Free Republic

“The right man in the right place at the right time.” That’s a quote from an important article in Newsweek by economist Milton Friedman in which he claimed that the person about to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Board would be a good pick. No, Friedman didn’t write that in 2005 about Ben Bernanke. Instead, he wrote it in 1970 about his friend and fellow inflation hawk, Arthur Burns, who, shortly after becoming Fed chairman, stoked the fires of inflation and turned out to be one of the worst Fed chairmen of the post-World War II years. Moreover, Burns,...

The story of Hurricane Katrina is first and foremost a tale of the wrath of Mother Nature and the resulting human misery: thousands of deaths, destroyed homes and businesses, family break-ups, psychological demoralization, and other hardships too painful to recount. But Katrina is also an economic story in terms of its impact on U.S. commerce, trade, energy, shipping, and overall growth. Here the doomsayers and pessimists are once again going to be proven wrong. This is not the 1970s. After more than twenty years of deregulation the U.S. economy is flexible and resilient -- even in the face of short-run...

What a difference a news leak from the Federal Reserve makes. Ever since this newspaper ran its December 2 page-one article, "Fed View Shifting on Inflation: Rate Rises Likely," the world's leading indicators of future prices have been heading back down. David Malpass of Bear Stearns points out that gold has since dropped to $434 or so from a peak of $456, oil is back down to $41 a barrel and the dollar has been firmer in currency markets. Amazing how that works: The Fed finally signals that it is going to print fewer dollars, and inflation expectations begin to...

In a future remake of "The Graduate," the phrase replacing "plastics" to be whispered in the ear of the title role is "hedge funds." That's where the action is. The number of such unregulated collections of capital has doubled in the last five years to 8,000. Managers make 20 percent of any profits, and if they bet wrong, simply close up the fund, distribute what's left and start a new one; the liquidation rate is about one-fourth every year. That's why so many of the hottest Wall Streeters are joining the stampede into managing these high-end mutual funds. Because hedge...

Who are the G7 finance ministers? Posted: February 10, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Joan Veon© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com BOCA RATON, Fla. – To most people the G7 finance ministers are just a bunch of guys who get together throughout the year and talk over the economy, but it is not just the U.S. economy – it is the global economy. In order to understand their position of power, we must go back to August 1971 when President Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard. The Group of Seven first met in 1973, two years after Nixon severed the last attachment the dollar...

George W. Bush: Man of the year Posted: December 31, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. As Person of the Year, 2003, Time has chosen the American Soldier, a decision with which no patriot will quarrel. Whatever one believed about the necessity, wisdom or justice of the Iraq war, the American soldier did his duty and did it admirably well. But if the old standards had prevailed at Time – What man had the greatest impact on world affairs, for good or ill, in 2003? – the Man of the Year would have to have been George...

Bush, Nixon & LBJ Posted: December 8, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Re-election year is shaping up as positively for George W. Bush as it did for LBJ in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1972. Recall: Both LBJ and Nixon had engineered surging economies for the election year. Both held the face cards in foreign policy in wartime, with electorates wary of the perceived radicalism of their rivals. Both were facing opponents, Barry Goldwater and George McGovern, who had been luridly painted as outside the mainstream. And both benefited from an opposition party polarized over its...

Bush, Nixon & LBJ Posted: December 8, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Re-election year is shaping up as positively for George W. Bush as it did for LBJ in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1972. Recall: Both LBJ and Nixon had engineered surging economies for the election year. Both held the face cards in foreign policy in wartime, with electorates wary of the perceived radicalism of their rivals. Both were facing opponents, Barry Goldwater and George McGovern, who had been luridly painted as outside the mainstream. And both benefited from an opposition party polarized over its...