Author: John Mason

The operating statement of the Federal Reserve is getting downright boring these days. Thank goodness! It brings back memories of the good old days when nobody really cared much about the Fed’s balance sheet or what the...

There are signs here and there that the economy is gathering strength. Note especially the figures on industrial production and capacity utilization. Although we have not returned to the levels reached earlier, the movement in...

Former Fed Chairman, Paul Volcker spoke yesterday at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. All week I had been hearing comments about this speech and how people seemed to be waiting for Volker’s remarks. Yet,...

There is still no better place to observe the consequences of the credit inflation of the last fifty years than the housing market. Politically, this is democracy at work. Every wave of political change in the post-World War II...

I would like to recommend to the readers of this post the column by Jennifer Hughes in the Financial Times this morning. The title of the article is “Lehman Case Revives Dark Memories of Enron”:...

I have been a “Dollar Bear” for most of the 2000s. For the long run, I continue to be a “Dollar Bear”, at least with respect to many currencies in the world. Right now, against the Euro and against the...

I believe that the probability that we will have a double dip in the economy, a second recession following on the Great Recession, is relatively small and growing smaller all of the time.The reason that I would give for this is...

Well, there finally is a financial reform bill!Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System seems to be back in the good graces of the political pros. So much for the independence of the Fed!The...