FEBRUARY 16, 2016 — Frank Hollenbeck It is now just a matter of time before the US central bank follows the central banks of Japan, the EU, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland in setting negative rates on reserve deposits. The goal of such rates is to force banks to lend their … Read more

By Leonard E. Read Note – Frequent readers of BANKNOTES are aware of my relationship with Leonard E. Read and my admiration for his works during his lifetime. In the following issues I will be sharing his book, VISION, one chapter per month. It was written in 1978. What a … Read more

JANUARY 26, 2016 — Lucas Vaz Brazil is undergoing what is considered its worst economic crisis in seventy years, and there is usually no agreement when it comes to the causes of this situation. President Rousseff and the Labor Party say that it was the corollary of the “International Crisis,” … Read more

January 22, 2016 Joseph T. Salerno On the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, William White, chairman of the Economic Development and Review Committee of OECD and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements, delivered a dire warning concerning an impending meltdown of the global … Read more

JANUARY 28, 2016 — Louis Rouanet It is wrongly accepted by many liberals (i.e., libertarians) that most, if not all, social problems can be “solved by the market.” But clearly, the “market” cannot magically solve our problems. Let it be clear that there is no doubt that the best way … Read more

FEBRUARY 3, 2016 — Paul-Martin Foss The insidious nature of the war on cash derives not just from the hurdles governments place in the way of those who use cash, but also from the aura of suspicion that has begun to pervade private cash transactions. In a normal market economy, … Read more