The Consumer Price Index was up again in September. The annual rate of inflation, from September to September was 5.4%, and is likely to go higher by year-end. The Federal Reserve claims to have an inflation target of 2%, but seems to be in no hurry to enact policies to slow the rise in...
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The Consumer Price Index numbers for inflation showed a lower-than-expected increase in August, but as this article notes, we still have a lot of inflation. I’m drawing my information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the government’s official measure of prices. The good news is that prices increased by only 0.2% in August, but...
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Academic institutions increasingly are recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship to the performance of an economy, and in response, many (including my own institution, Florida State University) have established entrepreneurship programs to give students some skills that can help them succeed as entrepreneurs. I’m supportive of these efforts, but the degree to which individuals in...
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Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has said that the current uptick in inflation is temporary, and he expects inflation to subside in 2022. Despite rising inflation, the Fed is not in an inflation-fighting mood. Powell’s view rests heavily on interruptions in the supply chain that have...
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Stanley Druckenmiller is one of the most influential investors in America today. He became a billionaire himself by making billions more for his clients as a fund manager. At the time he chose to close his asset management firm Duquesne Capital in 2010, after more than 30 years of investing other people’s money, it...
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Following the pandemic-led lockdowns, Americans struggled to pay the bills. As the government stepped in to provide extended unemployment benefits, states began reopening. But as American businesses started opening their doors, many realized that it had become nearly impossible to compete with federal aid. With even fast-food chains offering more than minimum wage and...
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President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have convinced the other G-7 countries to implement a 15% minimum global corporate tax rate. The argument in favor is that some countries (the linked article names Ireland) are establishing themselves as tax havens–lowering their tax rates to attract businesses from higher-tax countries. Another way to view...
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Widely reported in the financial news, inflation skyrocketed in March–the Consumer Price Index was up 0.8% in just one month. Year over year, the inflation rate from March 2020 to March 2021 was 4.2%. Many people have told me they think those figures are understated from their own shopping experience, but I’m taking all...
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I am delighted to announce that The Essential James Buchanan, which I co-authored with Don Boudreaux, has been published by the Fraser Institute. The book can be purchased on Amazon Kindle for $.99 or downloaded at no charge from the Fraser Institute’s website, and will also be available soon in hardcover and paperback for...
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Regardless of where you stand in regard to the American Rescue Plan, it is mind-boggling to see how little anyone in positions of political responsibility seems to care about the debt, perhaps the single most important issue facing the U.S. economy in the next few years. The same can be said of most advanced...
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