As the U.S. policy makers continue to demand head toward negative interest rates (thank you Mr. Trump, NOT!), I thought it would be helpful for a short review. So, here are some common questions and my answers. What are negative interest rates? A negative interest rate is simply the result of someone paying higher for […]
Archives
-
Negative Interest Rates for Dummies
18 Sep 2019
-
It used to be possible to say something of the effect, “be wary of Republicans when they don’t do what they say they believe in, be wary of Democrats when they do do what they believe in.” Democrats may have had good intentions, but their policy prescriptions were generally in the wrong direction (certainly economically). […]
-
Courage or Cowardice?
06 Sep 2019
I don’t often just send out links, but I found the following back and forth between David French and Matt Shapiro fascinating. They both made great points and I honestly don’t know which path is right, or are they both right in their own way? As a Dean of a Business School, sending out young […]
-
This is a claim I make to our principles students in the first part of our economics class, as I reflect on the economic way of thinking, a discussion topic fairly standard in more textbooks. Essentially, the economic way of thinking forces one to fully consider all costs and all benefits of any choice. In […]
-
Hubris. Will it cost Mr. Trump a 2nd term?
26 Aug 2019
Hubris is defined by wikipedia as “a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with arrogance.” Most of the people I know have a bit of a problem with pride and arrogance, especially including the guy I see in the mirror. But most people try to keep that under […]
-
Berean Exam #1, Fall 2019. Is Wealth Immoral?
22 Aug 2019
In honor of the start of the new school year, I propose an exam. Read the following article, and without searching online for other reviews (yes there is an honor code!), provide 2-5 short bullets for how you would critique this thinking. Ready, set, go…. Ok, since it’s been five days I’ll share the original […]
-
Trump, the Fed and Recession?
20 Aug 2019
Mr. Trump is increasingly worried about the economy as he rolls into his 2020 reelection campaign, as he should be–it will likely determine his victory or defeat. To his political credit, he has so successfully enraged his Democratic opposition that they seem determined to be against anything he might say, and his very victory has […]
-
In the topsy turvy world we live in, almost everything that has been considered good is now evil, and everything that was formerly considered sin, is now virtue. We see this in the ongoing sexual revolution, but don’t mislead yourself–it doesn’t stop there. Our political and monetary system* now embraces monetary nonsense as a matter […]
-
In a previous post, I cajoled Mr. Trump for his public excoriation of our Fed, yet there is a case for lower interest rates and in a big way. The primary reason is that the yield curve is inverted, and it has been for quite a bit of time. While I have previously argued that […]
-
Markets continue to remain volatile from the Trumpian Trade Tirades, as well as his monetary grievance tweets. These problems are not unrelated, although we’ll only get to the former in this post. In today’s headlines, Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s pro-trade war economist (yes you can find an economist somewhere for almost any position you want […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach