Recent Blogs Posts

Most people don’t think about inflation and the money supply, but they are things that are important. It has come out in the news recently, because Congress is discussing raising the debt ceiling again, and that is an important factor in determining the value of the dollar. The dollar is backed by debt, Treasury Bonds to be specific. As long as there is a market for Treasury bonds, the dollar will be worth something, but the quantity theory of currency applies. That means that the more money that ...

I was thinking of writing a post on the stubbornness of pseudo-facts, but then I went to a store to buy some orange juice. I lightened the collection of coins that were weighing down my pocket, and the cashier commented on my use of coins. We discussed that fact that younger people often use plastic for anything and everything, ignoring the fact that there are processing fees for both credit and debit cards. While it is foolish for people to collect change and use plastic for small retail purchases, ...

I saw a letter to the Editor in the Daily Hampshire Gazette that asserted that present inflation was a result of Biden’s policies. That is a false accusation. There has been inflation at substantial levels for several decades, and it has been a deliberate policy of the U.S. government. The inflation policy was established to ensure that the government could make money by selling long term bonds.

Bonds are sold by the Treasury Department with a fixed interest payment, and the actual ...

It as been a while since the term “fiscal conservatism” was in common use, but in the years after WW II and before Reagan’s Alzheimer’s term it was in common use, and the concept was embraced by both of the major parties; although the Party of Lincoln was usually more for it, because the party of FDR was more focused on social problems, and some people thought that throwing money at a problem would eliminate it.

Ronnie showed us that it made no difference what one’s political or ...