Ultimately, the Fed’s official inflation containment strategy is to always be able to offer banks a better deal than any private investment alternative. A better deal means the bank taking in more income, which means the banking executives involved get bigger bonuses. The source of funding for this ability to always pay more than the private markets is the ability to directly create a limitless amount of money. At this point it is a very low interest rate, but the rate can go as high as needed, when inflationary pressures build. Words: 2735

When people find themselves in a situation where they feel they don't have a decent grip on the risks they face, or where a great deal of critical information is hidden from view, emotions can easily overwhelm rational decision-making. Is it so farfetched to think that a sudden loss of confidence in the United States' ability to manage its finances could evoke similar fears about just how large and widespread the fallout might be? Words: 1026

There is a definite connection between fiat currencies and trade deficits. Critics of the Federal Reserve are right to blame it for distorting trade flows and setting the U.S. economy up for an inflationary crash. However, a trade deficit per se is not a sign of a bad economy. Indeed the trade deficit might blossom if the U.S. ever returned to the gold standard, though it would be due to a productive net inflow of producer goods. Words: 1667

While belt-tightening is indeed required cutting too fast would tip the West back into slump and kill tax revenues, solving nothing – a risk that austerity priests rarely acknowledge. Pacing is everything. Words: 620

A sunny vision of that region's future that should interest anyone concerned with global business or politics. He argues that entrepreneurial, religiously conservative contingents in such countries as Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran can propel the Middle East into a democratic and prosperous 21st century. Words: 676

This boom will be pleasant while it lasts. It might go on for a number of years, in much the same way many people enjoyed the 1920s. Be that as it may, we have failed to heed the warnings made plain by the successive crises of the past 30 years, and this failure was made clear during 2008–09. The most worrisome part is that we are nearing the end of our fiscal and monetary ability to bail out the system. In 2008–09 we were lucky that major countries had the fiscal space available to engage in stimulus and that monetary policy could use quantitative easing effectively. In the future, there are no guarantees that the size of the available policy response will match the magnitude of the shock to the credit system. Words: 2262

The only place to be is in the stock market, because if the markets go up 10% and the dollar goes down 5% you are still ahead of the game. You are combating the weakness in the dollar by increasing the number of dollars you have at a much higher rate than the dollar is devaluing. Words: 1023

Highly leveraged economies, particularly those in which continual rollover of short-term debt is sustained only by confidence in relatively illiquid underlying assets, seldom survive forever, particularly if leverage continues to grow unchecked. Words: 1264