Relax: the Fed isn't about to catch fire or melt. This isn't about that sort of warming. It's about a different, more benign sort of Fed warming that my pals at the Mercatus Center claim to have discerned. Still, I don't believe them. Call me a Fed…
On August 27, the FOMC announced a new "Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy," in which it replaced its earlier Taylor Rule strategy for controlling inflation with what might be called a "Semi-Wicksell Rule." Fed Chair Jerome Powell elaborated on the statement in a speech…
Proposals for "central bank digital currency" (CBDC) come in two basic types: account-based and token-based. I have been critical of proposals for an account-based system. Until recently, there didn't seem to be much active interest in a token-based system. But now comes a significant token-based proposal in…
(Your editor penned this summary version of his writings on the Fed's Great-Depression era attempts at Main Street lending in the hope that a respectable newspaper would publish it. Alas, those newspapers turned it down, as did some more dubious outlets. As my piece's content seems as…
Back in May 2009, Paul Krugman published a column titled "The Big Inflation Scare." In it, he complained about the "inflation fear-mongering" going on at the time. "Suddenly," Krugman wrote, "everyone is talking about inflation. Stern opinion pieces warn that hyperinflation is just around the corner. …But…