Peter's Blog

Why Homes Are No Longer Affordable

The “Affordability Crisis” continues to dominate headlines and stump speeches, and the White House’s latest campaign against the Fed is a misguided response to bring prices down via expansionary monetary policy. Everyone in Washington, D.C. seems to have forgotten that this monetary policy is what caused the last decade of inflation, with the housing sector […]

The Fed’s “Self-Financing” Is a Dangerous Illusion

With Trump’s latest attack on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in the news, mainstream pundits have jumped to defend Powell from what is obviously an attempt to make the Fed less hawkish on inflation. In these defenses, however, an absurd myth is often advanced– that the Fed is somehow “self-financing.” The following article was originally published […]

Why Rate Cuts Only Delay Economic Recovery

Politicians have tricked their citizens into believing that low interest rates will solve their economic troubles– perhaps by lowering housing prices or stimulating the economy out of a recession. In reality, slashing rates isn’t a cure to economic ailments; it’s a poison that corrupts saving and investment and raises prices across the economy. The following […]

Freedom in Money: Gold, Crypto, and the Fed

For the government to undermine a nation’s currency, as the Federal Reserve has done, a money printer isn’t enough. If the state truly wants to give its currency power, it must also wage ideological war against alternatives to fiat, like gold and silver, to prevent citizens from using sound money. The following article was originally […]

Central Banking: Legalized Monetary Piracy

In a free market for money, monetary policy would be unnecessary, with market forces governing the production and use of money. In the current monetary landscape, monetary policy constitutes a coercive, redistributive, and intentional force that benefits the political class at the expense of everyday consumers. The following article was originally published by the Mises […]

Interest Rates Are Set by People, Not Central Banks

Interventionists see interest rates as a key policy parameter set by central bank bureaucrats, betraying a crucial misunderstanding about the nature of interest. In reality, rates are determined by individual time preference– the willingness to trade off future and present consumption. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do […]

Why “Public” Education Can Never Be Neutral

The state of the American economy testifies to the dangers of central planning in monetary and fiscal policy. Yet, many overlook the exact same dangers in education, where state provision of educational services produces equally disastrous results. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those […]

Why Home Prices Are High by Design: Government Policy, Not the Market

With the Fed’s recent policy decisions set to increase inflation yet again, rising prices will continue to ravage the economy and the housing sector in particular. Before housing prices rise further, it’s worth examining how high home prices are the deliberate and intentional result of government policy and the special interest groups that lobby for […]

How Inflation Turns Housing into an Intergenerational Battleground

Inflationary monetary policy pits Americans against themselves, with those benefitting from rising prices wielding state power to steal from those who bear the brunt of inflation. Nowhere is this clearer than in the housing sector, where decades of inflation essentially require Americans to pay ever-rising prices to get a home. The following article was originally […]

CPI Inflation Cools Amid Falling Oil Prices and Slowing Rents

With the CPI coming in at 2.7% last week– lower than the expected 3.1% – markets rallied at the hope that inflation is being tamed. 2.7% is still nearly a full point higher than the Fed’s 2.0% goal, and this hope is misplaced: the Fed’s latest cuts will only drive inflation higher. The following article […]