On December 3, Congress passed a new highway and transit bill allocating $305 billion over the next five years. Part of the funding, allegedly $35.8 billion, will be taken from the Federal Reserve’s capital account. Further details on the maneuvering between the Senate and House versions, and…
Embed from Getty Images Over a month ago — when Venezuelans were still living under the heel of Nicolás Maduro's United Socialist party — Ilya Shapiro and I had a very interesting meeting with the folks behind DolarToday. As the Wikipedia article concerning it explains, DolarToday “is…
The Federal Reserve is set to act this week to raise short-term interest rates. There are a number of technical and policy questions raised by this long-anticipated decision. The Fed conventionally raises short-term interest rates by selling short-term Treasury obligations. It no longer owns any short-term Treasuries…
In the late 1990s, as the Banco Central de Ecuador rapidly expanded the quantity of its currency the sucre, prices denominated in sucres soared into hyperinflation. Ecuadorians in response spontaneously adopted the US dollar as a far safer savings vehicle, a far less chaotic pricing unit, and…
With Puerto Rico’s continuing fiscal strains, some commentators have suggested that one avenue to give Puerto Rico breathing room would be the purchase of Puerto Rican municipal debt as part of Open Market Operations by the Federal Reserve. The most prominent proponent of this plan is Renssalaer…