Crisis, Economics and the Compromise of Principle

Michael WintherCommentaries

An IPS Commentary By Mike Winther, President of the Institute for Principle Studies Crisis, Economics and the Compromise of Principle As I write this, the world is in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic and Congress has just passed an economic relief bill with an advertised price tag of about 2.2 trillion dollars.  This is an amount roughly equal to 10% of our 22 trillion dollar federal debt.  This debt took 185 years to accumulate and now we are increasing it by 10% in one nearly unanimous congressional vote. In addition, the Federal Reserve is pumping vast amounts of liquidity … Read More

Negative Interest Rates and the Impoverishing of America

Michael WintherCommentaries

An IPS Commentary By Michael R. Winther, President of the Institute for Principle Studies Negative Interest Rates and the Impoverishing of America   If you have seen bank advertisements for CD rates, or if you have called your local bank or broker lately, you know that interest rates are abysmal. As I write this, Ally Bank is touting their 2-year certificate of deposit at a rate of 1.78%—I guess that is supposed to be a good deal these days. The Real Interest Rate More important than interest rates on deposits, however, is something called the “real interest rate.” This is … Read More

Negative Interest Rates

Michael WintherJournals

Negative Interest Rates If you have seen bank advertisements for CD rates, or if you have called your local bank or broker lately, you know that interest rates are abysmal. As I write this, Ally Bank is touting their 2-year certificate of deposit at a rate of 1.78%—I guess that is supposed to be a good deal these days. More important than interest rates on deposits, however, is something called the real interest rate.  This is the interest rate after considering rising prices. Price increases are usually measured by the government with a statistic called the Consumer Price Index (CPI). … Read More

The Federal Reserve: An Economic and Ethical Disaster

Michael WintherEssays

An IPS Essay By Dr. Shawn Ritenour, Professor of Economics at Grove City College The Federal Reserve: An Economic and Ethical Disaster Increasingly whenever tragedy strikes, be it a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or criminal wickedness such as mass murder, the American masses turn to the state to soothe their anxiety and solve their problems. They often do the same in response to economic disasters, such as the Great Depression and the current economic mess. From the time it became clear that our economy was in a lot of trouble, eyes turned toward Ben Bernanke, Chairman of our … Read More

Five Principles

Michael WintherEssays

An IPS Essay By Michael R. Winther, President of the Institute for Principle Studies Five Principles At this time in our nation’s history, it is increasingly difficult to write about a political or economic issue without invoking some reference to our faltering economy and the increasingly enormous government bailout expenditures. These economic circumstances represent an excellent opportunity for teaching the principles of good government, so I want to add some important principle analysis to these events. Most of my readers are very familiar with the “$700 billion” legislation that authorized the federal government to bail out failing financial institutions, but … Read More