We have been saying that given the extraordinary level of money printing the Fed has done since the beginning of the pandemic, a wave of price inflation is coming down the pike – perhaps even hyperinflation. But many will be quick to remind us that we raised the warning flag about inflation when the Fed launched three rounds of quantitative easing in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In fact, Paul Krugman has been doing victory laps again – reminding everybody that the inflation monster never did come out of its lair and promising it won’t this time either.
Basic economics tells us that increasing the supply of money without a corresponding increase in the number of goods and services in the economy should lead to rising prices. Is basic economics wrong? Or are there other things going on in the economy that suppressed or hid inflation in the aftermath of the great recession?
There’s an economic myth out there. As the story goes, governments can print their way to prosperity. Just run the money printing press, hand out cash for consumers to spend and the economy will hum. In this clip from a podcast episode, Peter Schiff calls it “The Kelton Myth” named for economist Stephanie Kelton. At the root of this tale is the notion that people can consume what they don’t produce. As Peter explains, this simply isn’t possible.
The federal minimum wage hike didn’t make its way into the coronavirus stimulus bill passed by the Senate last week, but it is an idea that won’t die. With Biden in the White House and Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, the issue will almost certainly come up again sooner rather than later.
Proponents of a $15 per hour minimum wage claim it will help pull people out of poverty. And it will help some people. But it will hurt others. The real minimum wage is always $0 and no law can change that reality.
The Federal Reserve has created trillions of dollars out of thin air and injected it into the economy over the last year. As a result, the money supply has grown at a record pace. This is by definition inflation. As Peter Schiff has pointed out in recent weeks, signs that this inflation is finding its way into prices are all around us. But mainstream economists tell us we really don’t have to worry about the massive increase in the money supply because the velocity of money is so low. This is simply the number of times a dollar changes hands in a given amount of time. Conventional wisdom holds that as long as the money velocity remains low, the central bank can increase the money supply without any significant corresponding increase in price inflation. But as economist Frank Shostak shows, the conventional wisdom doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Talk of hiking the minimum wage at the national level has ramped up in recent weeks. With the Democrats controlling the House and the Senate, and Joe Biden in the White House, it seems increasingly likely that we’ll soon see a federal $15 per hour minimum.
In other words, it may soon be illegal to take a job that pays less than $15 an hour.
The government response to the coronavirus pandemic has put extraordinary pressure on small businesses. And that pressure is about to increase thanks to yet another government action – minimum wage increases across the US.
I love music. A good song can comfort, inspire or motivate. There are a lot of really good songs out there. I found one the other day. I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, I have to say there are also some real duds.
I get really frustrated by people arguing vociferously about things they don’t know anything about. And on no subject is this more prevalent than the debate over the minimum wage. Bring up the “fight for $15” and you will suddenly get high school dropouts who can’t do basic multiplication yelling at you emphatically about the benefits of government-imposed wage floors. Because, you know, they feel like it should work.
I know a lot of you come to Fun on Friday for the advice.
Well, here are your words of wisdom for today – never read the comments.
It will really help your sanity.
In the most recent Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Mike Maharrey talked about the fact that the Federal Reserve has increasingly engaged in more and more extraordinary monetary policy. As he put it, extreme has become the norm. Despite what pundits insist is a “great” economy, interest rates are extremely low by historical standards and the Fed is engaging in quantitative easing to the tune of $60 billion a month.
While stock markets continue to make record highs and the economy continues to grow, the question is how long can this last?
