Peter's Blog

How Inflation Nearly Undermined the American Revolution

Inflation isn’t a new problem. In fact, it has plagued this country since its founding. Even though the American Revolution– and its monetary soundness– are worth celebrating, its lesser-known history reveals how war and inflation go hand-in-hand.

Why Price Stability Is a Dangerous Illusion

One of the long-touted goals of central banking is “price stability,” which, in the minds of central bankers, means low and continuous inflation. Even if this goal wasn’t cover for inflationist policy, it’d still be important to note that “price stability” is actually an unachievable goal when properly understood.

How Tariffs Erode Consumer Choice and Prosperity

Recent data shows the damaging effects of tariffs on the American economy. Protectionist policies make goods more expensive at home, but there’s another less-obvious consequence that also impoverishes Americans: reduced consumer choice.

Japan’s Inflation Problem Is Cornering Its Central Bank

As the west muddles through murky economic waters, many call on the Federal Reserve to hold off a recession. But, as our neighbors to the east show us, central banks are highly constrained in what they can actually accomplish, and more inflation isn’t the right move.

Inflated Dreams: How the Fed Blew Up Housing Costs

Consumer confidence remains in the dumps, thanks in large part to rising prices in essential goods and services like housing. Contrary to the Trump administration’s preference for lower interest rates, the solution to the housing affordability crisis is to end the Fed, which created and still sustains the problem.

Fed Critics’ Three Central-Banking Myths

Some free-marketers mistakenly believe that the Federal Reserve would be more effective if it operated in a different political environment or had more resources to control the monetary supply. Instead, as the Austrian school emphasizes, the problem is with central banking per se. Central planning never works, especially when the planning is over the money […]

Trump Demands Fed Easing to Finance Even Larger Deficits

While it’s correct to criticize the Federal Reserve for inevitably bungling monetary policy, the Trump administration is wrong to criticize Jerome Powell and the FOMC for failing to cut rates. Printing money, contrary to President Trumps belief, is never the answer.

The Market’s Safety Net: How Underwriters Laboratories Keeps Us Safe

Free-marketers rightly argue that the market is capable of providing many services that the government currently controls, from the choice and use of money to contract enforcement. There are even private means of regulating business, and as it turns out, we already benefit from them.

Industrial Policy’s Risky Revival

The American right, the progressive left, and politicians around the world have long been enamored with industrial policy. While it fell out of Americans’ favor for a time, industrial policy is making a resurgence in the Trump administration and accordingly must be refuted once again.

Trump’s Trade Trap: The Triffin Dilemma

As the Trump administration continues to navigate turbulent trade waters, it’s faced with an impossible set of economic trade-offs. These trade-offs, known as Triffin’s paradox, are key to understanding the United States’ current trade predicament.