Tag Archive: Milton Friedman

“Keynes is the winner of the day, not Milton Friedman”

2022-11-10

To many of us, no matter how well versed in history, in political affairs or in socioeconomic issues, the present conditions in the West, and especially in Europe, can sometimes seem like the plot of a bad movie. It is often said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and what we’re seeing today is a great example of that.

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There Was Never A Need To Translate ‘Weimar’ Into Japanese

2020-05-17

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2020-05-17

After years of futility, he was sure of the answer. The Bank of Japan had spent the better part of the roaring nineties fighting against itself as much as the bubble which had burst at the outset of the decade. Letting fiscal authorities rule the day, Japan’s central bank had largely sat back introducing what it said was stimulus in the form of lower and lower rates.No, stupid, declared Milton Friedman.

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The Real Diseased Body

2020-04-12

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2020-04-12

CES: Civilian Labor Force Level, 2007-2020

Another day, another new Federal Reserve “bailout.” As these things go by, quickly, the details become less important. What is the central bank doing today? Does it really matter?For me, twice was enough. All the way back in 2010 I had expected other people to react as I did to QE2. If you have to do it twice, it doesn’t work.

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Just Who Was The Intended Audience For The Rate Cut?

2019-09-07

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-09-07

Federal Reserve Beige Book, December 2010 - September 2019

Federal Reserve policymakers appear to have grown more confident in their more optimistic assessment of the domestic situation. Since cutting the benchmark federal funds range by 25 bps on July 31, in speeches and in other ways Chairman Jay Powell and his group have taken on a more “hawkish” tilt. This isn’t all the way back to last year’s rate hikes, still a pronounced difference from a few months ago.

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As Chinese Factory Deflation Sets In, A ‘Dovish’ Powell Leans on ‘Uncertainty’

2019-07-14

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-07-14

It’s a clever bit of misdirection. In one of the last interviews he gave before passing away, Milton Friedman talked about the true strength of central banks. It wasn’t money and monetary policy, instead he admitted that what they’re really good at is PR. Maybe that’s why you really can’t tell the difference Greenspan to Bernanke to Yellen to Powell no matter what happens.

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Deepening Crisis In Hyper-inflationary Venezuela and Zimbabwe Show Why Physical Gold Is Ultimate Protection

2017-11-18

by GoldCore

2017-11-18

Zimbabwe Implied Annual Inflation, Aug 2015 - Oct 2017

Deepening Crisis In Hyper-inflationary Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Real inflation in Zimbabwe is 313 percent annually and 112 percent on a monthly basis. Venezuela's new 100,000-bolivar note is worth less oday thehan USD 2.50. Maduro announces plans to eliminate all physical cash. Gold rises in response to ongoing crises.

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The Wrong People Have An Innate Tendency To Stand Out

2017-05-12

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-05-12

Japan Government Bond Yields, January 1985 - May 2017

I don’t think Milton Friedman would have made much of chess player. For all I know he might have been a grand master or something close to that rank, but as much as his work is admirable it invites too the whole range of opposite emotion. He was the champion libertarian of the free market who rescued economics from the ravages of New Deal socialism, but in doing so he simply created the avenue for where Economics of that kind could be transposed...

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Industrial Symmetry

2017-03-19

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-03-19

Industrial Production YoY, Jun 1995 - Jan 2017

There has always been something like Newton’s third law observed in the business cycles of the US and other developed economies. In what is, or was, essentially symmetry, there had been until 2008 considerable correlation between the size, scope, and speed of any recovery and its antecedent downturn, or even slowdown. The relationship was so striking that it moved Milton Friedman to finally publish in 1993 his plucking model theory he had first...

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Do Record Debt And Loan Balances Matter? Not Even Slightly

2017-03-12

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-03-12

We live in a non-linear world that is almost always described in linear terms. Though Einstein supposedly said compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe, it rarely is appreciated for what the statement really means. And so the idea of record highs or even just positive numbers have been equated with positive outcomes, even though record highs and positive growth rates can be at times still associated with some of the worst. It...

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Basic Income Arrives: Finland To Hand Out Guaranteed Income Of €560 To Lucky Citizens

2017-01-08

by Tyler Durden

2017-01-08

Just over a year ago, we reported that in what was set to be a pilot experiment in "universal basic income", Finland would become the first nation to hand out "helicopter money" in the form of cash directly to a select group of citizens.

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We Know How This Ends – Part 2

2016-12-23

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2016-12-23

In March 1969, while Buba was busy in the quicksand of its swaps and forward dollar interventions, Netherlands Bank (the Dutch central bank) had instructed commercial banks in Holland to pull back funds from the eurodollar market in order to bring up their liquidity positions which had dwindled dangerously during this increasing currency chaos.

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Why a “Dollar” Should Only Be a Name for a Unit of Gold

2016-07-27

by Frank Shostak

2016-07-27

Once Upon a Time… Prior to 1933, the name “dollar” was used to refer to a unit of gold that had a weight of 23.22 grains. Since there are 480 grains in one ounce, this means that the name dollar also stood for 0.048 ounce of gold. This in turn, means that one ounce of gold referred to $20.67.

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Stockman Rages: Ben Bernanke Is “The Most Dangerous Man Walking This Planet”

2016-07-12

by David Stockman

2016-07-12

Ben Bernanke is one of the most dangerous men walking the planet. In this age of central bank domination of economic life he is surely the pied piper of monetary ruin. At least since 2002 he has been talking about “helicopter money” as if a notion which is pure economic quackery actually had some legitimate basis.

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Currency intervention for Central Banks: When and at which level?

The papers from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand describes in easy words where central banks should intervene based on economic history and experience. It avoids the often used econometric considerations. For FX rates those often do not incorporate sufficient long-term data.

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Swiss Referendum: The new World of Bread and Circuses

2016-06-04

by Bill Bonner

2016-06-04

9 out of 10 workers could be permanently replaced by robots. The working classes of Rome were put out of work by “robots,” too – slaves captured in Rome’s many successful conquests. Given the Swiss initiative for the minimum income, welcome to the world of bread and circuses!

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Trump’s Biggest Deal

2016-05-17

by Bill Bonner

2016-05-17

A reader asks Bill Bonner "Trump is the only candidate that might have a chance to get us out of the financial and economic mess the United States is in." Is he really?

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