Carlos and Bob critically assess the Fed's $1.5 trillion repo operations, allegedly designed to stem market panic over the coronavirus. Bob observes that even Walter Bagehot's famous dictum said central banks should lend freely *at a high rate of discount*.Mentioned in this episode and other links of interest: Carlos and Bob's September 2016 presentation, "How to Weather the Coming Financial Storms." The documentary This Is Nelson Nash. Bob’s new series for the Mises Institute, Unde...

Episode 78: On the Fed’s Emergency Actions to Stem Coronavirus Panic

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Bob and Carlos discuss a recent Mercatus Policy Brief that documents how rising interest rates have caused the Fed to lose a trillion dollars in the value of its assets, and is now technically insolvent. Does it matter?

Episode 89: The Fed Just Lost a Trillion Dollars--Should We Care?

Prompted by an email, Bob and Carlos acknowledge that yes, things look pretty bleak right now, both financially and culturally. But there is still cause for hope. The worst thing to do right now would be to give up.

Episode 88: Is the United States Hopeless at This Point?

Bob and Carlos discuss the oddities in the official numbers, which show low unemployment but also low labor participation, and how the statistics don't match their personal observations.

Episode 87: Is the US in a Recession or Not? Making Sense of the Numbers

Bob and Carlos discuss a recent article in The Hill, which explains that rising interest rates have rendered the Fed technically insolvent.

Episode 86: The Fed Is Officially Bankrupt--Should We Care?

Bob asks Carlos to recount his own financial struggles as a young businessman in the late 1970s, when price inflation and interest rates skyrocketed. This painful episode ultimately led Carlos to discover Austrian economics.

Episode 78: On the Fed’s Emergency Actions to Stem Coronavirus Panic

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