Federal Reserve

January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 in Economics/News

Fed Nominee Marvin Goodfriend Lied to the Senate on Taxing Cash

The government shutdown wasn’t long enough to delay the nomination hearing for an economist who could be considered to be one of the “worst Fed nominees of all time.” While most of the headlines generated from Marvin Goodfriend’s testimony before the Senate today focused on the grilling he received from Senate Dems, there is one curious part of his testimony that has been largely overlooked: he flat out lied about his past support for taxing cash. Unfortunately this issue that would directly impact every single American wasn’t brought up until well over an hour into this testimony. It was then that Nevada Senator Catherine… Keep Reading

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 in Politics

How ‘The FREE Act’ Could ‘Freeze’ the Credit Industry

Between May and July, hackers breached the cybersecurity of Equifax, a company that provides consumer credit scores, exposing the personal details of up to 143 million U.S. consumers. This information included names, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers. Democrats immediately jumped at the chance to regulate the credit industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) proposed the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act (FREE Act), a panicked, overreaching response to an event that doesn’t define or represent the credit industry. The FREE Act would ultimately enable the excessive and unnecessary regulation of a credit industry that provides… Keep Reading

November 6, 2017February 18, 2020 in News/Politics

Anti-Fed Rep. Jeb Hensarling Retiring, Allen West Considering Comeback Bid For Open Seat

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a staunch critic of the Federal Reserve, has announced that he is retiring from Congress at the end of his term to a statement released to the press. “Today I am announcing that I will not seek re-election to the U.S. Congress in 2018,” Hensarling stated. “Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned.” Hensarling was initially considered by President Donald Trump for Secretary… Keep Reading

October 22, 2017 in Economics

The Next Generation of Currency Wars: Private vs. State-Backed Crypto

Recently, Russia announced that it will be unleashing a CryptoRuble, just a week after Vladimir Putin strongly criticized Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies. When announcing the move, Minister of Communications Nikolay Nikiforov acknowledged that it was in part inspired by the aim of getting ahead of other governments: I confidently declare that we run CryptoRuble for one simple reason: if we do not, then after two months our neighbors in the EurAsEC will. In doing so, Russia is following the lead of another country that too has become hostile to private crypto, China. Last July, the People’s Bank of China became the first central… Keep Reading

September 30, 2017September 30, 2017 in Economics

Fed Chair Yellen: The Economy May Be Weaker than We Thought

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week cast doubt on the Fed’s announced plan to continue Fed rate hikes and reverse its years of “unconventional” monetary policy. “My colleagues and I may have misjudged the strength of the labor market,” Yellen announced on Tuesday, adding that they’d also misjudged “the degree to which longer-run inflation expectations are consistent with our inflation objective, or even the fundamental forces driving inflation.” Yellen also “noted that the labor market, which historically has been closely linked to inflation, may not be as tight as the low unemployment rate suggests.” In other words, Fed economists are… Keep Reading

August 21, 2017 in News

Rand Paul Upholds Father’s Legacy With Renewed Audit The Fed Push

At the height of the Ron Paul movement, crowds of thousands of passionate individuals chanted “End the Fed!” around the country, and America looked to be on the cusp of a revolution against central banking. Although that fervor has long since waned, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is still intent on upholding his father’s legacy. Paul is pushing his father’s signature Audit the Fed legislation that would finally at long last bring some transparency and accountability to the central bank that has been responsible for crushing the purchasing power of the dollar while unleashing a century of war and big government… Keep Reading

July 6, 2017July 6, 2017 in Economics

Beware the Predictions of “Experts” Like Janet Yellen

Speaking in London, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen predicted recently that the “the system is much safer and much sounder” and explained that the Federal Reserve is prepared to deal with numerous enormous shocks to the economy. In her conversation with Lord Nicholas Stern, Yellen also went on to list the reasons that, thanks to central bank intervention, there is unlikely to be another financial crisis “in our lifetimes.” For those who have lived through more than one business cycle, however, alarm bells tend to go off every time an economist, central banker or high-ranking government official declares that there’s… Keep Reading

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 in Culture/Economics

What Derek Carr’s Contract Teaches Us about Wall Street and Income Inequality

Derek Carr has just signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history, receiving a five-year extension worth $125 million with the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders. At $25 million per year, Carr edges out Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (though Luck’s contract did reward him with over twice as much in guaranteed money). Carr also becomes a big winner in the Raiders’ taxpayer-funded escape from Oakland, with his contract scheduled so most of the money kicks in after the franchise moves to income-tax-free Nevada. While the structure of Carr’s contract offers another opportunity to discuss the “jock tax,” it also serves… Keep Reading

April 12, 2017April 13, 2017 in News

Trump Buries “America First” Agenda in One Day, Shifts Drastically Toward Establishment

In a startling turn of events, President Donald Trump has thrown his anti-globalist mandate to the wind. In just one day, Trump reversed his stance on labeling China a currency manipulator, announced his support for expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), indicated his willingness to keep Janet Yellen at the helm of the Federal Reserve, and affirmed his support for the Import/Export bank. “The secretary-general and I had a productive discussion on what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism,” Trump said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday. “I complained… Keep Reading

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 in News

Rep. Thomas Massie’s “Audit the Fed” Bill Approved in House Committee

The House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform approved a measure today that would audit the Federal Reserve, in spite of intense opposition from Democratic legislators and global banking sector. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced H.R. 24, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2017, more commonly referred to as “Audit the Fed.” It is the copy of legislation that Massie introduced in the past, based on Rep. Ron Paul’s signature bill that he introduced repeatedly over the course of his Congressional career. Keep Reading

June 6, 2016April 19, 2017 in Economics

The Voluntary Gold Standard: Realizing Sound Money Through Decentralization

Because of the enduring legacy of Ron Paul, most liberty-minded individuals understand the importance of sound money in relation to freedom. It is now a well-understood fact that a government stripped of its power to print money is necessarily a limited one. That is why the cause of liberty and the gold standard go hand-in-hand. The conundrum that we as liberty conservatives face right now is understanding how to reach our noble mission in a prudent manner. We know where we need to go, but we just haven’t quite figured out how to get there. Looking at our dismal monetary… Keep Reading

April 9, 2015September 1, 2016 in Politics

I’m a Ron Paul guy, and I’m supporting Ted Cruz

The other night as my wife Kelsey and I were getting ready for bed, we were talking about the 2016 presidential race and discussing how things would shape up for the first-in-the-nation caucus state – our home state – of Iowa. We had both heard that Ted Cruz was set to announce his candidacy at midnight, and were keeping a finger on the pulse of the reaction within our liberty-heavy political circles. My wife’s phone buzzed, and then I heard her groan. Another of our friends had asked her who we would be supporting for president in the state where… Keep Reading