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How much inflation are we really seeing today, and is it likely to rise further as the Fed “unwinds” its Quantitative Easing securities purchases, and a more active economy pushes up wages and prices? Free Market Central put these questions to economist John Williams, whose ShadowStats alternative economic indicators are featured on our home page. Williams has long insisted that federal economic statistics do not tell the whole story. For years, he explains, the government has been gaming the numbers. Not only is inflation understated; given current trends, it’s only going to get worse.

Remember the case of the Census worker who was found hanging from a tree with the word ‘fed' scrawled across his chest? You remember - he died at the hands of right-wing commentators and anti-government tea partiers. He was killed because of an overwhelming case of right-wing paranoia. He was murdered by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachmann, and Fox News. Keep this quiet though... While the death of Bill Sparkman was a media sensation for pushing anti-conservative sentiments just a couple of months ago, it is receiving little to no coverage currently. Why? Because, as investigators have recently speculated,...

In 2009, the federal government decided to take property from Kevin Brott and other landowners in Michigan for a recreational trail. That was done under the Trails Act, which allows the government to turn abandoned railroad lines into hiking trails. There is nothing inherently wrong in that, but under the Fifth Amendment, whenever government takes private property for public use, it is required to pay the owners just compensation. The problem is that under federal statute (the Tucker Act), property owners are only allowed to submit their claims for compensation to the Court of Federal Claims (CFC) if the amount...

With Congress wrestling over a tax reform plan that critics say would explode the government budget deficit, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she also is concerned over the surging level of public debt. A Senate committee passed the GOP-sponsored proposal, which would slash the corporate tax rate and lower individual income rates for many Americans.However, the price tag of the plan is in the area of $1.5 trillion at a time when the Congressional Budget Official already is projecting a deficit of more than $1 trillion in the years ahead and with the total debt level at $20.6 trillion...

Jerome Powell's Fed could be very different than Janet Yellen's, but the Fed governor is expected to steer monetary policy much as she did but jump into deregulation in a way she would not. Powell is expected to be nominated to head the Federal Reserve by President Donald Trump on Thursday as the successor to Yellen when her term ends in February. A lawyer and former undersecretary of the Treasury, he is considered a solid choice, and while not an economist, he is experienced at the Fed, having been appointed a governor in 2012. Powell is also a Republican and...

President Donald Trump looks set to appoint Jerome Powell, a former private-equity executive at Carlyle Group who now sits on the Federal Reserve board, as the next Fed chair. While the official announcement is not expected until Thursday, several news outlets starting with Politico have reported that he is the likely nominee, citing White House sources. The choice of Powell would be a departure in a long tradition of reappointing Fed chairs to a second term, regardless of party affiliation. Janet Yellen, a Democrat, actively interviewed for the job. Powell, a 64-year-old Republican, was appointed to the Fed's powerful Washington-based...

David Stockman is warning about the Trump administration's tax overhaul plan, Federal Reserve policy, saying they could play into a severe stock market sell-off. Stockman, the Reagan administration's director of the Office of Management and Budget, isn't stepping away from his thesis that the 8½-year-old rally is in serious danger. "There is a correction every seven to eight years, and they tend to be anywhere from 40 to 70 percent," Stockman said recently on CNBC's "Futures Now." "If you have to work for a living, get out of the casino because it's a dangerous place." He's made similar calls, but...

The U.S. Federal Reserve will not only issue its own cryptocurrency but will also make sure Americans use it, according to Doug Casey. “To start with, I suspect it’s going to be a parallel currency. Perhaps usable just within the U.S. which, in effect, would be a form of foreign exchange controls even more effective than the inability of Americans to open up foreign bank and brokerage accounts today [due to monetary control through FATCA]…I think it’s a near certainty that they’re going to do something like this and soon.” They will call it Fedcoin. David Andolfatto, vice president at...

I recently had the opportunity to read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin, a prodigious tome dealing with the circumstances surrounding the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. I was taken aback by some of its provocative assertions. America joined World War I largely to help a few bankers profit off the war (despite a long-standing Monroe doctrine that prohibited our involvement in European affairs) The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was supported by international financial interests in order to destabilize Russia and steal the wealth of the Russian people; and So-called "foreign aid" is merely a...

Posting this for LucyT: Ivanka Trump had breakfast with Federal Reserve Chair Janet YellenIvanka Trump had breakfast with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this summer, according to logs of Yellen's public schedule. The two met on July 17 for a one-hour breakfast, according to the recently released logs. No details were given about what was discussed. With her term ending in February, Yellen is being considered for renomination by President Donald Trump. A White House official said Ivanka's breakfast with Yellen had nothing to do with President Trump's decision on the next Fed Chair, which is expected to come this...

And then there were three. Today Stanley Fischer submitted his letter of resignation from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, effective next month, the second such resignation of Donald Trump’s presidency. While Fischer’s term as Vice Chairman of the Fed was set to end next year, he had the ability to serve as a governor through 2020. Along with Trump’s decision next year on whether to replace Janet Yellen as the Fed’s chair, this means Trumps will have the opportunity to appoint five of seven governors to America’s central bank. Given that the position holds a 14-year term, it is...

Federal Reserve vice chair Stanley Fischer is resigning from his post at the central bank effective in mid-October, the Fed announced Wednesday. Fischer cited “personal reasons” in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump. Fischer’s term as vice chair was slated to end on June 12, 2018. “It has been a great privilege to serve on the Federal Reserve Board and, most especially, to work alongside Chair [Janet] Yellen as well as many other dedicated and talented men and women throughout the Federal Reserve System,” Fischer wrote.

"Fed Chair Janet Yellen says that in looking at asset prices and valuations, the central bank is 'not trying to opine on whether they're correct'; instead, policy makers are assessing the risk of potential spillovers. As asset prices rise, there hasn't been a substantial increase in borrowing, Yellen said. [The] financial system is strong and resilient." I assume chair Yellen is referring to U.S. non-financial and non-government borrowings. Clearly, central bank Credit and government borrowings have expanded spectacularly around the globe. I suspect as well there has been a major expansion in speculative leveraging and securities Credit at home and...

National Economic Council director and President Donald Trump's top economic advisor, Gary Cohn, is the leading candidate to take over the top job at the Federal Reserve, according to a report from Politico. Politico's Ben White and Victoria Guida said Tuesday that if Cohn wants the job currently occupied by Chair Janet Yellen, it's his to take, according to four sources close to the replacement search. Cohn had been reportedly leading up the search for someone to take over for Yellen when her term expires in February 2018. Reports also suggested that Cohn may be interested in the job.

When Kathy Griffin posed for a photoshoot holding a fake decapitated, bloody head of President Donald Trump in June, she likely didn’t think about the wide-reaching implications of her so-called “joke.” While her controversial stunt resulted in some serious professional consequences, it also earned her a lengthy visit from the U.S. Secret Service. Secret Service agents reportedly tracked down Griffin and interviewed her in person for more than an hour. Further, the investigation into the bloody head debacle remains open. Griffin’s attorney, Dmitry Gorin, has claimed the comedian was merely exercising her “First Amendment rights to tell a joke.” “When...

Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen was treated at King Edward VII hospital in London over the weekend for a urinary tract infection. She was admitted Friday and released Monday. She is returning to Washington, D.C., and expects to resume her schedule as planned this week. Chair Yellen was in London for an event Tuesday, June 27, at the British Academy and stayed in London for a brief vacation with her family. For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955

Richmond Fed President Lacker says he was involved with Medley leak, announces immediate resignation Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker announced his immediate resignation Tuesday, admitting that he discussed sensitive information with an analyst regarding the Fed's plans for economic stimulus.

While many of the targeted federal agencies have offices outside Washington, Trump's dream budget would hit the region disproportionately, with tens of thousands of jobs at risk. The cuts would be felt throughout the city, with fewer people riding the already-beleaguered Metro subway or eating at restaurants. It would also hurt Washington's already-shaky market for office space. Economist Stephen Fuller of George Mason University, who has studied the regional economy for decades, estimated 20,000-24,000 federal employees and 10,000 federal contractors would lose their jobs under Trump's proposal. That equates to 5 percent of federal workers in the region. With those...

Now that the dust has settled on the elections, the time has come (or so some of the punditry in the media assure us) to set aside political acrimony and unite under the new leadership of President-elect Donald Trump and the new House and Senate. Although it’s far from clear what President Trump will choose to prioritize, now that he will face the realities of entrenched political interests in Washington instead of his fired-up political base on the hustings, it seems at least possible that he will show much more sympathy for certain constitutionalist and Americanist causes — such as...

In a move that Democrats in the committee fought very hard to resist, a house panel has approved a legislation that will allow a government watchdog audit the federal reserve's spending. Democrats in the committee were firmly against the bill.