome numbers impacting their lives and family are $5 gasoline and 9.1 percent inflation.” ~ Jon Sanders
“Consumer sentiment ticked up in early July but remains near record lows and consistent with prior recessions. Inflation is a driver of weakening consumer attitudes and contributing to elevated risks. The outlook is highly uncertain.” ~ Robert Hughes
“Stigler concluded that regulatory agencies are captured by the firms they regulate. Still, ultimately, it is the regulated firms that become captured by the legislators and regulators who have the power to terminate their regulatory protections.” ~ Randall G. Holcombe
“If the pandemic taught us anything about public perceptions of risk, it is that we must empower individuals to make decisions to improve their own situation rather than making it for them.” ~ Yaël Ossowski
“AIER’s Everyday Price Index rose 2.4 in June, pushing the 12-month gain to another record high. Sustained price pressures, an intensifying Fed tightening cycle, and fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine remain threats to the economic outlook.” ~ Robert Hughes
“Any time it looks like there’s a tradeoff between unemployment and inflation, something has gone very wrong. We could’ve avoided both horns of the dilemma if the Fed had done its job.” ~ Alexander William Salter
“The policy path to MAFA is clear, deregulate everything from Amtrak to monetary policy, while reinvigorating the Third Sector (nonprofits) and forming a Ministry of Truth to police all claims, and only claims, made by governments, government officials, and politicians.” ~ Robert E. Wright
“Since many kids dream of being pro athletes and sports generate billions in revenue, voluntary participation is not a problem. But sports generate enormous rents and competition to capture these rents ensures enduring strife between labor and management.” ~ Daniel Sutter
“While trains are not especially good for the environment, many people assume they are ‘green,’ also allowing for some of the fake virtue signaling many American politicians seem to crave.” ~ Robert E. Wright
“Private-sector job openings and quits fell in May. The effects of rising interest rates and consumer caution are becoming more apparent. The outlook remains highly uncertain.” ~ Robert Hughes
“Since entitlements are off the table under threats of touching ‘the third rail of politics,’ then proponents of fiscal discipline have been trying to reform and constrain an ever-smaller portion of the overall budget.” ~ Peter T. Calcagno & Edward J. Lopez
“America the Beautiful, I wish you a happy birthday. I thank you for your generosity over these decades, and I say sincerely, ‘Mind how you go.’ The world needs your seeking to be fair and just, and full of possibility, not divided and rancorous, and a threat to yourself.” ~ Llewellyn King
“Martin Van Buren may not be everyone’s favorite President, but he is worth studying. After all, an estimated 28 percent of Americans identify with the Democratic Party. People should at least know how their political party came to be and why it endured.” ~ Garion Frankel
“We have enough information to conclude policy mistakes, especially on the demand side, go a long way toward explaining today’s inflation.” ~ Alexander William Salter
“Critical research has itself become taboo which, in turn, means that policy makers are making decisions based more on ideologically-driven political pressure than scientific fact.” ~ John Staddon
“While there isn’t much that can be done in the short term to mitigate public school excess, taxpayers should at least be aware that public schools are using inflation as an excuse to extort them.” ~ Garion Frankel
“Hopefully, these lousy explanations will soon fade out of the public’s consciousness. We need to focus on what matters: a comparative abundance of money over goods. ” ~ Alexander William Salter
“The renaming of an Army post should be a positive, not a negative statement. Renaming some of them should not be about erasing our history, but adding to our history. Heroes from the ranks of the common soldier should be honored.” ~ Clifford F. Thies
“The realities of Public Choice should make everyone think twice when asserting that the Fed or any agency should be doing something specific to fix the economy and that they will be able to make the right choice.” ~ Fernando M. D’Andrea & Ryan M. Yonk
“The regulations in the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act, made public on the same day as publication of Krugman’s article, are far more likely to provide a brighter future than prohibiting cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or other digital assets.” ~ Gerald P. Dwyer
What is a better thing to celebrate than the liberty all Americans know to be their birthright? This is not a partisan victory, nor is it one of one time or another. It’s a universal victory, because the cause of freedom is the cause of everyone.
“The fungibility of student loans means that taxpayers will be saddled with paying for parents’ and students’ non-college purchases. Many professors will, understandably, root for student-loan forgiveness.” ~ Richard McKenzie
“Monetary policy should be about money—not specific markets, but their common denominator. The sooner we enlist Friedman to help ‘run the show,’ the faster we can clean up our economic messes.” ~ Alexander William Salter