AboutJohn Tamny, Author at Affluent Christian Investor
Book Review: Brian Domitrovic Reveals The Monetary Genius Of Arthur Laffer
In his classic 1992 book about the Ronald Reagan 1980s (and so much more), The Seven Fat Years, Robert Bartley described the great Arthur Laffer describing the universality of credit. It goes like this:
“Laffer would draw a tiny black box in the … Read More
Amazon And The Los Angeles Lakers Wreck The Wage-Stagnation Narrative
In 1981, Magic Johnson signed a 25-year, $25 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The deal was massive for its time. The Lakers rewarded Johnson with an eye on keeping him with the team forever, but eventually the … Read More
As The Dow Jones Industrial Average Reaches 30,000, ‘The Fed Did It’ Narrative Becomes Even More Ridiculous
There are so many reasons the Federal Reserve will never be abolished, but none of them have anything to do with its existence being necessary. As this column has made plain for years, the central bank is wholly superfluous.
It … Read More
Senate Disgracefully Stalls Trump Fed Nominee
The rial is no longer Iran’s currency. It was recently replaced by the toman. Why was it replaced? The answer is really simple. Since 1971 the rial has been devalued over 3,500 times. Translated for those who need translation, the rial … Read More
The GOP Should Embrace Its Reputation As The Party Of Financial Success
Much has been made during Election 2020 about the make-up of the typical Donald Trump voter. It’s said he’s remade the Republican Party. The base is no longer well-to-do, or even superrich. The Republican of today tends to be middle … Read More
They’ve Been Writing America’s Obituary Since Before It Was America
“There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin.”
– Benjamin Franklin
“I was shocked by how little dissent was tolerated at Harvard. Anyone who disagreed with the new orthodoxy was automatically branded a racist or a sexist … Read More
Conservative Critiques Of Twitter Sound Very Left-Wing Liberal
Back during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Sen. Marco Rubio talked about student loan debt he’d run up while in college and law school. Notable about his recollections is that he indicated the debt was a past tense concept.
Well, of … Read More
The New York Times And Trump’s Critics Can’t Have It Both Ways
The internet is a long time. More realistically, the internet is forever.
This is a worthwhile jumping off point in consideration of the latest whine from the perpetually outraged about the Trump administration allegedly providing crucial “inside information” to investors … Read More
Just What Is It That Judy Shelton’s Critics Are So Afraid Of?
Have you ever wondered why the U.S. dollar is accepted as payment around the world? Better yet, have you ever wondered why the dollar liquefied exchange in Iron Curtain countries during the 20th century, and still liquefies trade in countries like … Read More
A Few Of The Many Reasons To Celebrate The United States
There are so many reasons to celebrate the United States of America. Thankfully too many reasons to celebrate what’s spectacular. Countless books, articles and songs speak to this happy truth. In that case, this write-up will lightly cover just three of … Read More
Europeans Discover The Myth About ‘Safety Nets’ The Hard Way
Economic discussions would be much better if it were understood that no one receives dollar, euro, yen, pound or yuan “aid.” They receive the goods that those currencies can be exchanged for. Money on its own doesn’t feed, shelter or … Read More
Dismiss The Federal Reserve Alarmism, There’s No Such Thing As ‘Dollar Shortages’
In his recently released book The Last Kings of Shanghai, author Jonathan Kaufman wrote about Elias Sassoon’s travels up to Shanghai with an eye on expanding the reach of the Sassoon financial empire. While making his way to China’s commercial … Read More
Dear Conservatives: Excess Taxes ‘Voluntarily’ Paid By Liberals Are A Tax On You
Every so often it’s worth reminding readers that Medicare began as a $3 billion program in 1965. As Sally Pipes explained it in a Wall Street Journal column from 2015, in 1967 a House committee naively forecast Medicare spending of $12 billion … Read More
‘Automatic Stabilizers’ Would Exacerbate The Pain Of Recessions
A rich man once told me something that surprised me. He was once not rich.
Understand that his formerly deprived circumstances weren’t the surprise. The U.S. is happily dense with people who came up from nothing.
In this man’s case … Read More
Dear Keynesians, Last Week’s GDP ‘Catastrophe’ Mocks Your Dopey Religion
At risk of sending some readers into shock in consideration of how much they, their parents, the federal government, or all three spent on their college education, odds are they learned very little if their major was economics. That is … Read More
$1900 Gold Will Depress Growth — So Did $1200, $500, And $36 Gold
If Tom Brady wanted, he could be the NFL’s fastest player. His personal trainers or someone on the Tampa Bay staff would simply need to redefine two seconds as one second, at which point Brady’s 6+ second 40-yard dash time … Read More
Tax Cuts Trigger Dopey Liberals, California Triggers Conservatives
There’s no convincing the dopey left of what is a basic truth: there’s no such thing as government spending. Governments only have resources insofar as they arrogate to themselves production that always and everywhere takes place in the private … Read More
Dear David Brooks, There’s No ‘We’ Nor Is There ‘Humiliation’
It’s too easily forgotten in what is the world’s most prosperous country, but dying of old age is a remarkable and very modern concept. It’s one that past generations couldn’t as easily fathom, and that people from past centuries … Read More
Rumors Of The Death Of Office Buildings Are Greatly Exaggerated
“Our tenuous capital was the hours in the day, less the few we slept, and we spent that capital at a frenzied pace. I’d drop everything to get you the right cardiac surgeon, the right car, a place for … Read More
Cleveland Obliterates The Central Bank Conceit Of Monetary Fabulists
A drive down Fairmount or Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland, OH is a revelation. Remarkable house after remarkable house from the early part of the 20th century.
Hard as it may be for some to imagine, Cleveland was once a highly prominent … Read More
Only Economists Could Believe The Fed’s Yield Caps Will Work
With oil back in the $40/barrel range, U.S. oil producers are slowly re-opening wells. Financing of this activity was pretty scarce back in April since lenders no longer trusted the inventory of producers. That it existed wasn’t a question. The … Read More
Don’t Be Naive — Currency Devaluations Boost No One
A British woman by the name of Sally Challen just inherited 1 million pounds. At first glance this is happy news, but there’s a backstory.
In 2011 she was found guilty in the murder of her husband. Last year … Read More
Permanent’ Job Destruction Terrifies The New York Times, But It Signals Quick Recovery
It’s not even a revelation anymore to say that “travel blogger” is a job. Amazing is that even the bloggers with limited followings are said to rate free travel, accommodations, and tours once on the road.
Such is life … Read More
Dear Politicians, True Poverty Is A Perpetuation Of The Work Of The Past
“After hearing of the deaths in the gutters, I think about what will happen to my family if I die.” Those are the words of Jamshed Eric, as expressed to New York Times reporters Zia ur-Rehman and Maria Abi-Habib. Eric is … Read More