John Williams, the New York Fed President, is expecting 3% inflation this year. I’m expecting inflation in 2021 to be above 5%. In six months, we’ll be able to look at the actual numbers and see whose estimate was closer.

Throughout the pandemic, CNN and certain other cable news networks deliberately induced panic in order to boost their ratings and the CDC recently revealed that anxiety is the second most important contributing factor to death from/with Covid. Mass media pundits may have been as deadly as Masses or mass meetings.

Inflation has real costs when it’s unpredictable. We want monetary institutions to keep generalized price increases on a steady, anticipable path. Since central banks often go out of their way not to be understood, we might have a valid complaint against them after all.

New-home sales fell again in June and supply conditions eased a bit. Rising prices, and somewhat higher mortgage rates should continue weighing on activity.

Without significant monetary and regulatory reform, our recovery from the Covid-19 recession will not only not fix these negative conditions, but will only set up the U.S. for our next recession, one that will almost certainly be even more severe.

“Governments can find ways to serve their constituents (i.e. the taxpayers) better for the price they charge, they can lower their prices, or they can collude with others in the industry to keep prices high and quality low. Unlike businesses, however, when governments choose the third option, they are celebrated as heroes.” ~ David Hebert

Perhaps these trends will reverse. But it seems more likely that the reports of the forthcoming death of cash have been greatly exaggerated––that is, so long as the government doesn’t kill it.

Statements from the White House suggesting that social media companies should do more to police ‘misinformation’ are concerning. Our government has lost any credibility to not only be trusted with the responsible use of power but also to be a reliable moderator of public health discourse or any conversation for that matter.

When The Law applies equally and recognizes that everyone has an equal right to life, freedom, and property, rent-seeking cannot bear fruit. It no longer detracts resources from more productive activities. The winners are those who add value to others’ lives.

National debt ballooned together with the Fed’s balance sheet even before the pandemic hit, and once it did we’ve been spending with unprecedented recklessness for relief, recovery, and even supposed infrastructure expansion. Spending this wealth that has yet to be created guarantees, not just future inflation, but a future recession.