With JP Morgan’s acquisition of Bank One, America can claim to be the home of two banks with assets in excess of $1 trillion each (the other being Citigroup). On a list traditionally dominated by foreign banks, US banks will now claim two of the top three spots. The US banking system is also becoming more concentrated, according to Minneapolis Fed
Athanasios Orphanides’ recent Fed paper touches on aspects of Japan’s extended economic slump (his basic thesis: the BOJ should have done more). This paper served as a reminder of the inadequacies and limitations of mainstream analysis in explaining Japan’s long economic winter. Fortunately, though long unrecognized and unappreciated by the
Many people are unaware of it, but there has always been a Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. Overlooked in scripture, he has been there nonetheless, waiting with rancid, baited breath to gallop across the world and leave his destructive hoof-prints in the rubble of Western civilization. He is, according to many government spokesmen and media
Modern central banks pronounce economic and monetary stability as their target. But what they are after is not the real thing but a statistical chimera. Ludwig von Mises put it this way: “The money equivalents as used in acting and in economic calculation are money prices, i.e. exchange ratios between money and other goods and services. The
Alan Greenspan is about to retire. He has been the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since August 11, 1987, and his final term will end on January 31, 2006. Until then, Greenspan will have served almost two decades at the helm of the US central bank during which he has left his mark like few before him. With only a
In his testimony before the Congressional Committee on Financial Services the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, said that he could see good chances for a sustainable expansion of the U.S. economy. According to Greenspan: The household sector’s financial condition is stronger, and the business sector has made substantial
On Tuesday February 24, 2004, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, in his testimony to the Senate Banking committee, issued a warning that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the two giant mortgage buyers—have grown so large that they pose a threat to the entire financial system. To reduce this threat the Fed chairman recommends that
In his speech on May 20, 2004 , a Fed Governor, Ben Bernanke, argued in favor of a gradual approach to interest rate policy settings. According to Bernanke, because policy makers do not have precise knowledge of how the economy will respond to a given change in interest rates it is logical that policy makers should proceed cautiously. In other
With the recent rate hike, the mainstream press obediently parrots the macroeconomic analysis offered by our friendly central planners at the Federal Reserve. The average citizen knows that he or she is not nearly smart enough to understand the complex interrelationships of various price indices, yield curves, consumer confidence, and so
It was reported last week that the M3 money supply has increased at a breathtaking 20% annual rate in the last 4 weeks, going up $155 billion. Coincidently (or not), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held another of its semi-annual land auctions in Las Vegas. With Alan Greenspan providing the juice and animal spirits aplenty in attendance, the
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.