It is commonly believed that the Federal Reserve Bank controls the money supply, but this is not exactly correct.  There are two definitions of the money supply.  The narrowest measure of the money supply is M1, which consists of money outside bank vaults (in people's pockets, cash registers at businesses, etc.) plus bank checking accounts.  The broader measure of the money supply is M2, which adds short term bank savings accounts to M1.  As of March 31, 2013, M1 was $2.490 trillion and M2 was $10.561 trillion.

The following speech was delivered at the offices of the European Parliament in Brussels on May 7, 2013 - coauthored by Godfrey Bloom, MEP, and Patrick Barron. It addresses the core issues that form the European debt crisis.

A recent bulletin from a major Swiss Bank argues that the price of gold has never been higher, that its price has peaked, that the run up was driven by fear, that fear is now waning and it is time to sell gold.

Bundesbank Head Cautions Japan

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann's criticism of Japanese politicians' meddling in central bank affairs can be seen as a veiled criticism of ECB policy.

Understanding today's convoluted domestic and international fiat monetary system frankly requires a great deal of time and study.  One must understand fractional reserve banking, which requires that one understand the concept of fractional reserves and the way this system affects the money supply.  One must go through several steps to how this forced money come into existence in the first place.

Prologue:

The euro debt crisis in Europe has presented Germany with a unique opportunity to lead the world away from monetary destruction and its consequences of economic chaos, social unrest, and unfathomable human suffering.  The cause of the euro debt crisis is the misconstruction of the euro that allows all members of the European Monetary Union (EMU), currently seventeen sovereign nations, to print euros and force them upon all other members.  Dr. Philipp Bagus of King Juan Carlos University in Madrid has diagnosed this situation as a tragedy of the commons in his aptly named book The Tragedy of the Euro.  Germany is on the verge of seeing its capital base plundered from the inevitable dynamics of this tragedy of the commons.  It should leave the EMU, reinstate the Deutsche Mark (DM), and anchor it to gold.

If you really want to understand what is really happening in this great land of ours, you need to read ... to absorb ... to question.

This is one of the more entertaining and well written economic pieces I have seen of late written by Dallas Federal Reserve member Richard Fisher and presented at the Harvard Club in New York City on September 19, 2012 after the Federal Reserve had voted to embark on unlimited Quantitative Easing. The pressure within the Fed is builidng is my take for the concern of where we are heading is palatable. 

The Only International Economic Policy that a Country Needs

The international economic scene is dominated by state interventions at all levels. Daily we read of disputes over exchange rate manipulation, protectionist tariffs followed by retaliatory tariffs, highly regulated free trade blocs that erect trade barriers to non-bloc nations, bilateral trade agreements, and more. For instance, Great Britain is a member of the European Union (EU) but not of the European Monetary Union (EMU), meaning that it abides by all the regulations and pays all the assessments to remain a member of the EU in order to trade freely with the other members of the twenty-seven country EU.

This article appeared on Mises Daily: Monday, May 28, 2012

The euro is in trouble. That is not news. What is news is that people with deep pockets are willing to pay for economists to provide a solution. Lord Wolfson has offered a £250,000 prize for the best way a country can exit the European Monetary Union (EMU). Five finalists for the prize were announced in March. The winner will be announced in June.

From today's Open Europe news summary: Huge demand for new ECB long-term bank lending:

The ECB this morning launched its first three-year lending operation with 523 banks requesting €489bn in loans, well above the expectations of between €250bn and €350bn. The previous largest amount requested was €442bn in one year loans back in June 2009.

From the Open News summary we get a sense of what Sarkosy's position is heading into the European crisis meetings in the coming week.

Calls for greater use of qualified majority voting in the eurozone

From Open Europe news summary:

In the FT, Patrick Jenkins argues that new bank core tier one capital ratios of 9% could lead to reduced lending. He explains that several big banks across Europe have made clear that they will reduce lending commitments rather than raise additional capital in order to meet new EU capital requirements.
FT: Jenkins

In his recent essay in National Review magazine titled "Social Security Alert" senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru noted that Republican presidential contenders Rick Perry and Mitt Romney debated the merits of whether or not Social Security should ever have been established…

Kevin D. Williamson doesn’t quite know what to make of Dr. Ron Paul. Mr. Williamson is Deputy Managing Editor of National Review magazine and noted columnist therewith. In addition he is the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism, which did point-by-point to socialism what the Romans did to Carthage. In his recent NR cover essay “Ron Paul’s Last Crusade”, Mr. Williamson “doubt(s) that there’s anybody at National Review who is closer to Ron Paul politically than I am…” Nevertheless, he finds much that bothers him about some of the Ron Paul supporters and even Ron himself…what he calls “Ron’s Ronness”.