from Rebel Capitalist
The Denarius and the Dollar: Price Controls Then and Now
by J.D. Weigel
Mises.org
Since the response to Covid-19, the preeminent economic concern of the American public has been, simply put, price inflation. In an attempt to curry favor with the electorate, Vice President Kamala Harris recently declared support for price controls to combat high prices, which she attributes to supply chain issues and corporate greed.
Today, it often seems that our country’s scope and knowledge of history is reduced to a few platitudes concerning markets that date back no further than the mid-1930’s, or perhaps the 1920’s. Inflation and currency debasement, however, go much further back. Furthermore, they are often accompanied by attempts to correct them with price controls. This has especially been the case with empires.
In the past year, there was a meme of sorts, where women would be perplexed to find out just how often their husbands, when asked, reflected on the Roman Empire during the course of a week.
Peter Schiff: Like Kamala, the Fed’s “Values Haven’t Changed”
by Peter Schiff
Schiff Sovereign
The Fed Chairman was flush with praise yesterday over the stupendous state of the US economy.
The economy is in a “good place”, he told reporters at a press conference after announcing a 50-basis point (0.5%) interest rate cut. The labor market is “strong”. Inflation is “coming down”. They’re “confident” about the future outlook. Basically, everything is awesome.
But at least a handful of reporters noticed the obvious paradox: if the economy is doing so great, then why are you slashing interest rates?
Typically, central bankers only cut interest rates when the economy is weakening… which certainly doesn’t conform to the Chairman’s effervescent outlook.
Brace for Impact: The Fed’s Panic Cut is a Sign the Worst is Yet to Come
by Sean Ring
Daily Reckoning
Yesterday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) shocked most market watchers, including yours truly, with an aggressive 50 basis point cut, a mostly unexpected move. The Fed’s decision, which saw Governor Michelle Bowman dissenting, raises serious questions about the stability of the U.S. economy. The stark contrast between the cut and the rhetoric leading up to the meeting signals more than just a recalibration of monetary policy. It signals fear.
For months, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have emphasized that inflation remains stubborn, necessitating tighter policy for longer. But the sudden 50 bps cut suggests the Fed sees something behind the scenes that has them spooked—and it should have the rest of us spooked, too.
Let’s break down why this move reeks of panic, what Bowman’s dissent tells us, and why this could be the sell signal that stock market bulls desperately want to ignore.
Is There a Secret Ulterior Motive Behind the “Emergency Move” That the Federal Reserve Just Made?
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
We aren’t supposed to question anything that the Federal Reserve does. We are just supposed to quietly accept their decisions and move on. Sadly, most Americans don’t even realize that the Federal Reserve has far more power over the economy than anyone else does. We often talk about the “Biden economy” or the “Trump economy”, but the truth is that the Fed is much more responsible for our economic performance than the White House is. So the fact that the Fed just made an “emergency move” that is normally only reserved for times of crisis should deeply alarm all of us. Has the Fed made this move for a secret reason that they aren’t telling us?
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates for the very first time in more than four years…
Why the Experts Are Wrong About Inflation
by Scott Sumner
Econlib
Almost every time I see an expert interviewed on the macroeconomy, they suggest that a substantial portion of the inflation over the past 5 years has been supply side. That’s wrong; none of it has been supply side. I’d go even further; essentially none of the inflation over the past 50 years has been supply side.
To be clear, I am speaking of the total cumulative increase in prices over 5 years, or over 50 years. It is true that some of the inflation in 1979 was supply side, as well as some of the inflation during 2008, or 2022. There have been individual years where negative supply shocks pushed up prices, but just as many years where positive supply shocks pushed down prices.
Many experts implicitly seem to think there’s some sort of “ratchet effect”, where negative supply shocks push up prices, and then inflation settles back to its average rate. That’s false. When negative supply shocks are not causing inflation to rise above average, positive supply shocks cause it to fall below average.
Fed Unveils Oversized Rate Cut as it Gains ‘Greater Confidence’ About Inflation
by Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
Reuters.com
WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. central bank on Wednesday kicked off an anticipated series of interest rate cuts with a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said was meant to show policymakers’ commitment to sustaining a low unemployment rate now that inflation has eased.
“We made a good strong start and I am very pleased that we did,” Powell said at a press conference after the Fed, noting its increased confidence that the country’s bout with high inflation was over, reduced its benchmark policy rate by 50 basis points to the 4.75%-5.00% range. “The logic of this both from an economic standpoint and from a risk management standpoint was clear.”
Trump and Harris’ Views On Inflation, According to Their Records and What They’ve Said
by Kathryn Watson
CBS News
Inflation is consistently a top issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election — in CBS News’ polling in mid-August, 76% of registered voters said it was a major factor in their choice for president — and they want to know how nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would address it.
Inflation — the rate of an increase in the price of goods and services over time — has hollowed out many voters’ wallets and made it tougher for Americans to save. According to the Federal Reserve, inflation averaged 1.9% a year from 2017 to 2021 when Trump was president.
Though inflation recently cooled to a three-year low of 2.5%, it’s on track to average 5% a year during the Biden administration.
Did the Fed Wait Too Long to Act?
America has officially defeated inflation without experiencing a recession—yet.
by Rogé Karma
The Atlantic
The Federal Reserve has declared victory in the war on inflation. At its meeting today, the central bank announced that, after setting higher interest rates for two years in an effort to tame prices, it is finally beginning to bring them back down.
The Fed lowered interest rates by 0.50 percent (or 50 basis points), and has suggested that future cuts will be similarly sized. That’s more aggressive than some observers expected, but even at that pace, the super-low rates of pre-pandemic America are still years away. The immediate financial effects will therefore be modest. More important, in all likelihood, is the message that the announcement sends: Inflation is no longer a major concern, and the Fed is now focused on keeping the economy, particularly employment, running strong.
It’s Plan B, Not Plan Stupid
by James Hickman
Schiff Sovereign
At some point early in 2011, I received a frantic phone call from a woman who was terrified that then-President Obama was going to “close the borders”.
She had apparently been reading some pretty dark forums on the Internet which had convinced her that Obama was going to prevent all US citizens from leaving the country… and she was intent on getting out of the country before that happened.
I spent the first part of our call trying to disabuse her of the rumor. While I acknowledge that anything is possible, I’m also a data-driven person… and there was simply zero credible evidence to suggest that President Obama was going to restrict all traffic into and out of the United States.
But, still, she wouldn’t listen. So I asked her what she wanted to do. She told me that she intended to pick up her entire life and move to Uruguay within the next 48 hours.
Fed Goes Big: Cuts Rates by Half Percentage Point
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
The Federal Reserve moved to cut interest rates by a half percentage point—the first reduction since the central bank cut rates to near zero when the pandemic struck in 2020—in a vote of confidence that inflation will continue to moderate and an attempt to fend off a further increase in unemployment.
“Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. Job gains have slowed, and the unemployment rate has moved up but remains low. Inflation has made further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent objective but remains somewhat elevated,” the Fed said in a statement.
The Fed’s benchmark rate will now be a range of 4.75 to 5 percent, where it last was in April of 2023.