Posted tagged ‘Frank Shostak’

« AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT home page

Some Econ Homework

June 20, 2017

Jean-Baptiste Say And The “Law Of Markets“, by Richard Ebeling, at fff.org. Say’s ‘Law Of Markets’ states: “A product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value.”…..As each of us can only purchase the productions of others with his own productions – as the value we can buy is equal to the value we can produce, the more men can produce, the more they will purchase.”

You can’t consume what has not been produced. Production creates the ability to consume. The more you produce the more you can consume.

Say: “It is not the abundance of money but the abundance of other products in general that facilitates sales….Money performs no more than the role of a conduit in this double exchange. When the exchanges have been completed, it will be fount that one has paid for products with products….Should a tradesman say, ‘I don not want other commodities for my woolens, I want money,’ there could be little difficulty in convincing him, that his customers cannot pay him money, without having first procured it by the sale of some other  commodities of their own….”

Counterfeiting money creates an exchange of an actual produced good for dollars that are not backed by corresponding production. This is theft. Even if the counterfeiting is done ‘legally’ by The Federal Reserve, it is still an exchange of something for nothing (aka theft).

There are always imbalances with supply and demand in the market, but they are usually corrected rather quickly. Monetary intervention by the Fed creates imbalances that last much longer and are only corrected by stopping the monetary intervention or an eventual bursting of the bubble.

Federal Reserve monetary manipulation has been going on for about a decade. Does anyone know what is real and what is fake in our economy right now? All we can say is there are major imbalances in our economy that will eventually be liquidated, and it won’t be pretty.

“Priming The Pump” Won’t Create Real Wealth, by Frank Shostak, at mises.org. When a recession happens labor and capital become idle. ‘Experts’ think the way out of the recession is to increase demand for goods and services so these idle labor and capital will become employed once again. Ignoring how the over-supply of labor and capital happened in the first place can lead to the same Government and Fed policy solutions which created the problem in the first place. Idle resources are not the problem. Idle resources are the symptom of the problem. The problem is the initial intervention into the market using the policies of below market interest rates and injecting electronically printing counterfeit money into the economy.

Excerpt from the article: “Commentators are correct in believing that what prevents the expansion of the production and the utilization of idle resources is the lack of credit. There is, however, the need to emphasize that the credit that is lacking is the productive credit – the one that is fully backed by real wealth (real savings). The fact that this type of credit is scarce is the outcome of previous episodes of expansionary monetary mischief by the central bank, which resulted in the diversion of wealth from wealth producers to non – wealth producers.”

“What most commentators advocate is the expansion of credit out of “thin air,” via central bank…. direct monetary injections or via intervention in the money markets to maintain a lower target interest rate……This expansion of unbacked credit not only cannot revitalize the economy but, on the contrary, will set in motion a further weakening of the process of wealth generation.”

Fed Officials Can’t See What’s Right In Front Of Them, Jonathan Newman, at mises.org. Fed officials can’t see the forest for the trees.

Here is an excerpt from the article:”Minnesota District Bank president, Neel Kashkari recently wrote…..the Fed faces a dilemma regarding asset bubbles and whether of not they should be met with raising interest. He summarizes in five points.”

-“It is really hard to spot bubbles with any confidence before they burst.”

-“The fed has limited policy tools to stop a bubble from growing, even if we thought we spotted one.”

-“The costs of making policy mistakes can be very high, so we must proceed with caution.”

-“What we can and must do is ensure that the financial system is strong enough to withstand the inevitable bursting of a bubble.”

-“Monetary policy should be used only as a last resort to address asset prices, because the costs of the economy of such policy response are potentially so large.”

“Then he admits that it is possible artificially low-interest rates increase the probability of asset bubbles forming: “Low rates…could make bubbles more likely to form in the first place.” He laments that there is no economic theory to back this up….”

It is hard to believe that with his myriad of  ‘credentialed ignorance’ he has never heard of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory.  Excerpt from the article:

“For Mises and Hayek, the policy mistake involves any creation of credit out of thin air…….If any central bank increases the money supply through the financial system, it means that borrowers have the privilege of being the first to bid up prices as the new money ripples through the economy.”

“It means that nominal incomes, employment, consumption, the prices of capital goods, and other asset prices will increase. It means that capital will be directed into new, longer, and riskier lines of production, beyond what would have happened at the prevailing levels of real saving. These lines of production will turn out to be unprofitable as the increasing scarcity of capital becomes apparent and the costs of production become prohibitively high. Incomes, employment, consumption, and stock prices plummet as laborers and capital owners seek productive and profitable employment. The bust is made up of all of the necessary corrections for the errors made during the boom. Additional artificial credit will only delay this process and make it more painful when the day comes.”

Mr. Kashkari, you said: ” Monetary policy should be used only as a last resort to address asset prices, because the cost to the economy of such policy responses are potentially so large.” Mr. Kashkari, do you know that the Fed monetary policies “of last resort” have been in effect since before 2000? These policies caused the tech and housing bubbles. What have been the costs to the economy after 20 years of these policies? They are incalculable. The only way to stop this waste is to allow interest rates to be set by the market and stop the money printing. This will bring about a recession which will correct all the dislocations of resources, capital and labor that were brought about by these policies. All thought the losses will be high, they won’t come close to the losses that will be incur the longer these monetary policies are allowed to continue.

Related Article – Interest Rates Set By The Market vs. Interest Rates Set By The Fed, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Real Savings = True Credit. Printed Savings = False Credit, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Thomas Woods Explains The Austrian Business Cycle, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – The Fed has Proved The Lefts “Trickle down Straw Man” Doesn’t Work. at austrianaddict.com.

Advertisement

Categories: Econ. 101, Econ. 201
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

How Money Disappears In A Fractional-Reserve Money System. By Frank Shostak

December 4, 2015

In this article from mises.org titled How Money Disappears In A Fractional-Reserve Money System, Frank Shostak does his usual brilliant job in explaining complex concepts. He covers the difference between real savings vs. savings created out of thin air via the electronic printing press, and how Fractional-Reserve banking increases the money supply. Here are some excerpts.

“Most experts are of the view that the massive monetary pumping by the US central bank during the 2008 financial crisis saved the US and the world from another Great Depression. On this the Federal Reserve Chairman at the time Ben Bernanke is considered the man that saved the world. Bernanke in turn attributes his actions to the writings of Professor Milton Friedman who blamed the Federal Reserve for causing the Great Depression of 1930s by allowing the money supply to plunge by over 30 percent.”

“Careful analysis will however show that it is not a collapse in the money stock that sets in motion an economic slump as such, but rather the prior monetary pumping that undermines the pool of real funding that leads to an economic depression.”

Improving The Economy Requires Time And Savings

“Essentially, the pool of real funding is the quantity of consumer goods available in an economy to support future production. In the simplest of terms: a lone man on an island is able to pick twenty-five apples an hour. With the aid of a picking tool, he is able to raise his output to fifty apples an hour. Making the tool, (adding a stage of production) however, takes time.”

“During the time he is busy making the tool, the man will not be able to pick any apples. In order to have the tool, therefore, the man must first have enough apples to sustain himself while he is busy making it. His pool of funding is his means of sustenance for this period—the quantity of apples he has saved for this purpose.”

“The size of this pool determines whether or not a more sophisticated means of production can be introduced. If it requires one year of work for the man to build this tool, but he has only enough apples saved to sustain him for one month, then the tool will not be built—and the man will not be able to increase his productivity.”

“The island scenario is complicated by the introduction of multiple individuals who trade with each other and use money. The essence, however, remains the same: the size of the pool of funding sets a brake on the implementation of more productive stages of production.”

When Banks Create the Illusion of More Wealth

“Trouble erupts whenever the banking system makes it appear that the pool of real funding is larger than it is in reality. When a central bank expands the money stock, it does not enlarge the pool of funding. It gives rise to the consumption of goods, which is not preceded by production. It leads to less means of sustenance.”

(Read this article; Real Savings = True Credit. Printed Savings = False Credit, to get more analysis from Frank Shostak concerning real vs. printed savings.)

“The existence of the central bank and fractional reserve banking permits commercial banks to generate credit, which is not backed up by real funding (i.e., it is credit created out of “thin air”).”

“Once the unbacked credit is generated it creates activities that the free market would never approve. That is, these activities are consuming and not producing real wealth.”

“It is those non-wealth generating activities that end up having the most difficulties in serving their debt since these activities were never generating any real wealth and were really supported or funded, so to speak, by genuine wealth generators. (Money out of “thin air” sets in motion an exchange of nothing for something — the transferring of real wealth from wealth generators to various false activities.) With the fall in money out of thin air their support is cut-off.”

“Contrary to the popular view then, a fall in the money supply (i.e., money out of “thin air”), is precisely what is needed to set in motion the build-up of real wealth and a revitalizing of the economy.”

“Printing money only inflicts more damage and therefore should never be considered as a means to help the economy. Also, even if the central bank were to be successful in preventing a fall in the money supply, this would not be able to prevent an economic slump if the pool of real funding is falling.”

Related Article – Interest Rates Set By The Market vs. Interest Rates Set By The Federal Reserve, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – The Fed Has Proved The Lefts Trickle Down Straw Man Doesn’t Work, at austrianaddict.com.

Categories: Econ. 201
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Interest Rates Set By The Market vs. Interest Rates Set By The Fed

September 29, 2015

The Fed has kept interest rates at near zero since the 08 economic crash. For the last year the Fed has floated the trial balloon that they would raise interest rates this September by a mere quarter of a point. The Fed huffed and puffed and failed to follow through with this increase. To understand if the original lowering of the interest rate and the failure to raise the interest rate is good or bad, a few questions have to be answered.

What is an interest rate? How is an interest rate determined? What is its purpose? What happens if the interest rate is set artificially?

We will attempt to answer these questions with some excerpts from these articles, Central Banks Don’t Dictate Interest Rates, Frank Shostak, and Low Interest Rates Cant Save A House Of Cards, by Richard Ebeling. These articles give great explanations about interest rates, central banks, and the Austrian business cycle theory. Take time to read them.

WHAT IS AN INTEREST RATE

Individuals place a higher value on a good possessed in the present than a good possessed at some point in the future. The interest rate is the difference in time preference made by each individual between possessing a good in the present as opposed to the future. Put differently, the premium we place on present goods compared to future goods, or the discount we place on future goods compared to present goods is the interest rate.

Shostak –“…… a lender or an investor gives up some benefits at present. Hence the essence of the phenomenon of interest is the cost that a lender or an investor endures.”

“……For instance, an individual who has just enough resources to keep himself alive is unlikely to lend or invest his paltry means. The cost of lending, or investing, to him is likely to be very high — it might even cost him his life if he were to consider lending part of his means. So under this condition he is unlikely to lend, or invest even if offered a very high interest rate.”

“Once his wealth starts to expand, the cost of lending — or investing — starts to diminish. Allocating some of his wealth toward lending or investment is going to undermine, to a lesser extent, our individual’s life and well being at present. From this we can infer that anything that leads to an expansion in the real wealth of individuals gives rise to a decline in the interest rate (i.e., the lowering of the premium of present goods versus future goods). Conversely, factors that undermine real wealth expansion lead to a higher rate of interest.”

HOW INTEREST RATES ARE DETERMINED

The time preference of all individuals determines the interest rate. As savings by individuals accumulate the interest rate decreases. As savings by individuals diminish the interest rate increases. The amount of savings determines the interest rate, the interest rate doesn’t determine the amount of savings. When the interest rate is falling we are saving more and consuming less, which means resources are being saved for future consumption. When the interest rate is rising we are consuming more and saving less, which means resources are being used for present consumption.

Shostak – “In the money economy, individuals’ time preferences are realized through the supply and the demand for money. The lowering of time preferences (i.e., lowering the premium of present goods versus future goods) on account of real wealth expansion, will become manifest in a greater eagerness to lend and invest money and thus lowering of the demand for money.”

“This means that for a given stock of money, there will be now a monetary surplus.”

“To get rid of this monetary surplus people start buying various assets and in the process raise asset prices and lower their yields. Hence, the increase in the pool of real wealth will be associated with a lowering in the interest rate structure.”

“The converse will take place with a fall in real wealth. People will be less eager to lend and invest, thus raising their demand for money relative to the previous situation. This, for a given money supply, reduces monetary liquidity — a decline in monetary surplus. Consequently, this lowers the demand for assets and thus lowers their prices and raises their yields.”

PURPOSE OF INTEREST RATES

Resources are scarce and have alternative uses. Low interest rates send a signal to producers that resources are being freed up for use in future lines of production. But all they need to know is the lower interest rate makes expanding for future production affordable. Higher interest rates send a signal to producers that resources are being used for present consumption. The higher interest rate makes their plans to expand unaffordable and that is all they need to know.

Each individuals unlimited desire for specific goods, their time preference for specific goods, all of which are constrained by the scarcity of resources, their different uses, and the desire of individuals to produce specific goods based on whether they think it’s profitable is coordinated by interest rates. Interest rates coordinate production across time as long as they are determined by the market i.e. individuals time preferences. If set arbitrarily, interest rates distort the production process.

Ebeling – “Investment requires the availability and application of real resources and the distribution of raw materials and the use of a portion of the existing workforce to manufacture and at least maintain the capital goods – tools, machines, equipment, machinery and factory structures – finished and final goods and services produced and made available on the market that consumers want.”

“But all this takes time, repeated periods of production, through which goods are not to be done only once or even twice, but ever-so-every day, every week, every month, every year, there is a constant flow of them…..”

“If the resources, capital, equipment, and the work is not allocated and maintained, over and over again, to begin the process for the assembly of the next device, the output would shortly come to an end….”

“It must be the necessary savings in the economy to buy, implement and use the necessary raw materials, capital, equipment and workers so that each of the goods that are going on in the partially completed sequence can be brought to its final, usable form that is ready to be sold to consumers on the market.”

“Goods and services of all kinds are bought and sold with the help of money. But pieces of paper money, or even minted coins of gold or silver, can’t make the lack of real raw materials, capital, equipment, work or services disappear or less limited. Print out pieces of paper currency does not create out of thin air more coal, iron, or platinum. such paper money does not lead to a capital equipment miraculously falling from the sky. Nor do they materialize more working – age workers ready to be assigned to the desired job.”

THE ARTIFICIAL BOOM AND THE REALITY OF THE BUST

What happens when the Federal Reserve intervenes into this complex process? Fed policies usually result in artificially low-interest rates, and the injecting of electronically printed money into the system. The policy sends mixed signals through the market. The artificially low interest rate is a false signal that says there are more resources for expansion. Unfortunately people are still consuming at their present rate and haven’t started saving more for future production. The economy is being pulled in two different directions. The counterfeit money is demanding scarce resources for future production, but the structure of production is set up to meet people’s desires for present consumption. This is what happened with the housing bubble. The prices for scarce resources, labor, capital, and time were being bid up because they were being demanded for the expansion of new processes of production for future consumption. And at the same time these resources were being demanded for present consumption patterns that hadn’t changed. At some point there weren’t enough resources to go around and they were wasted when the bubble became unsustainable and collapsed.

Ebeling – “This balancing and coordinating function of the interest rates on the financial markets is undermined and distorted by central banking “activist” monetary policy that pushes for more money in the banking system. Since money is the medium through which the savings and investments carried out further amounts of money being made available for lending purposes creates a false impression that there are more savings to support longer and more time-consuming projects for investment than is actually the case. And artificially lower interest rates makes it seem as if these new or expanded investments in projects that are more profitable than they seem as if the higher market interest rates that prevailed in the financial markets.”

“….the investment boom stage of the business cycle will come to an end, and investment projects that can not be implemented or can not be profitably maintained if they are brought online. The downturn in the economy sets in. The imbalance between savings options and investment decision-making and the allocation and use of resources, capital and labor between the shorter and longer production processes become visible.”

“There  must be a balance between supply and demand, prices, and wages, resources, capital and labor use between different sectors of the economy in order to more accurately reflect the post-boom realistic conditions on the market and profitabilities.”

“Jobs are temporarily lost, unsustainable and unprofitable investment projects must be written down or written out, and the illusory wealth positions will prove to be not as good or as high as they appeared in the previous boom phase of the business cycle.”

“What has happened over the last decade is the home, the stock market and the investment boom that was driven by the Federal Reserve easy money policies beginning in the year 2003 finally came crashing down in 2008-2009. Then, in the name of preventing the decline it mutates into a fearsome new deflation-driven “great depression”, the Federal Reserve has opened the monetary spigots for the last six years, setting up and running the same type of rise in the stock market, capital malinvestments, and the work of the misallocations that its monetary intervention had caused earlier in our century.”

“Now the Fed authorities want to rein in monetary expansion and “push” the interest rates up……. But if they do, this threatens to shake out the imbalance market relationships their own monetary policies have created.”

“This is how and why the roller coaster of the economic cycle continues to repeat itself, but each phase of the cycle varies in duration, and many special properties, depending on specific historical circumstances. The Federal Reserve’s own expansionary monetary policy, wets out for the boom that finally turns into a recession from which it is Fed authorities consider themselves as responsible to prevent or mitigate, that just sets in motion the next unsustainable boom of a new offset the monetary expansion.”

“So while the Federal Reserve has decided to keep its key interest rate near zero, it is only delaying the inevitable result of its own monetary policy, another needed economic correction that its actions will have generated but it will no doubt blame on the supposed  “failures” of the market economy.”

CONSLUSION

The Federal Reserve and all Government bureaucrats don’t have a fraction of the knowledge that the market can bring to bear on any decision, but they have enough arrogance to think they do. As Hayek says their “pretense of knowledge” makes them think they can bring about results that aren’t possible because they fly in the face of the most basic economic principles.

Related Article – Thomas Woods Explains The Austrian Business Cycle Theory, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Real Savings = True Credit, Printed Savings = False Credit, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Federal Reserve Policies Cause Booms And Busts, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Counterfeiting By The Federal Reserve, Although Legal, Still Results In Theft, at austrianaddict.com.

 

Categories: Econ. 201
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Real Savings = True Credit. Printed Savings = False Credit

March 12, 2015

In this article titled, Understanding True Credit And False Credit, by Frank Shostak at mises.org, explains the difference between real credit that is backed by savings from real production, and counterfeit credit that is created by the printing press.

Don’t think of money when we talk in terms of real credit, think in terms of real things that are first produced, then saved and finally loaned as credit. Money is how we facilitate the exchange of goods and services either in the present or at some time in the future because of saving. Credit is a part of this future exchange.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

“Banks cannot expand true credit as such. All that they can do in reality is to facilitate the transfer of a given pool of savings from savers (i.e., those lending to the bank) to borrowers.”

“Consider the case of a baker who bakes ten loaves of bread. Out of his stock of real wealth (ten loaves of bread), the baker consumes two loaves and saves eight. He lends his eight remaining loaves to the shoemaker in return for a pair of shoes in one-week’s time. Note that credit here is the transfer of ”real stuff,” i.e., eight saved loaves of bread from the baker to the shoemaker in exchange for a future pair of shoes….Note that the saved loaves of bread provide support to the shoemaker. That is, the bread sustains the shoemaker while he is busy making shoes. This means that credit, by sustaining the shoemaker, gives rise to the production of shoes and therefore to the formation of more real wealth. This is the path to real economic growth.”

“The introduction of money does not alter the essence of what credit is. Instead of lending his eight loaves of bread to the shoemaker, the baker can now exchange his saved eight loaves of bread for eight dollars and then lend them to the shoemaker….Money fulfills the role of a medium of exchange. Thus, when the baker exchanges his eight loaves for eight dollars he retains his real savings, so to speak, by means of the eight dollars. The money in his possession will enable him, when he deems it necessary, to reclaim his eight loaves of bread or to secure any other goods and services.”

“The existence of banks does not alter the essence of credit. Instead of the baker lending his money directly to the shoemaker, the baker lends his money to the bank, which in turn lends it to the shoemaker. In the process the baker earns interest for his loan, while the bank earns a commission for facilitating the transfer of money between the baker and the shoemaker….Despite the apparent complexity that the banking system introduces, the essence of credit remains the transfer of saved real stuff from lender to borrower.”

“Trouble emerges when instead of lending fully backed money, a bank engages in issuing empty money (fractional reserve banking) that is backed by nothing….When unbacked money is created, it masquerades as genuine money that is supposedly supported by real stuff. In reality however, nothing has been saved. So when such money is issued, it cannot help the shoemaker since the pieces of empty paper cannot support him in producing shoes — what he needs instead is bread. Since the printed money masquerades as proper money it can be used to divert bread from some other activities and thereby weaken those activities. This is what the diversion of real wealth by means of money out of “thin air” is all about.”

“We can thus conclude that as long as the increase in lending is fully backed by real savings it must be regarded as good news since it promotes the formation of real wealth. False credit, which is generated out of “thin air,” is bad news since credit which is unbacked by real savings is an agent of economic destruction.”

Here is a previous post titled, Printed Money Doesn’t Represent More Savings, in which we talk about how electronically printing counterfeit money doesn’t produce any good or service, it is just the creation of a piece of paper that allows who ever receives it the legal right to demand someones production.

Related Article – What Comes First, Production Or Consumption, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Capital Consumption aka Eating Our Seed Corn, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – The Role Of Interest Rates In A Market Economy, at austrianaddict.com.

Categories: Econ. 101
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Printing Money Doesn’t Equal More Savings

February 17, 2015

In this article titled, You Can’t Create More Savings By Printing More Money, Frank Shostak (mises.org) shows us that what you produce is actually what you can consume or exchange for something that you haven’t produced but want to consume. What you don’t consume or exchange is what you save. Savings is real production. Money is what we use to make the exchange process easier. Money is how we figure out exchange ratios between goods and services. Exchange ratios represented by prices in money is how 1 gallon of gas costing 2$ can be exchanged for two 1$ candy bars, or four 50 cent news papers, without ever exchanging the actual goods. Printing money isn’t the creation of any good of service. It is the creation of the demand for a good or service that is not backed by actual production. Printing money is theft.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

“Savings has nothing to do with money. For instance, if a baker produces ten loaves of bread and consumes one loaf, his savings is nine loaves of bread. In other words, the “savings” in this case is the baker’s real income (his production of bread) minus the amount of bread that the baker consumed.”

“When a baker sells his bread for money to a shoemaker, he has supplied the shoemaker with his saved, unconsumed bread. The supplied bread sustains the shoemaker and allows him to continue making shoes. Note that the money received by the baker is fully backed by his unconsumed production of bread.”

“Money can be seen as a receipt, as it were, given to producers of final goods and services that are ready for human consumption. Thus when a baker exchanges his money for apples, the baker has already paid for them with the bread produced and saved prior to this exchange. Money therefore is the baker’s claim on real savings. It is not, however, savings.”

“The printing of money therefore cannot result in more savings as suggested by mainstream economists, but rather to its redistribution”

“…. savings is not about money as such, but about final goods and services that support various individuals that are engaged in various stages of production. It is not money that funds economic activity but the flow of final consumer goods and services. The existence of money only facilitates the flow of the real stuff.”

Related Article – What Comes First, Production or Consumption, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Capital Consumption, aka Eating Our Seed Corn, by austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Does The Supply Of Money Have To Increase To Accommodate Increasing Production, by austrianaddict.com.

 

Categories: Econ. 201
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Must Reads For The Week 6/7/14

June 7, 2014
The pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

Libertarian Candidate For Governor Arrested For Gathering Signatures, by Ben Swann, at benswann.com. Self interested government employees don’t like candidates who want to reduce the size of government. This is, “The Tyrany Of The Status Quo.”

How Fracking Has Saved Obama, by Richard Rahn, at washingtontimes.com. I saw this at Carpe Diem /aei-ideas.org. As hard as they might try the administration can’t even kill the goose that’s laying the golden egg.

Lefty Logic Confusion On Taxes, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Leftists have no understanding of economic reality even when the consequences of their actions hits them square in the face. If ignorance is bliss this lady is the happiest person you will ever meet.

European Central Bank Institutes Negative Interest Rate, at economicpolicyjournal.com. What is the consequence of a negative interest rate on savings? If you said individuals will spend money not save it, go the head of the class. This is the Keynesian idea that spending drives the economy when in fact spending is consumption, and consumption is the destruction of what has been produced. Savings allows an economy to produce more. Interest rates coordinate production across time, and artificially setting interest rates disrupts the production process. Central Bank {especially The Feds} manipulation of interest rates and money printing has created this economic mess, it is not the cure for the mess.

Harvard Grad Chuck Schumer Fails History, Credits Jefferson For Bill of Rights, by Stephen Dinan, at washingtimes.com. This reminds me of this clip from the movie Animal House.

Seattle Pacific University Student Tackles And Restrains Gunman During School Shooting, by Annabelle Bamforth, at benswann.com. Watch the four-minute press conference and see why I hate politics. After Police Capt. Fowler reports the facts, the rest is self aggandizing  political nonsense. Jon Meis, the student who stopped the shooter, was responsible for the safety of his fellow students  than the mayor, the police chief, or the fire chief. They are just trying to look important after the fact.

Skateboarding On Water With Sea-Do! People can do some amazing things.

The Fed Won’t Let Our Economy Heal, by Frank Shostak, at mises.org. I like how Frank Shostak explains abstract concepts. Here is an excerpt from the article, “Most commentators are of the view that the Fed’s massive monetary pumping of 2008 has prevented a major economic disaster. We suggest that the massive pumping has bought time for non-productive bubble activities, thereby weakening the economy as a whole…. To prevent future economic pain, what is required is the closure of all the loopholes for the creation of money out of “thin air.”

Categories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment