Federal Reserve System Archives

Aug

Supply-side economics, instead of taxes, is cure for recession

From April, 2010. Sound money and income tax cuts -- the elements of supply-side economics -- have produced economic growth in America, according to Dr. Brian Domitrovic of Sam Houston State University. When our country imposes inflationary loose money policies and high income taxes, economic growth suffers, as in the period from 1973 to 1982. Unfortunately, these are the policies of President Barack Obama and his administration. Domitrovic lectured on principles in his book Econoclasts: The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity last night at Friends University. His lecture was part of the Law, Liberty &…

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Social Security Trust Fund: Why no truth?

Regardless of one's attitude towards the Social Security system, the refusal by liberals to admit the fraud of the system's trust fund remains an obstacle to honest discussion of the system's future. Here's an example from a prominent defender of the myth of the Social Security Trust Fund, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In an editorial from earlier this year, Sanders said those who tell the truth about the Social Security Trust Fund are a "barrage of misinformation." He went on to describe the trust fund: "Social Security invests its surpluses, as it should, in U.S Treasury bonds, the safest…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday June 29, 2011

We have tried that before. Burt Folsom, who has written a book on Franklin Roosevelt's economic policies and spoke in Wichita on that topic, warns us of the folly of government spending as a means to economic recovery. Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury to FDR, said this seven years into the New Deal: "Now, gentlemen, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work." ... Some have charged that this quotation is a fabrication, but Folsom has the proof in his article We Have Tried Spending Money. ...…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

Quantitative easing: another round?

With uncertainty on the rise globally, talk of a new round of quantitative easing -- it would be QE3 -- is increasingly common. QE is a policy where the U.S. Federal Reserve System creates additional money through its open market operations. Last year the Fed announced QE2, a policy of buying $600 billion in bonds, meaning that $600 billion in new money will have been created by the time the program ends in June. While it is commonly said that the Fed prints new money to pay for these bonds, the bonds are paid for via bookkeeping entries, sort of…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Sunday March 13, 2011

Wichita city council this week. There is no meeting of the Wichita City Council this week, as most members will be attending a meeting of the National League of Cities in Washington, DC. These conferences are designed to help council members be more effective. But for three of the council members that will be attending, their future service on the council is measured in days, not years. These three lame duck members -- Sue Schlapp, Paul Gray, and Roger Smith -- will be leaving the council in April when their terms end. Their participation in this conference, at taxpayer expense,…

Apr

By Bob Weeks

Supply-side economics, not taxes, cure for recession, audience told

Sound money and income tax cuts -- the elements of supply-side economics -- have produced economic growth in America, according to Dr. Brian Domitrovic of Sam Houston State University. When our country imposes inflationary loose money policies and high income taxes, economic growth suffers, as in the period from 1973 to 1982. Unfortunately, these are the policies of President Barack Obama and his administration. Domitrovic lectured on principles in his book Econoclasts: The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity last night at Friends University. His lecture was part of the Law, Liberty & the Market lecture…

Apr

By Bob Weeks

Response to economic crisis to be subject of Wichita lecture

Tomorrow night at Friends University Dr. Brian Domitrovic of Sam Houston State University will deliver a lecture titled "Economic Crisis: Have We Learned from History?" Domitrovic is the author of the book Econoclasts: The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity. In an email message Professor Domitrovic gave a preview of his lecture: "I'll discuss the history of policy responses to economic crisis over the last century. The unbroken record of that history is that when the crisis was met with stable money from the Fed and income tax cuts, the crisis was dispatched; and that when…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

Events over the last year have placed our nation's monetary system in focus. Or, at least it should be in sharp focus, as U.S. monetary policy and the Federal Reserve System bear much responsibility for the financial crisis and the accompanying recession. Few politicians, Ron Paul being one, are looking in the right places for the cause of the problem. His campaign to audit the Fed is a good first step. The problems with our system of money have been known for many years. This video, dating from 1996, produced by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, explains the problem and…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

It’s time to audit the Federal Reserve Bank

I received a press release from the Libertarian Party of Kansas announcing their support for legislation introduced by U.S. Representative Ron Paul that would "audit the centralized/privatized banks that make up the Federal Reserve System." "The secretive FR [Federal Reserve] is a monetary oligarchy and an unelected monopoly that has control of credit, interest, volume and value of our currency. Until the people regain control of their money, bankers and not the government, will control the situation and our property," says Al Terwelp, Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Kansas. "We must have the ability to search for the…