What with next Monday apparently having been declared Milton Friedman Day, I thought I might try to contribute to the festivities with some thoughts on how recent U.S. monetary policy might be evaluated from a Friedmanesque perspective.
Army Transformation sacrificed on the altar of …(a) tax cuts, (b) Iraq, (c) other
Or, “opportunity cost illustrated” redux. From GovExec.com:
Commodity speculation
Two stories this week give me some concern.
Bernanke and the Social Security Trust Fund
I would like to join Felix Salmon [1],
[2]
in suggesting that Dean Baker has mischaracterized both Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s remarks to the Congress as well as the substantive policy questions on the table.
Bernanke on the deficit
In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee yesterday, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke once again tells it like it is.
Federal Government Interest Payments Rising
The Treasury Department reported a steady rate of purchases of Treasuries by foreigners (see the Bloomberg account here). Let’s hope that continues — although we should be cognizant of the ramifications: increasing debt and interest payments to foreigners.
What’s bringing oil prices down?
Darn hard to talk about this without bringing in the speculators.
Housing market review
Our local newspaper, the San Diego Union Tribune, has a big article this morning on the housing market. Among other things, this features some thoughts from yours truly and a foray into multimedia publishing.
Escalation and Accidental Military Keynesianism
Under plausible assumptions, Fiscal Year ’07 expenditures for operations in Iraq will come close to 1 percentage point of GDP. What will be the impact on the U.S. economy?
Discussing the Economy on Minnesota Public Radio
I talked about trade and the economy with AEI’s James Glassman on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show a week ago. The link to the audio file is here