Econophile's blog

Every year celebrations of Thanksgiving give thanks for the blessings of God for our well-being. As a skeptic, curmudgeon, and capitalist, I attribute my blessings to free(er) market capitalism.

If you are looking for guidance and clarity from the Federal Reserve, your trust will be misplaced. The recently released minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee's (FOMC) November meeting reveal a deeply divided Fed with no clear consensus on the effectiveness of their policies.

I wrote this opinion piece on Sarah Palin and her populist appeal. I got mostly jeers. Mainly being accused of elitism. Tough being libertarian.

Retailers are counting on holiday sales this year but on the other hand they are rather pessimistic. It remains to be seen if holiday sales will improve substantially this year. Bling yes.

Something is happening. I am not saying it is a trend, but the data are suggesting some improvement in the economy. This is the first time I have said this in two years. It may just be a temporary phenomenon since there are so many headwinds against a recovery. Perhaps it is just that things aren't getting worse. But the data are important and should not be ignored.

The G-20 meeting in Seoul was not a good one for the Obama Administration and President Obama in particular. Mr. Obama was unable to conclude a free trade agreement with South Korea, and China told him to stop meddling in their internal affairs and put his own house in order first. China is right.

What do "hot money," gold, sovereign debt, foreign trade, and Germany and China all have in common? Everything. They are all lined up against the U.S. and our new quantitative easing (QE2). There is fallout related to quantitative easing, and the markets are reacting, from the Fed's perspective, badly.

This is an article I did for a local newspaper for which I write a regular column on economics. It was meant for a general audience. Size limitations required the article to be very concise, thus a "deep" philosophical treatise on theory, epistemology, and intellectual trends was not possible. But I think it came out well. What do you think?

What's the deal with Goldman? First they said QE2 would be bad. That we needed $500b or $1T or even $2-$4T to achieve inflation. Now they are defending it. More confusion. They are both wrong.

A review of employment data shows some good signs, but not enough to overcome the negative headwinds.

Gridlock can be a good thing. Don't expect much from the Republicans.

No more waiting, the Fed did it. And it's just the start.

Based on the data, it appears that banks, especially the regional and local banks, are starting to solve their nonperforming loan problems. This is a very significant bit of data and is relevant to the credit crunch we are having. Will it translate into increased loan activity and a recovery?

Junk economics and the Taylor Rule guide the Fed's QE2 monetary policy. Junk or not, the important thing is that they believe it. So does Goldman Sachs. How many dollars will the Fed print? $1Trn, $2Trn, $4Trn? You should know that they are all just guessing and have no idea how this will come out. Remember this word: stagflation.

Paul Krugman doesn't know anything about Austrian economic theory but he feels competent to criticize it. He has refused to debate the topic in the past. Now a top notch Austrian theory economist is challenging him to a debate. The lure: $100,000. Will he do it?