On Monday, January 10th, the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club hosted a discussion of inflation and economics. Jason Herrboldt, Market President for First Bank & Trust in Sioux Falls, hosted the event, a noon-hour, fireside-styled chat between Jason and me at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls. The event was part of the Rotary Club […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, January 3, 2022. Click here to listen to the segment. The U.S. national debt is a problem, but luckily it’s a big problem. Intrigued? Welcome to the intersection of macroeconomics and global finance. In the past year, much ink has spilled debating […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, December 6, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 22:20 into the broadcast. Please note, a technical difficulty interrupted the latter part of the segment. We have a chairman! On Monday, November 22, 2021, U.S. President Joe […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, November 1, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 21:00 into the broadcast. Most central banks make one or two wishes: maintain low inflation or maintain low inflation and maintain low unemployment. For example, in the case […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 23:00 into the broadcast.) Inflation is having a moment. Seems everyone is talking about it and who is to blame for it. A few months ago, economists and […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro Labor-Day edition, which airs on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 23:00 into the broadcast.) Last Friday, September 3, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that, in August, the number of employed persons grew by […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired on Monday, August 2, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 24:25 into the broadcast.) In late July, I traveled to Pierre, South Dakota to participate in the South Dakota Bankers Association’s Agricultural Credit Conference. I was slated to […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 21:25 into the broadcast.) Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is not cryptocurrency. Indeed, at the moment, CBDC is not anything, really; it doesn’t exist in a practical sense. Conceptually […]

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired Monday, June 7, 2021. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 26:30 into the broadcast.) This weekend, more than 10,000 people met—up close and in person—in Miami for Bitcoin 2021, the largest conference of its kind. According to the New […]

This blog post is a postscript to the Monday Macro segment, “Great (Inflation) Expectations,” which aired on Monday, May 17. (Click here to listen to the May 17 segment, which begins at minute 23:30 into the broadcast.) The year-over-year rate of CPI inflation is not likely to trend at 2.0 percent anytime soon. In our […]