Why free trade is officially dead
G20 Finance ministers meeting in Baden Baden last weekend agreed, on America’s insistence, to drop the long-standing commitment to free trade from the final…
The fateful date
Caesar: What sayest thou to me now? Speak once again. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. Caesar: He is a dreamer; let us leave…
Gini and monetary policy
Or how central bankers are ducking the wealth transfer issue Central banks must be increasingly aware that critics of monetary policy are getting some…
Price controls and propaganda
Most economists agree on one thing; price controls do not work. Many go on to say they create shortages of goods, which inevitably drives…
Global trade update
The easy pattern of prolonged trade negotiations has been rudely interrupted by President Trump. Europe The easy pattern of prolonged trade negotiations has been…
Drifting into fascism
Most people regard governments and their central banks as forces for the good. Financial crises and suchlike are therefore blamed on capitalism, and people…
Perilous government finances
President-elect Trump stated in his victory speech that he intends to make America great again by infrastructure spending. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to have…
Trade deals – a global issue
The annual Conservative Party conference commenced last Sunday, and the media focus was mostly about the Government’s stance on Brexit. This is hardly surprising,…
On being an FOMC member
It’s easy to criticise the Fed for its failures, because its successes have been only one in number: kicking the can down the road….
Why Say’s law is always true
One of my regular readers has raised the important subject of Say’s law, the denial of which both Keynesian and modern monetarists are emphatic….