How Can a Balanced Fund Get Crushed for 15 Years—and STILL Be Ahead?
(Once again, with an assist from ChatGPT in devising the numbers. You can watch the video here.) If you've been investing for the last 15 years, you've learned a pretty simple lesson: Stocks win. At least that's what the numbers seem to tell us. The U.S. stock market...
If Banks Create Money From Nothing, Why Do They Need Deposits?
I was reading about the credit crunch in the late 60s from a Federal Reserve bulletin. I had never heard of this issue before and it stunned me. So with the help of ChatGPT i went down a rabbit hole while looking at Regulation Q, interest rates, and the banking...
Does M2 Money Growth Really Cause Inflation?
One of the most widely repeated ideas in economics is that rapid growth in the money supply causes inflation. Milton Friedman famously argued that inflation is ultimately a monetary phenomenon. And the logic seems straightforward: if you create a lot more money...
Has America’s Exploding Federal Debt Actually Crowded Out Private Wealth?
We hear constantly that America's growing federal debt is going to impoverish the country. One of the traditional economic arguments is “crowding out.” The basic idea makes intuitive sense: the federal government borrows enormous amounts of money, competes with the...
1964 vs. Today: Are Americans Actually Better Off?
There is a popular idea that the typical American family was better off financially in the 1960s than it is today. One income bought the house. Mom could stay home. Dad went to work. College was cheap. Houses were cheap. Healthcare was cheap. Meanwhile, today's...