by Runaway Slave | Oct 8, 2008 | Economics, Libertarian Curmudgeon
The greatest credit balloon in history is coming down like the Hindenburg. The sheer volume of hot air issuing from wealthy gasbags in the media, politics, and finance should be enough to keep the bubble afloat. Alas, that appears not to be the case. The consensus...
by Runaway Slave | Sep 24, 2008 | Economics, Libertarian Curmudgeon
I can never figure out why people are genuinely surprised when government schemes explode in taxpayers’ faces. Just about every government program is some flavor of Ponzi scheme, confidence swindle, or extortion racket. Every one is a time bomb whose clock is ticking...
by Runaway Slave | Jul 24, 2008 | Debt, Economics, Essays & Articles, Inflation, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Using that infallible maxim as our guide, it appears that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, the nation’s two primary engines of housing inflation, are on the brink of collapse. Last week I heard on a TV news broadcast the following remark from an unnamed official,...
by Runaway Slave | Jul 20, 2008 | Economics, Libertarian Curmudgeon
These remarks were part of a speech given by the head of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, Richard Fisher, to the Commonwealth Club of California: “…tonight I speak for neither the committee, nor the chairman, nor any of the other good people that serve the...
by Runaway Slave | Apr 11, 2008 | Economics, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Banking started with gold. Almost by accident, the merchants who dealt and fashioned goods out of gold became the first bankers. Goldsmiths would rent out space in their vaults to folks who wanted a safe place to store their own gold. Each time someone deposited a few...
by Runaway Slave | Dec 26, 2007 | Bubble, Economics, Essays & Articles, Libertarian Curmudgeon
I like perusing the classified ads in La Nación. La Nación is the big, serious daily newspaper in San Jose, Costa Rica. Like all dailies down here it’s a tabloid. By calling it the "serious" paper, I mean there is less rolling girl-flesh in the...
by Runaway Slave | Nov 29, 2007 | Economics, Libertarian Curmudgeon
"It is just as well that the people don’t understand money and banking for, if they did, I believe there would be an armed revolution before tomorrow morning." – Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company Like many history making events, this one...
by Runaway Slave | Oct 31, 2007 | Bubble, Economics, Essays & Articles, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Inflation, diluting the money supply with worthless tokens, either by borrowing money into existence or by printing it, transfers wealth from the people who produce it to people who use it to buy political power. It’s a nasty, pious fraud, but the real harm goes...