This Dodd-Frank Provision Has Caused Serious Issues. Will Congress Repeal It?

As the House of Representatives prepares for a vote on the CHOICE Act (a financial reform bill), behind the scenes, policymakers are considering the removal of the legislation’s most critical component — a repeal of the Durbin Amendment. The CHOICE Act without Durbin-repeal is like U2 without Bono. Sure ‘The Edge’ can still jam and all…but what’s the point? A bill purporting to create “opportunity for investors, consumers and entrepreneurs” must address the elephant in the room — the multi-billion dollar drain on investment caused by Durbin’s provisions. The Durbin Amendment, passed via Dodd-Frank, set government price controls on how much

Cruz, Rubio, and Trump Turn to Monetary Policy

Is monetary policy the sleeper issue of 2016?  Two candidates, Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, are already outspoken critics of the Federal Reserve, and Cruz appears to be doubling down in his criticism in an effort to undercut his rival.  “What the Fed is doing is dangerous,” he said at a rally over the weekend. “They are debasing the currency with QE1, QE2, QE infinity!” Now, two more GOP candidates are finally taking an interest in monetary policy’s impact on the economy.  Richard Bove, writing for MSNBC, noted that Senator Marco Rubio went out of his way to address

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not: Fox News GOP Debate Edition

Let’s do “Who’s Not” hot first, because it’s an easier call: Fox News and the RNC.  In a week dominated by the first Republican presidential debate, the biggest losers were the hosts of this missed opportunity of a debate. How can you tell it was a bad debate? The name of Hillary Clinton was mentioned eleven times, and only four of those mentions included so much as a full sentence of criticism. Two hours of prime time television, and the presumptive Democratic nominee was unscathed (although I agree with Ben Carson that she probably will not be the nominee). It

The Federal Reserve Will Be on the Ballot in 2016

At last, a powerful critique of the economic harm caused by the Federal Reserve’s artificially low interest rate policy (brought to light by Judy Shelton in an excellent blog for The Hill).  “Financial Repression: the Unintended Consequences,” published by the Swiss Reinsurance Company, is must reading for the Republican presidential campaigns. The ”financial repression” in the title refers to “the ability of policymakers to direct funds to themselves that would otherwise go elsewhere.”  The cost of the Fed’s policy of financial repression includes $470 billion in lost interest (net of lower debt costs), denied not only to household savers directly, but

Elizabeth Warren’s Strange Journey

A friend who was a student of Elizabeth Warren at the University of Pennsylvania Law School assures me that back then she was a Republican.  So she has some history of political mobility.  But even by Washington standards, her latest flip (or is it a flop?) is pretty astounding. Back when Senator Rand Paul introduced his “Audit the Fed” bill — a mischaracterization, since the real significance of his proposal was the removal of a prohibition against the Government Accountability Office critiquing the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve — Senator Warren denounced it, telling the Huffington Post: “I oppose

Perry on Why Your Paycheck is Shrinking (VIDEO)

This morning at an event at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, Rick Perry called for robust new growth to address rising prices: The President may be satisfied with 2 percent economic growth. I’m not. For the first time in American history, a generation of leaders are on the verge of breaking the social compact, if you will, with the next generation. That is that we leave a better country for them, than what we found ourselves. Fewer of us believe in the American dream now than in the last twenty years. For middle class Americans, opportunity and security have

The Horrors of Dodd-Frank “Banking”

With “Audit the Fed” being described as the “direst threat” to the Fed since Dodd-Frank, it’s worth while noting the mounting number of horrid consequences to actual people who need to make a living, especially from the federalization of banks. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that J.P. Morgan Chase—which is a bank, by the way—plans to jettison $100 billion in deposits in order to comply with new federal banking regulations, devised under Dodd-Frank authority. “Isn’t a bank,” you might muse, “in the business of receiving deposits and putting that money to productive use?” Isn’t that how banks help the real

Is the Fed Off-Limits?

The liberal economic elite is circling the wagons to preserve the Federal Reserve.  Alan Blinder denounces proposed laws which will “encourage congressional meddling with monetary policy.”  Catherine Rampell takes up the cudgel against legislation mandating an audit of the Fed, on the grounds that “monetary policy is a complex technical apparatus that not everyone (read Congress) is equipped to operate.” What is raising the liberal establishment’s ire? Three modest bills authored by Representatives Scott Garrett and Thomas Massie, and Senator Rand Paul, which seek to remind the Federal Reserve for whom they work. The Federal Reserve is as close to

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