After the Consumer Price Index surged last year to its highest level since 1982, politicians are feeling pressure from constituents to do something about it. Last Monday, President Joe Biden announced $1 billion in grants, loans, and other assistance for small meat...
Economics
Will COVID Lockdowns Make 2022 the Year of Bitcoin?
by Tom Luongo | Jan 7, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
I don’t necessarily like to do so-called ‘annual prediction’ posts. Having written a ton of them for the newsletters I’ve written over the years, looking back on them is always a bit cringe-inducing. But 2021 was a crazy year and one where so much happened that...
Inflation Is Robbing Your Pocket, Whether You Realize Or Not
by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Jan 5, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
All across the economic dashboard, inflation indicators are blinking red. Most recently, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, rose 5.7% from November 2020 to November 2021. That’s the biggest year-over-year...
Lunatic With a Plan: Erdogan and Turkey’s Economic Woes
by Tom Luongo | Dec 28, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Since the first assault on Turkey’s finances in 2018, which I wrote about multiple times (here, here, and here), I’ve been the lone voice telling everyone that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a lunatic but he’s a lunatic with a plan. That plan is to de-dollarize the...
TGIF: Double-Rigging of the Auto Market
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 17, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
U.S. government interference with our lives often resembles a Russian matryoshka doll: regulation is nested in more regulation. Take the provision of Biden's pending Build Back Better bill that would create a big tax credit for people who buy U.S.-built electric...
What a 40-Year Inflationary Peak Is Doing to Your Wages
by Ryan McMaken | Dec 15, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles
According to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, price inflation in November rose to the highest level recorded in nearly forty years. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November, year-over-year price inflation rose to 6.8 percent....
The Blowback of 75 Years of Dollar Hegemony
by Phil Gibson | Dec 13, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
There is no question. The United States dollar dominates world commerce. In 2019, it made up 88% of global trade, and no other currencies came close. This dominance gave the United States power over any other country that exports anything from anywhere. For example,...
Biden’s Keynesian Course: Riding the ‘Multiplier’
by Jim Bovard | Dec 9, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles
White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain tweeted on Wednesday: “Stronger COVID measures produce STRONGER ECONOMIC outcomes. That’s why jobs, growth, and economic activity are UP this year, significantly over last year.” Actually, jobs and economic activity have...