economics

“MMT” Is Basically a Left-Wing Variant of the Austrian School

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is something only economists could have dreamed up. It’s the laughable view that governments can spend without limit so long as they’re the sole issuer of their country’s currency. Except for one problem. If governments were ever reliant on the printing press for their spending power, then it’s safe to […]

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The Unseen Economics Lesson Within the Beauty of Montecito, CA

Last week, and while walking toward the Pavilions grocery store at the Montecito Country Mart, I passed by Clic. Its website describes it as “a globally acclaimed home décor and lifestyle brand.” Its signage lists shops in prominent locales including St. Barth, Marin, and East Hampton. It doesn’t insult Clic one iota to point

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The Inflation ‘Know-Somethings’ Doth Protest Too Much

“If one-half of the commodities in the market rise in exchange value, the very terms imply a fall of the other half; and reciprocally, the fall implies a rise.” – John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy There was a time – particularly among thinkers on the supply-side and supply-side adjacent right – when it was

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A Falling Oil Price Is a Beautiful Sign of Progress, Not ‘Recession’

“We better hang up. This call is getting very expensive.” It’s something no one says anymore, but it was the norm right up to the dawn of the 21st century, and realistically beyond. Long distance calling used to be very expensive. So were computers very pricey. The typical desktop on offer in the 1990s cost

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Why Don’t Americans Just Move To Flint, Michigan?

If the question at the top of this opinion piece reads as flippant, that’s because it is. How else to respond to Columbia economics professor Glenn Hubbard than with flippancy born of mystification? In an opinion piece of his own titled “The Trump Economic Awakening,” Hubbard chose to speak for all Americans in platitudes: “They want

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Inflation Is a Shrinkage of the Monetary Unit, Nothing Else

Inflation is all over the news and commentary today, particularly after a presidential election that was allegedly all about it. The problem remains that few who utter the word grasp its singular meaning. This includes Stanford professor Jennifer Burns, who not-so-ironically wrote a book about Milton Friedman. Friedman had his own problems with the

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Peter Orszag Discredits Keynes…AND Supply-Side on ‘Inflation’

Lazard chief executive Peter Orszag recently published an opinion piece in the Washington Post that exists as an essential economics lesson for left-leaning Keynesian economic thinkers, along with their erstwhile opposites on the supply-side right. Keynesian and supply-side have been in agreement in recent years that President Biden’s surely wasteful spending at the beginning

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Javier Milei Needn’t Dollarize, He Only Needs to Set Argentina Free

Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane has long said in print, on television and in person that a focus on economic growth misses the point. Paraphrasing Crane, if the people are free they’ll have all the economic growth they could ever want. It’s something to remember as Cato stages an online policy forum focused on Argentina, and

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The U.S., IMF and Greg Ip Get Into a Fight With Basic Economics

It was recently revealed that lefty economist Robert Reich is not – gasp – an economist. It turns out he’s just a left-wing lawyer. The joke is on those who think Reich’s lack of a PhD is the source of what some deem ignorance. In truth, some of the most economically ignorant individuals on

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With Gold Rising, It’s Time for Trump/Harris To Be Presidential

Gold is referred to as a constant for good reason. It’s price doesn’t move. What moves are the currencies in which it’s priced. Which is a reminder that when the price of gold in dollars declines, that’s the sign of a rising dollar. Conversely, when the price of gold rises, that’s the sign of

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