Last week (June 21), in its biannual circus, New York City housing regulators once again decided how much landlords will be able to raise rents. Despite inflation raging at a 40-year high of 8.6%, they decided on an increase of 3.25%. In real terms, this is a rent *reduction* of 5.35% (3.25% minus 8.6%), assuming the […]
Martin Walker, the gifted former Washington correspondent of The Guardian, used to start his speeches saying that the Fourth of July wasn’t a time for sorrow for him, as it was a time when good British yeomen farmers in the colonies revolted against a German king and his German mercenaries. Walker – who now lives […]
As Americans continue to reel from years of dismisinfoganda, government censorship and government-inspired, if not directed, private censorship, they would do well to recall several previous episodes of government interference with the free flow of facts, including the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the suppression of abolitionist tracts in the antebellum slave South and the Sedition Act of 1918. […]
High inflation rates have been making headlines since the beginning of the year. Inflation seems to have caught even investors by surprise. While I’m optimistic that inflation will fall over the next year, this belief is formed with the expectation that the stance of monetary policy should and will remain tight. The effective Federal funds […]
The physical market cycle analysis of five property types in 54 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). So unique – GDP growth dropped 1.4% in 1Q22, yet the Federal Reserve still increased the Fed Funds rate by 0.5% instead of 0.25%, a jump they have not done in 20 years. Supply chain pressure continued pushing prices up and the […]
Economic research shows that monetary policy works best when conducted by an independent central bank. After Fed chairs in the 1960s and 70s caved to pressure from American presidents, those who followed sought, at least to some degree, to reestablish the Fed’s independence. Until now, that is. Since 2019, the Fed has politicised its activities in virtually […]
The United States Federal Government spends $38bn every year subsidising the meat and dairy industries. Research from 2015 shows this subsidisation reduces the price of Big Macs from $13 to $5 and the price of a pound of hamburger meat from $30 to the $5 we see today. Subsidies, however, only reduce the price of meat, not its total […]
A brief history of boycotts. From government bans to customers pouring it in gutters by the gallon, Americans are saying “nyet” to Russian vodka, expressing their anger over the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Politicians have known since the republic’s founding that folks love taking out their frustrations at the ballot box. And in a […]
The Federal Reserve System manages the US’s money supply, increasing or decreasing bank credit and other circulating media to reach a target interest rate usually announced at meetings of the Open Market Committee, which meets eight times a year. They met this week, announcing the first of several modest increases in the federal funds rate. […]
Suppose you own a substantial number of shares – say, $500,000 worth – in Acme Corp, a manufacturer of home furnishings. And being a shareholder, you decide to attend the corporation’s annual meeting. You arrive early for a good seat, eager to hear what Acme’s president and CEO, Mr Jones, has to say. Taking the […]
