Inflation Erodes Real Value of Minimum Wage
Although the minimum wage in 1968 was $1.25, prices were a lot lower then. In terms of today’s purchasing power using today’s 2010 dollars, the real value of the minimum wage in 1968 was $9.86. Since...
View ArticleOnce Again, No Inflation Round Here
Once upon a time, increasing inflation was a problem for the U.S. But that time was a generation ago – 1966-1980 to be precise, over 30 years ago. Since then it’s down, down, down. We’re now bumping...
View ArticleInflation vs. The Cost of Living
We are now seeing a disconnect between how the public and policymakers/central banks perceive what each calls “inflation”. The public at large, encouraged by talk from the hard-money gold crowd, are...
View ArticleThe Fed Has NOT Been Printing Money
A common refrain among the “cut, cut, cut” chicken littles and the hard-money crowd is that “the Fed has turned the printing presses lose printing money”. These folks should really join us in the 21st...
View ArticleJust What Is Inflation? Is A Monster Just Around The Corner?
A casual reader/listener of many economics blogs, news stories, cable shows, and political speeches (in other words, the usual sources), would be forgiven for thinking that “inflation” is some awful...
View ArticleUS Government Bond Market & Interest Rate Watch – No Signs of Worry Over...
Just a quickie to bring your attention to this, yesterday’s close on the U.S. Government bond market as reported by Google Finance. Note the 10 year bond – less than 2%. Bond Maturity Yield (effective...
View ArticleJohn Stossel Fails an Education Test and Demonstrates That He’s Economically...
John Stossel is a Fox Business News reporter. Stossel is an unabashed “libertarian” with a strong Austrian orientation on economics who focuses on economic issues. He’s made a living out of being...
View ArticleThe Quantity Theory of Money and Fears of Inflation Are Nonsense
We rarely get to conduct scientific experiments in economics, but for the last 3+ years The Federal Reserve has unintentionally conducted a test of an economic theory called the “Quantity Theory of...
View ArticleDoes Anybody Understand Debt?
Does anybody understand debt? Some – but not many. Today’s post is less of my normal extended prose and more of an outline. I’ve been invited to speak at some writing classes here at the college and...
View ArticleYes, Inflation/Deflation is Hard to Measure
One of the hardest concepts for Principles students, politicians and pundits, oh heck, just about everyone to fully grasp is inflation. A big part of the reason is because inflation is an abstract...
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