The Foundation for Economic Education is proud to announce the 2011 Eugene S. Thorpe Writing Competition.

Writers of all ages are invited to address the following:

“Should the Federal Reserve be abolished? What monetary system should replace it?”

Deadline: Midnight, Dec. 31, 2011

Length: 2,000 words

Email Word file to:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(One entry only.)

The winner will be awarded $2,000 and have his or her essay published in The Freeman.

Live stream of the #OccupyWallStreet protests in New York. The traditional media of course won't cover this kind of grass roots protest, so please share this stream and other News and Views regarding the #OccupyWallStreet protests. 

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul announced on April 4, as head of the powerful House Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, he will be initiating congressional hearings into reports the Federal Reserve made hundreds of billions of dollars worth of sweetheart loans to foreign banks.

Fed officials had tried desperately to keep the details of these transactions under wraps by repeatedly appealing a lawsuit that was brought by two reporters working for the New York-based Bloomberg News. They argued that, if the details of such deals are released, the public would lose confidence in the banking system.

Following the success of the documentary “Inside Job”, its creator lamented that none of the individuals responsible for the financial disaster had faced a judge, but a new movement seeks to change that.

Crime Shouldn't Pay is a 'campaign organized by a coalition of community, faith-based and labor organizing groups', according to their official website. The goal of the movement is to see bankers involved in the 2008 financial collapse held accountable, as the bankers following the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980's were tried for their crimes.

The group is working on a petition as well as a national call-in to attorney generals today to spur action on this issue. They hope to have more than 10,000 phone calls placed today to send a strong message about the American public feels about this issue.

The headlines out of Mexico these days are dominated by the fiery violence related to the war on drugs. Mexico’s economy is also heating up in ways that are extremely dangerous to the future of the country.

In the first three quarters of 2010, $27.1 billion of portfolio investment poured into Mexico, up from $7.9 billion during the same period in 2009. This “hot money” flow is five times more than what Mexico received in net foreign direct investment. Although the Bank of Mexico hasn’t published the figures for the fourth quarter of 2010, there are reports of more than $45 billion pouring into the stock exchange and to buy government bonds since the beginning of last year’s final quarter. Both Bank of Mexico and World Bank officials have expressed concern that these flows could suddenly reverse course.

Emerging markets as a whole have become hot money magnets, due to their faster growth and higher interest rates relative to those in the United States or Europe. But Mexico is particularly vulnerable for two inter-related reasons.