The bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the alleged fraud by co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, which has cost customers millions, is tailor-made for anyone who already wants the power of government to expand, especially in the area of financial privacy. For...
Economics
Housing Prices Will Keep Getting More Expensive
by Ryan McMaken | Nov 17, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
As mortgage rates have risen this year, the demand for home purchases has fallen. That has spelled trouble for the home construction business. Homebuilder confidence dropped for the 10th straight month in October. The decline in builder sentiment reflects what...
2022 Was Another Nail in the Modern Monetary Theory Coffin
by Connor O'Keeffe | Nov 14, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
It’s been a rough year for advocates of modern monetary theory (MMT). After nearly two years with all the budget deficits and money printing MMTers could have wanted, the doctrine’s popularity seems to have faded now that we’re well passed the honeymoon phase. Twenty...
Western Politicians Tried (and Failed) to Legislate Tides of Russian Oil
by Marcel Gautreau | Nov 9, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Western sanctions program can best be compared to an interrogator who first amputates a victim’s arm and then, brandishing the severed appendage, threatens to begin slitting its wrist and tearing out...
Powell Promises More Rate Hikes
by Ryan McMaken | Nov 3, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the target federal funds rate 75 basis points on Wednesday, marking the fourth 75-basis-point hike in a row since June. The federal funds rate is now the highest it's been since December of 2007 when...
Biden, Our Boneheaded Chip Czar
by Jim Bovard | Nov 2, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
Jubilation erupted in Washington this summer as politicians lurched towards commandeering a key swath of the American economy. Congress passed Biden-backed legislation known as the Chip Act to spend $52 billion subsidizing semiconductor production. A Washington Post...
‘Strong as Hell’ Economy is a Mirage of Math
by Tom Luongo | Oct 26, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
“President” Joe Biden described the U.S. economy as, “Strong as hell,” in a recent sound bite. No one except his most ardent supporters, a vanishingly small number in reality, believes that. He and they point to statistics, “internals” in Biden-speaks, that point to...
A $31 Trillion National Debt Should Matter To You
by Michael Maharrey | Oct 26, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
On Oct. 3, 2022, the U.S. national debt eclipsed $31 trillion for the first time in history. When you factor in unfunded liabilities in Medicare and Social Security, the debt skyrockets to well over $100 trillion. As the Anti-Federalist writer Brutus warned: “I can...