Just as government policies have incentivized farmers and municipalities to waste their precious water resources, government borrowing and spending is draining our capital and distorting the structures of production in the economy. What we see now cannot be sustained much longer.
The Fed Is Draining Our Economy Like Farmers Have Drained Their Aquifers Read More »
It seems pretty obvious that when the economy is weak individual’s earnings go down, and unemployment goes up, consequently tax revenues go down. After all, if people aren’t making any money they can’t give it to the government. So, it seems logical to ask about falling tax revenues and rising deficits. In today’s article, Ryan McMaken looks at the current situation.
If the Economy Is So Great, Why Are Tax Revenues So Weak? Read More »
Joe Biden recently claimed on Twitter that “Bidenomics” has increased the real wages of low-income workers. A counterclaim was made through Twitter’s Community Notes that wages adjusted for inflation were actually lower at the time of Biden’s claim. But data without theory is unsatisfying, so it is worth asking if conditions of the last few years have been conducive to higher real wages, especially for lower earners.
Bidenomics: Boom or Bust? Read More »
According to a recent article by Bloomberg entitled, Wider War in Middle East Could Tip the World Economy Into Recession, it is a distinct possibility. The article presents 3 possible scenarios, i.e., Confined War, Proxy War, and Direct War. Confined War Scenario In the confined war scenario conflict is limited to Gaza, Israel, and the Palestinian
Could a Hamas vs. Israel War Trigger a Worldwide Recession? Read More »
Despite elevated inflation, the United States government is spending more than ever, which means consuming more units of issued currency. Tim Congdon at the Institute of International Monetary Research shows how the inflationary burst was directly linked to broad money growth due to rising government deficit spending. Market participants and economists like to believe that the central bank will manage the economy as if it were a car. The current optimism about the U.S. economy reminds us of the same sentiment in 2007 when no one seemed to worry about rising imbalances.
The Dangerous Myth of a “Soft Landing” Read More »
China is risking more than a real estate collapse. China has turned its back on what created the Chinese Economic Miracle in the first place. Everyone is pontificating about China’s real estate bubble and whether Chairman Xi will do enough to stimulate the economy. Even though the media admits that so far a loose monetary policy hasn’t helped, they still believe that more of the magic cure-all monetary elixir will somehow eventually work.
The Crux of China’s Problems Read More »
At their 2023 summit in South Africa, BRICS countries committed to study the feasibility of a new common currency. Russia is especially interested in alternatives to the Dollar since his invasion of the Ukraine resulted in the Dollar, SWIFT, and international finance was used as a weapon against Russia. In today’s article Daniel Lascalle looks at the viability of an alternative BRICS currency.
Will a New BRICS Currency Dethrone the U.S. Dollar? Read More »
Unfortunately, the European Union bureaucrats declared the end of the energy crisis as if it were the result of decisive policy action, but the reality is that the energy problem in the EU was only diminished by purely external factors: a very mild winter and the decline in global commodity prices due to the central bank rate hikes. Thus, the energy crisis remains, and the problems of security of supply and affordability of the system persist.
The European Energy Crisis May Be Back Soon Read More »
To review, a power company shielded from competition by the state placed electrical infrastructure among highly flammable state-owned grass fields above the historic city of Lahaina, which the government was twice warned were highly susceptible to fire. And once a fire broke out, a combination of defective water infrastructure, terrible communication by government officials, and only one escape route doomed the people of Lahaina to the worst wildfire experienced in this country in over a hundred years.
What Made Maui’s Lahaina Fire So Deadly? Read More »
Contrary to the popular way of thinking, the threat to the US economy is not the high level of debt but loose monetary policies that undermine the pool of savings and the wealth-generation process. Hence, the fall in the money stock that precedes price deflation and an economic slump is actually triggered by the previous loose monetary policies and not by the liquidation of debt.
Which is Worse- Easy Money or Public Debt? Read More »
