In 1974 when Vice President Gerald Ford succeeded to the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned, the country was in a bad economic crisis. The Arab oil shocks of 1973 led to a 300% increase in the price of oil, which translated into inflation of more than 12%.
In perhaps the most predictable column of the year, the Wall Street Journal this week featured a column by Walter Russell Mead declaring it's "Time to Increase Defense Spending."
Slapped on a gas pump next to the digital meter display, the stickers tell a simple, powerful story: Today’s gasoline prices, the highest in years, are courtesy of the commander in chief.
Central banks have not merely inflated the bejesus out of assets prices. They have also caused the very foundations of financial markets to metastasize, yielding an endless array of new products that have no real economic function except to facilitate new forms of pure wagering.
"When they use the term 'vaccine misinformation,' they are using it as a euphemism for any statement that departs from official government policies and pharmaceutical industry profit-taking."
