Jeremy R. Hammond's Blog: JeremyRHammond.com, page 76

The Ingredients of Economic Growth | Mark Thornton

A lecture by Mark Thornton at the Ludwig von Mises Institute on how economic growth occurs.

The Minimum Wage Is NOT Good for Our Economy

No, outlawing jobs is not good for our families and our economy. Naturally, the consequence of outlawing jobs is higher unemployment, and those most hurt by such government price controls are the very same people the price fixing is supposed to help, the less highly skilled members of the labor force.

Yes, Paul Krugman Actually Did Call for a Housing Bubble In 2002

Paul Krugman on his blog today denies that he advocated that the Fed create a housing bubble in 2002.

Krugman: No Inflation During Bubble Years,If You Exclude Food, Energy, and Home Prices!

Oftentimes, Paul Krugman maintains his Keynesian theology by deliberately missing the point of people who say things that don't conform to it.

In a post yesterday, he takes issue with the argument that there was indeed substantial price inflation during the housing bubble years and the corollary that the Fed monetary policy was "too loose", meaning that it was printing too much money out of thin air. The argument is that the inflation might not have shown up in the CPI, it showed up in food an...

Obama’s Obamacare ‘Fix’ Shows He Doesn’t Understand His Own Law

So you've probably heard how in a vain attempt to try to keep his already broken promise to Americans that if they liked their health insurance, they could keep it, Obama announced a proposal that people who were sent letters informing them that they would be losing their insurance to be able to remain with the non-Obamacare-compliant plans for another year. This illustrates how Obama doesn't understand his own law, much less how markets work.

Keynesian Economics Looks Pretty Good If You Ignore Its Disastrous Consequences

Paul Krugman professes on his blog that the experience of the Great Recession has shown that "Keynes is looking pretty good." Never mind that it was Krugman's Keynesian economic theories that led him to advocate a Fed policy of printing money to push interest rates down in order to create a boom in housing following the collapse of the dot-com bubble.

Janet Yellen’s Vow to Continue Fed Money Printing and Inability to See Anything ‘Bubblelike’

During Janet Yellen's Senate confirmation hearing for the job of Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, she "made clear that she was committed to continuing the Fed’s stimulus campaign", as the New York Times reports, using a euphemism for printing money out of thin air. "She generally cast herself as committed to continuing the policies of the current Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke. "

Understanding Media Propaganda About Recent Talks Over Iran’s Nuclear Program

There are a couple points worth noting about recent reporting on the recent talks between the U.S. and its Western allies and Iran over its nuclear program. The first is that the media effectively accepts the U.S. government's framework that Iran's rights derive from Washington, D.C. The second point to note about recent reporting is how meaninglessly the word "diplomacy" is being used. The full spectrum of opinion on the subject ranges from support for the Obama administration's efforts to b...

Top 5 Lies About Obamacare

Here are five of the top lies that have been told about the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare. 1) The individual mandate is constitutional. 2) Everyone's premiums will be lower. 3) If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. 3a) Okay, so many people can't keep their plans, but their new plans will be better! 4) You can keep your doctor. 5) Obamacare creates more choice and competition.

The Absurd Western Media Claims of the West and Iran ‘Nearing a Nuclear Deal’

On November 7, Michael R. Gordon reported in the lede of a New York Times article titled "West and Iran Seen as Nearing a Nuclear Deal": "After years of fruitless negotiations, Western and Iranian diplomats are on the verge of an agreement that would freeze Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of some economic sanctions." I knew that was nonsense when I read it. Gordon then confirmed that it was nonsense the next day, when he and co-author Mark Landler, in an article titled "Roa...