Alexander W. Salter

"If we don’t want history to remember COVID-19 as the event that cemented political control over monetary policy, we need to act soon. The Fed’s emergency programs must be halted and eventually retired; its balance sheet must shrink to pre-crisis levels; and Congress must cease directing the Fed to engage in fiscal policy, even amidst extraordinary economic turmoil." ~ Alexander W. Salter

"The gold standard isn’t perfect. No system is. But it has many virtues. A strong case can be made that it’s the best of all feasible institutional alternatives. As my dissertation adviser, Lawrence White, puts it: The gold standard is still the gold standard among monetary systems." ~

"The change in the Fed’s mandate is not something we can afford to ignore. Its new policies come with significant economic and political costs. If we do not come to grips with them, the Fed might not be able to help much when the next crisis hits." ~ Alexander W. Salter

"The choice before us is simple: a central bank that is highly restricted, and therefore effective and independent, or one that is dominated by short-run political concerns, and therefore incompetent and subservient.” ~ Alexander Salter

"States will be the primary actors in space for the foreseeable future, if for no other reason than the existing legal framework requires it. But commerce will be the driving force behind the new space age. Production and trade will enable human flourishing in orbit and beyond, just as they have on earth." ~ Alexander Salter

"Congress should not use the Fed to accomplish fiscal goals through monetary means. There is no good reason to give the Fed a free pass just because their irresponsible decisions come with statutory cover." ~ Alexander W. Salter

"Powell admits what’s happening now is outside the Fed’s purview. And, yet, the Fed is doing more than ever." ~ Alexander Salter

The Fed has refused to do the sensible thing. Rather than focusing on monetary stability, it has embarked on a host of misguided experiments that threaten the long-run integrity of markets.

We should do everything we can to make sure City Hall and the state capital are more responsive to the voices of ordinary citizens in their jurisdictions than the whims of central bankers.

To everyone as outraged by this process as I am: it’s time we shouted far and wide what the Fed is up to. If we let them get away with it, politicians and macroeconomic policy experts will be able to control financial markets, and hence our lives, to a degree never before obtained in a free society.