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Monetary Policy Institute Blog #90, by John Smithin

“It is significant that the Bank of Canada is now explicitly using the expression ‘policy rate of interest’.

Back in the day, when I was teaching university courses in ‘Money and Banking’, it was identified simply as the ‘overnight rate’, i.e., the rate determined in the overnight market for ‘federal funds’ (to use the American term).

It required some effort in those days to demonstrate to the students that it really was a policy variable. Now the Canadian central bank openly admits it.”

Incredibly stupid announcement from a science conference and journal – by Torrey Byles

This news release today is from a science conference currently taking place in NY City June (2023). It announces that neuroscientists have not demonstrated how the brain produces consciousness, and that, by a very public "bet" 25 years ago made between a neuroscientist and a philosopher, that the philosopher won. 

UFOs, Fallout Shelters and the Immortal One, by Dave Barrows

There have been a number of recent sightings of UFOs. Such activity appears to occur in clusters. One of the more famous clusters occurred in the 1950s. The 1950s was a period of great uncertainty and tension. The UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) hysteria of the 1950s refers to a period when there was a surge in reports of sightings of unidentified flying objects and claims of encounters with extraterrestrial beings.

Monetary Policies for Dummies? - by John Smithin

I originally wrote this piece for the Monetary Policy Blog edited by Professor Louis-Phillipe Rochon. In it, I suggested that that the Bank of Canada should cut its policy rate of interest to 4.4%. Then on 07.06.2023 some friends, who pay more attention to the mainstream media (MSM) than I do (not in itself a very difficult task), texted or messaged me with the news that the B of C had actually raised the rate to 4.75%. I believe the appropriate response is LOL?