Economics

How does the government pay for stuff? That's a question we should all be asking ourselves. I'm speaking here both from a philosophical and functional perspective. You and I have to earn our money by working. Usually we deposit this money…

By Annaly Capital Management Back in June we wondered out loud, “What is a dollar?” That exercise—as well as the recent schizophrenic behavior of the currency market and the lamentations regarding the Fed’s “printing press”—has led us to…

It has been a while since I have had a round of these and in the current macro/market environment I thought it an excellent occasion to take some pot-shots at the market discourse. So, read on if you want to see what it looks like when I am…

Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009). The incessant debate of whether the economy is inflating or deflating…

Editor's Note: Do not confuse the use of the term 'loanable funds' used here with the theory of loanable funds which implies government spending crowds out private spending because of a limited pool of 'loanable funds' in an economy. The…

I am on holiday for a few weeks. But I am going to write a brief post here on QE because I think it is an important subject. For months now we have heard that the Federal Reserve could start buying up Treasury securities in another…

Marshall Auerback here. Our Treasury Secretary has conceded that it is still a “tough economy” for most Americans, and warned it’s possible the unemployment rate will go up for a couple of months before it comes down. Given the…

By Paul Brodsky and Lee Quaintance of QB Partners (Hat tip Barry Ritholtz) • Deflation • Quantitative Easing (QE2 & QE3) • A nod to Christopher Hitchens • The G7 financial system must deleverage to regain a semblance…

By L. Randall Wray Deficit hawks raise three objections to persistent federal government budget deficits: a) they pose a solvency risk that could force to government default on its debt; b) they pose an inflation, or even a hyperinflation,…