Peter Schiff Rips Keynesian Economists on His Friday Show

I've compiled the most hilarious bits from the show. Among other things, Schiff compares Keynesian Economists to parrots, and gives us the latest on Category Five Hurricaine Krugman....

Dallas Fed CEO Touts Central Planning as Key to Economic Growth

Richard Fisher, head of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank boasted at a recent speech in Midland, TX the Fed's torrent of money printing since the Financial Crises of 2008 saved the U.S. economy from certain death. That was unsurprising. The very existence of the Federal Reserve is predicated on the notion that private banks and individuals are not smart enough to responsibly manage the nation's money supply.

Even staunch defenders of the free market find nothing inconsistant with a centrally planned banking industry and a (partially) free market in all other sectors of the economy. (This bizarre blindspot in the eyes of true defenders of capitalism is a topic for another discussion.) What was striking about Fisher's speech was near the end, after a vague reference to political criticism of the Fed  

(emphasis mine):

Pointing fingers at the Fed only diminishes credibility―the ugly truth is that the problem lies not with monetary policy but in the need to construct a modern, appropriate set of fiscal and regulatory levers and pulleys to better incentivize the private sector to channel money into productive use in expanding our economy and enriching our people.

Without a planned economy, businesses and investors would helplessly flail about, incapable of making the capital investments necessary to expand their companies and hire new workers. That is an "ugly truth", indeed. Does Fisher actually believe economic growth depends on the "levers and pulleys" constructed by Washington planners?

Investors Optimistic Bernanke Will Unveil "New Measures"

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that investors appeared "optimistic" that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will unveil "new measures" at the Fed luncheon on Friday. "[N]ew measures"?

There are several ways to further inflate our monetary supply and saturate the economy with cheap money, (i.e., Central Bank "measures"). Problem is we've seen them all before. The "measures" of a central bank are inherently inflationary.

What is Bernanke going to do? QE3, after QE 1 and 2 failed to make a dent in unemployment. Anything the Fed Chairman implements will only perpetuate our phony economy based on government stimuluated consumer spending, spending money we dont have and should be saving.

Open market operations to print money/flood the banks with more excess reserves will further damage the middle class, and continue redistributing the fruits of our labor to the same bankers Bernanke hails himself a Savior for bailing out.

The money created out of thin air will not be directed to those who can best use it. Successful companies and inviduals don't get the new money, it's injected at the point of greatest political pull: the big banks get it first, and like counterfeiters they enjoy the purchasing power before it makes its way through the economy and raises the prices of goods and services the average person faces before he sees a rise in his wages.

There is nothing Bernanke can do to alleviate our recession, except raise interest rates, and any government official in this environment would sooner pull off their own eyelids than hike rates. Of course then the laws of economics would hit our monetary and economic elite so squarely in the face, such austerity will only come when there is rioting in the streets, similar to what's going on in Europe.


Or I could be wrong...maybe Bernanke's been working overtime with his economic chemistry set?

Will Bernanke Unleash a Third Monetary Dump on the Economy Friday?

As the Federal Reserve has, for so long held interest rates far below where a free market would set them, the question this Friday in Jackson Hole, WY for the Fed Chairman should be one of mathematics, perhaps calculus: As the interest rate is already below zero or approaching zero, what is the limit of lowering a positive number?

Will the Central Planner of our Monetary System weave together numbers below zero but not actually a negative real interest rate? We shall see on Friday.

Bernanke has also thrown out the teaser of some new "tools" the Fed has at its disposal. A toolbox which includes inflate, deflate or print bearing something other than monetary debasement will surely be a work of magic by the Fed Chairman.

Gallup: Ron Paul Within Three Points of President Obama

Bachmann is falling and Ron Paul is rising. In Gallup's latest Presidential Poll, Romney and Perry are ahead of, and tied with Obama, respectively. That's not surprising in light of horrendously high unemployment for the longest period since the late 70's/early 80's.

What is surprising is how fast Paul has risen to a competitive level with Obama. Topping the President in a national election clearly within reach, Ron Paul is now a serious contender to win the GOP Primary.

Gary Johnson recently gave a speech featured on CSPAN. Is the other Libertarian standard bearer making a move?

"The Austrians Were Right!"

Fox Business Channel's "Freedom Watch" with Andrew Napalitano highlighted the Austrian School of Economics on tonight's show. What an exiting thing to see F.A. Hayek and Von Mises and the Austrian School in general get such high profile visibility. America's economic problems could be solved 3 weeks ago if we simply embraced Austrian Economic theory and allowed the free market to work.

It's not rocket science: let the innovators innovate, the investors invest and the entrepeneurs take risks in an economy that rewards the successful outcomes of these activities essential to economic growth. Inflation is not some omnipotent, existential dark financial curse...it is instiutionalized within the U.S. monetary system through the Fed and its Cartel of Member Banks.

Free Markets, Free Trade and Sound Money. The Austrians have the answers, but as those solutions do not involve empowering government and expanding control of the state over our lives, I'm afraid we Austrians have a mighty big fight ahead of  us.

Dear Fox News, thank you-  "The Austrians Were Right!"

Agreement Reached on Debt Ceiling: House Democrat Labels it " Sugar Coated Satan Sandwich"

The Debt Ceiling impasse has come to an end. Truly, Armageddon-Doomsday-Apocalypse has been averted (just paraphrasing Tim Geithner there).

Predictably, both sides are not exactly thrilled: One peeved House Democrat, Emanuel Cleaver from Missouri was rather graphic in his dismissal of the deal reached by President Obama and congressional Republicans late Sunday night, calling pact to raise the nation's debt ceiling a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich."

You've got to hand it to Rep. Cleaver for creativity, mixing alliteration with references to candy, bread and the Prince of Darkness.