From the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 29, 1998) Alan Greenspan Isn’t God The Federal Open Market Committee convenes today to resume the work of manipulating the federal-funds rate. This procedure is one of the most ill-conceived exercises in the history of price controls. Yet, as the boom of the 1990s attests, it is also one of the most popular. For
Here is a news piece from Investor’s Business Daily (Nov. 23, 1998) dealing squarely with one of the most interesting monetary issues of the day. The author quotes some well-known Austrian economists to help sort it all out. Are the vast amounts of U.S. currency held overseas a threat to the U.S. economy? Whether for spending or saving, most
The Free Market 16, no. 12 (December 1998) The phrase of the day is “moral hazard.” It’s something everyone seems to think is a bad thing, but few are willing to do anything about, certainly not Alan Greenspan. So far, he’s on record backing the Mexican bailout, the Asian bailout, the bailout of Long-Term Capital Management, and more IMF
Economists Say Politicians Can’t Resist Inflation Investor’s Business Daily Date: 11/17/98 Author: Michael Chapman Central banks are supposed to be independent - immune from political pressures. But bankers in Asia and Russia aren’t acting that way. Recent economic slowdowns have led to one response: inflation. German politicians are leaning on
Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, President Clinton proposed more spending, regulating, and monetary manipulation as the keys to fixing up the world economy. More ominously, he called for the creation of a new international financial “architecture,” which, he implied, would be a permanent bailout fund for deadbeat governments the world
Losses are an integral part of the capitalist process. But you wouldn’t know it from the way some big boys are treated by the Federal Reserve. It seems that if your losses are big enough, and your connections good enough, you can rely on a permanent line of credit to shield you from the consequences of your mistakes. The new rule is gleaned from
Comedian Steve Martin once did a standup act in which he asked the audience in an incredulous tone, “You mean, you don’t remember when we had nuclear war and the earth was wiped out?” The audience would laugh, as expected, since the entire idea was ridiculous. While Steve Martin isn’t writing columns about the current global financial dealings, he
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.