Yesterday, the US Federal Reserve decided not to reduce its money creation programme of $85 billion a month. The Cobden Centre publishes a response, No tapering, no surprise: It was not too surprising that there is going to be no tapering for some very good reasons. The commencement of tapering would […]
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House price inflation and the madness of monetary socialism
Via House price inflation should be capped at 5pc, RICS says – Telegraph, House prices should be prevented from rising by more than 5pc a year to stop another bubble destabilising the economy, a top property institute has urged. For comparison, the UK inflation target is 2%. The RICS story […]
Read MoreThe German way of 1923
I chanced this morning on the superb collection of essays from Ludwig von Mises, The Causes of the Economic Crisis and Other Essays Before and After the Great Depression (PDF). In his Stabilization of the Monetary Unit—From the Viewpoint of Theory written in 1923, he showed considerable foresight: Only the […]
Read MoreBank reform demands monetary reform – an essay for Banking 2020
Today sees the return of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill to Parliament. It does not do enough. In the book Banking 2020: A vision for the future, my essay summarises the institutional problems with our monetary and banking orthodoxy: The features of today’s banking system As Governor of the Bank of England […]
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Book review: Ouch! Ignorance is bliss, except when it hurts…
Once I saw George Selgin referenced on page 7, the paper dollar criticised on page 8 and a Zim$100 trillion note on page 12, I knew I would enjoy Ouch!: Ignorance is Bliss, Except when It Hurts- What You Don’t Know About Money and Why It Matters (More Than You […]
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Free, zooming presentations with Prezi – How Government created the crisis by debasing money
I have many times presented the argument that for forty years politicians’ promises in excess of what they could take in tax were paid for by debasing the currency to avoid an explosion of debt. Here’s a typical PDF generated from Keynote, Apple’s (superior) competitor to PowerPoint. Then I was […]
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Taxes, currency debasement and the OFT report on pump prices
Via the Office of Fair Trading, Rises in pump prices for petrol and diesel over the last 10 years have been caused largely by higher crude oil prices and increases in tax and duty and not a lack of competition, an OFT report has found. and, emphasis mine, The OFT […]
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A confession from the Governor?
In his Cardiff speech last night, Sir Mervyn King admitted the Bank of England’s short term policies “appear diametrically opposed to those needed in the long term.”Sir Mervyn still believes that ulta-low interest rates have prevented the recession becoming a depression. However he confessed that such low interest rates prevent bad investments from […]
Read MoreLearnLiberty.org: Should we End the Fed?
Another excellent video from LearnLiberty.org, in which Lawrence White concludes it would be dangerous to leave the control of money with the same institutions which caused the present crisis, hoping they will do better in future: What would it mean to “End the Fed?” Free banking expert and professor Lawrence […]
Read MoreTwo speeches on sound money, the morality of taxation and the cruel fiction of state power
I spoke yesterday to the European Young Conservatives on the origins of the crisis in excess state power, deficit spending, debt and debasement. Here are the slides: And this morning, I spoke on the morality of taxation alongside Syed Kamall MEP, Cllr J P Floru and Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers’ Alliance. […]
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