Good Riddance to President Obama’s First Economic “Brains Trust”
Larry Summer’s announcement that he will return to Harvard’s faculty at year end, following hard on the heels of the resignations of budget director Peter Orszag and of Christina Romer, chairwoman of...
View Article“The Socialist”
From the synopsis for the forthcoming film, “The Socialist,” to be released in November 2010: Every age seeks visionaries to leave, in the wake of their genius, a changed world—but rarely are they...
View ArticleNew Investor Survey Provides Additional Evidence of Regime Uncertainty
Writing for CNBC’s “Behind the Money,” John Melloy describes the findings of a recent survey of investors: Institutional investors fear a government policy mistake far more than inflation, terrorism, a...
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Macroeconomic Booms and Busts: Deja Vu Once Again
Consider the following commentary on the economic situation: Foolhardy procedures which are divorced from economic realities, or whose economic implications are not understood by their promoters, do...
View ArticleThe Proposed New “Tax Deal” is More of the Same Washington Bait and Switch
According to a report published on the front page of the December 6, 2010, Wall Street Journal, Congress is close to negotiating a compromise in which the so-called Bush tax cuts will remain in place...
View ArticleShould Wages Never Fall?
Sudeep Reddy, writing on the front page of January 11th’s Wall Street Journal, claims that one of the “ugly” legacies of the current economic crisis is a “lasting drop in wages”. Following National...
View ArticleFrance and Greece Move Left
Now that France’s incumbent President Sarkozy has been defeated at the polls by socialist candidate M. Hollande, Americans should have gotten a wake-up call. Angela Merkel now seems to be the only...
View ArticleA Vulgar Keynesian Visits My Chamber
I heard a noise that seemed to come from my chamber door. I opened it, and then . . . Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams some Austrians...
View ArticleNever Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste
Remember the Golden Age of Laissez-Faire, the grand epoch brought to a tragic end by the COVID-19 crisis, which laid bare its failures for all to see? Me neither. And yet the New Narrative is already...
View ArticlePandemics Are Not Recessions, And Pessimism Isn’t Logic
I thank Dr. Edwin G. Dolan for taking the time to critique my recent Independent Institute Executive Summary, A Pandemic is Not a Recession, in his April 15th blog posting for the Niskanen Center, “The...
View ArticleAfter the Government-Engineered Recession, How Soon Will the Economy Return...
The arrival of COVID-19 has brought with it an unprecedented and uncertain situation in many ways. One uncertainty is that because the disease is novel, we don’t know its future trajectory. Another...
View ArticleCoronavirus Crises: Everything to Fear from Fear Itself
The coronavirus has spawned crises on three fronts—medical, financial, and economic—and the tide in each turns at different times. The stock market has rebounded from its March 23 bottom, two weeks...
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The U.S. Economy’s Hidden Resilience
One of today’s pivotal questions is the ability of the economy to cope and adapt in the face of mandatory and voluntary social distancing. Real GDP in the second quarter of 2020 fell at an annualized...
View ArticlePandemic Boat Market Economics
By now, many, if not most, people are aware of rising home prices nationwide since the COVID-19 Pandemic. These higher prices have pushed homeownership beyond the reach of many households. Many of the...
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