China’s economy is a mess. They created the world’s biggest credit bubble in history after the financial crisis, creating tremendous imbalances–vast overproduction in non-renumerative businesses. Their bubble has burst, and the millions of apartments built simply as a financial hedge, with no one to live in them, continue to decline in price. The vast stimulus […]
Archives
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So why do politicians, left and right, want to emulate the Chinese on industrial policy?
29 Jul 2024
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Ohio Inflationary Blues
26 Sep 2023
Two weeks ago, the Census Bureau released it’s real median income numbers for 2022, with real income falling a shocking 2.3% from 2021 to 2022. Yet the Biden Administration and its promoters continue to be amazed that Americans really don’t understand how good things are with Bidenomics! Consider Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman (hat tip to […]
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The Allure of Extraction
10 Jul 2023
From a legal and economic standpoint, I’m relieved the Supreme Court stood firm on executive power. However, a part of me is a bit disappointed that I won’t be receiving “free” money. I want to point out one of the economic problems with a large portion of government: extraction. Many policies are written to take […]
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Trump tackles Haley; sounds like Biden
16 Feb 2023
One of my constant refrains in the Trump era was to point to the mixed bag of his policies; much to like, much to dislike. I was most hostile to his cronyist trade policy of favoring one industry against another (e.g., favoring the steel industry at the expense of other US manufacturers that use steel*). […]
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Republicans, would you please do me a favor and capitulate now? You’re trying to do the right thing, even though for some strange reason, responsible fiscal policy was not too high on the Republican priority list with Mr. Trump as President. Admittedly, the recent fiscal insanity has left us with close to $32T in debt, […]
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Student Debt Question for Joe Biden
28 Apr 2022
Of course rich possessors of some of the finest capital would prefer to have someone pay back their loans for their investments, even while reaping the rewards of the tremendous salary differentials gained by participation in extensive college education. At one level, as an economist, I completely understand the rent-seeking behavior of those in debt […]
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Reality in the Biden Era
01 Apr 2022
When I talk to other conservatives that are lamenting the decay of our culture, I will often console them by noting that “life is conservative.” In other words, the realities inherent in all our lives tend to validate the conservative position. There is a reason why the book of Proverbs can resonate with anybody, a […]
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Our national debt has now crested $30T, with a gigantic yawn from the Biden Administration, the national media, and yes, most economists. The debt doesn’t matter, you see “we owe it to ourselves.” And besides interest rates are low, markets are begging the government the government to spend (as former Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Alan Blinder […]
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Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the […]
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Never Mention The D Word
22 Nov 2021
In a period of shortages and inflation, I have been thinking a lot about deflation (maybe I have been dreaming about it). As I watch prices increase, it occurred to me that we only every discuss getting inflation back under control, but we never discuss prices falling back to a certain level. Why are we […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach