Patrick McKnight
The Fed (and Central Planning) Are Fueling ...

By Doug French

Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, included ten planks required to create a socialist dictatorship. Number five on the list is “Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” America’s Federal Reserve satisfies this requirement, especially the modern version, which grows exponentially in size, scope, and power, engineering financial repression “for governments to increase tax income and domestically-held debt.”1

While socialism continues to creep from university classrooms to replace once-upon-a-time laissez-faire in everyday America, opioid use has grown to be termed an epidemic.

The Fed (and Central Planning) Are Fueling Substance Abuse
Patrick McKnight
Why You Need F-You Money

By J.L. Collins

Those who live paycheck to paycheck are slaves. Those who carry debt are slaves with even stouter shackles. Don’t think for the moment their masters don’t know it.

Why You Need F-You Money
Patrick McKnight
Teachers Unions Are Bad for Teachers. Here’s Why

Rigid pay scales, high dues, lousy pension system: Membership has its privileges.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state chapter of the largest teachers union in the country, boasted more than 200,000 members and $154 million in revenue last year. You might think it focuses on helping teachers become more effective and making the public schools better—especially now, with more than 80% of the state’s districts still not offering full-time in-person instruction 13 months after the pandemic began.

Teachers Unions Are Bad for Teachers. Here’s Why
Patrick McKnight
Value Is Subjective: Neither Gold Nor Crypto ...

By Connor Mortell

A major hurdle to the adoption of bitcoin is that while the average person may be at least open to the idea that fiat money is not the ideal, they still struggle to see a difference between fiat money and cryptocurrency. And this lumping together is not just held to the average adopter but includes many brilliant household names such as Peter Schiff and Elon Musk. This widespread conflation of cryptocurrency and fiat currency comes from two vital misunderstandings: a lack of an understanding of what exactly fiat is and a lack of understanding of value’s subjectivity.

Value Is Subjective: Neither Gold Nor Crypto Have "Real Value"
Patrick McKnight
Understanding the Fed's Balance Sheet

By Robert Aro

The Fed’s balance sheet could easily be replaced with the phrase abracadabra; truly, there is little else in the world which works as magically as it does. Often cited, seldom understood, few seem to realize that as the balance sheet expands, so too does the power of this central bank at the expense of the entire nation.

Understanding the Fed's Balance Sheet

covid

The Fed: Money Printing to Infinity and Beyond

The Fed: Money Printing to Infinity and Beyond

By Michael Maharrey

After the June Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell committed to “do whatever we can, for as long as it takes.”

Nothing has changed — the July meeting was rewind and replay.

“We remain committed to using our tools to do what we can and for as long as it takes to provide some relief and stability to ensure that the recovery will be as long as possible and to limit lasting damage to the economy,” Powell said as the July FOMC meeting wrapped up Wednesday.

A Black Swan With Teeth

A Black Swan With Teeth

By Peter Schiff

For years I have been warning that during the age of permanent stimulus (which began in earnest with the Federal Reserve’s reaction to the dotcom crash of 2000), each successive economic contraction would have to be met with ever larger, increasingly ineffective, doses of monetary and fiscal stimulus to keep the economy from spiraling into depression. I have also said that the enormity of the asset price gains over the last 10 years had increased the danger because reflating the bloated stock, real estate, and public and private debt markets would bring on doses of stimulus that could prove lethal for the economy. But even though I expected that the next financial crisis would be catastrophic, I thought that it would come into the world in the usual way, as a credit crisis triggered by over leverage. But the Coronavirus ripped up those stage notes, and instead ushered in a threat that is faster and deeper than I imagined, and I imagined a lot. It’s a perfect storm, a black swan with teeth.

Governor Murphy's Virus Math Doesn't Add Up

Governor Murphy's Virus Math Doesn't Add Up

By John McKnight

I have done some research on the state's Virus website.  I am finding that the Governor is not using his own numbers which he claims to be guided by.  Deaths at Long Term Care Facilities number 4556 or 51.8% of the state total of 8801.  The number of deaths in the general population is therefore 4345.  The % of the state population of 8,882,190 is .04%.  That seems to be comparable to other seasonal flus, although it is hard to tell as those numbers are not, conveniently, up to date on the website

Murray Sabrin: Shutdown Has Unintended Consequences

Murray Sabrin: Shutdown Has Unintended Consequences

Regarding Mike Kelly's column, "More have died from COVID – 19 than in Vietnam," Opinion page, May 3. This is the most egregious non sequitur title I have ever seen in the nearly 40 years I've been a subscriber to The Record.

We can all agree that the coronavirus has taken a huge toll on the American people, especially in both New Jersey and New York. I am thoroughly confused what that has to do with the Vietnam War. The undeclared Vietnam War was President Johnson’s misguided – and immoral – military intervention that caused the deaths of millions in Southeast Asia, including the 58,000 Americans who died in the war.

The coronavirus, on the other hand, primarily targets the elderly with comorbidities, that is, individuals with underlying medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Fear, Government and Freedom

Fear, Government and Freedom

By Michael Rufo

COVID 19 is real and social distancing is the right idea, authoritarianism is not.

We as a society need to slow down, reflect and understand the harm we are creating which can, and will, be just as bad for society as a whole. This may ruffle feathers and hurt some feelings, but it hits at the core of the unintended consequence of government force. It is for this exact moment in time that I, and millions of liberty minded individuals across the country, are constantly relentless about even the smallest of human rights infringements.

On the Coronavirus and Constitutional Crisis

On the Coronavirus and Constitutional Crisis

By Lee Enochs

Like many Americans, I have been rocked to my very core due to this Coronavirus pandemic. Being placed on virtual house arrest here in California has not been pleasant to say the least.

While I know the health issues related to this contagion are deadly serious and I personally mourn for the loss of life and unparalleled devastation this has caused so many Americans, I believe another serious issue has arisen throughout the United States in respect to the loss of our civil liberties.