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Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
114 essays · Newest first
Clear filtersFed officials don’t grasp what inflation is. If they understood what it is, they wouldn’t be so worried about the Fed’s so-called independence. For background, contemplate a recent New York Times…
In his classic book Lombard Street, 19th century financial writer Walter Bagehot observed that due to the unwarranted prestige attached to central banks, posts within tend “to be desired by vain men,…
Remember “costless” credit? Neither do I, neither do you the reader, neither does Elon Musk. As Walter Isaacson’s biography of the world’s richest man makes very apparent, Musk was so desperate for…
At heart, I’m a confederate. Rather than centralizing power in omnipotent institutions, I favor a confederation of smaller entities bound together by culture rather than coercive…
The Fed can never be independent. Economists should spare readers of any further commentary calling for what can’t be. Long before the Fed existed, and just the same to this day, there were and are…
Credit is produced. Repeat the previous truth over and over again. And then internalize the obvious, that we borrow money for what it can exchanged for. That we borrow dollars to get things ridicules…
The Federal Reserve did not cause the Great Depression. To pretend that it did is to believe that central planners dictate access to capital from the proverbial Commanding Heights, and that the…
France’s best-known stock index, the CAC 40, is up 18 percent over the last twenty-five years. The S&P 500 is up 24 percent over the last two months. These numbers rate comment. For one, they vivify…
President Trump recently warned Walmart to not raise prices in response to his imposition of tariffs. Economists and pundits reacted to Trump’s warning with a mix of horror and haughty disdain. With…
High prices beget low prices. It’s the high prices that summon more supply, more innovative production processes that ultimately result in lower prices, and often both. That high prices foretell…
President Trump famously described Fed Chairman Powell last week as a “major loser.” Trump never disappoints, does he? Whatever his style, Trump’s disappointment with Powell, the disappointment of…
Prices are what organize the market economy, which means prices are a crucial form of communication that governments should never, ever meddle with. Too bad Milton Friedman’s monetarism continues to…
The Federal Reserve is irrelevant. Market signals continue to confirm the previous truth while economists and pundits continue to follow what’s irrelevant in breathy fashion. In future decades and…
If there’s production there is money. It’s that simple. “Money” is merely an agreement about value among producers that enables the exchange of actual goods, services, and labor. It’s all a reminder…
The economic consensus of the moment is that higher prices are the same as inflation, and the Fed is the only governmental entity situated to bring down higher prices. It’s a dangerous consensus.…
Politicians are human. So are central bankers. Since central bankers are human, it’s a fact of life that their personal feelings, biases and politics will inform their decisions. It’s something to…
As is well known now, Nvidia shares tumbled something like 17% last Monday. Was this bad news from the Fed about its plans for interest rates? The question isn’t serious. Stock prices are a…
Back in March of 2020, former Federal Reserve Board member Kevin Warsh penned an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal (“Let the Fed Administer an Antiviral Shot”) calling for the Federal Reserve…
The Federal Reserve doesn’t need to adopt a “Monetary Policy Rule.” Not only would the central bank shed the pretense of rules-based constraints on its power during times of upheaval and uncertainty…
Consider taking an exam without clear guidelines on what will be assessed. Many students have likely experienced this situation at least once, resonating with the frustration of preparing for an…
To this day it’s said that mark-to-market (MTM) accounting rules are what caused existential troubles for banks and investment banks back in 2008. It sounds so compelling at first glance, but only…
“The traditional argument against a rules-based monetary policy is that it requires Fed officials to specify too many contingencies ahead of time.” Those are the words of economist Jason Furman,…
Repeat it over and over again: there’s no interest rate, and there’s no such thing as interest rates. There are individuals, and individuals face a myriad of borrowing costs as numerous as there are…
There’s no such thing as “easy money” or “costless credit” contra what readers are told with great regularity by economists and their enablers in the commentariat. Evidence supporting this statement…
