Almost a decade later, the Federal Reserve this week announced it will begin reversing quantitative easing. Slowly. Very slowly. The balance sheet currently stands at $4.5 trillion and they will begin allowing $10 billion in assets to roll off their sheets next month. Given the unprecedented nature of QE, even this modest reduction has many market observers on edge. Of course, the fallout from the Fed’s actions are still being felt, while the Trump Treasury is making threats that it would have disastrous consequences if acted on.

On Mises Weekends, Jeff is joined by Dr. Mark Thornton to get his take on the Fed’s actions and what it all means for stock markets, investors, and the US economy. Can quantitative easing, a roundabout form of monetizing debt, actually work? Can monetary policy make us rich? Or are Fed officials just groping in the dark, putting off a day of reckoning?

And in case you missed them, here are this weeks Mises Wire and FedWatch articles, covering a wide array of topics:

• There’s a  Bubble in New York City Taxi Medallions by Doug French
• The Agony of the Welfare State, Finnish Style by Joseph T. Salerno
• Why is NASA Covering Up Elon Musk’s Mistakes? by Drew Armstrong
• Government Regulation and Crony Capitalism is Keeping Thousands in Florida without Power by Tho Bishop
• If the Majority Votes to Secede — What About the Minority? by Ryan McMaken
• Mises and Cosmopolitanism by David Gordon
• Questions Remain as the Fed Finally Begins to Reverse QE by Tho Bishop
• Then Came Nixon by Chris Calton
• The Washington Post‘s Latest (and Lamest) Attack on the Mises Institute by Ryan McMaken
• What Is the Correct Amount of Money? by Frank Shostak
• Trump’s China-Sanctions Madness Imperils the Dollar by Ryan McMaken
• Let Catalonia Decide by Jeff Deist
• Passchendaele: A Century after the Horror by Matthew McCaffrey
• US Sanctions Against Venezuela Will Hurt Americans by Ryan McMaken
• The World Is Creeping Toward De-Dollarization by Ronald-Peter Stöferle
• Congress Shirks Its Duty on Foreign Policy Yet Again by Ron Paul
• Ludwig von Mises on Collectivist Fallacies and Interventionist Follies by Richard M. Ebeling
• The Capitalist Revolution by Ludwig von Mises
• Money-Supply Growth Drops Again — Falls to 108-Month Low by Ryan McMaken
• Johnny Appleseed: Land Speculator, Alcholol Dealer, Capitalist by Chris Calton