Cato CMFA

@CatoInstitute’s Center for Monetary & Financial Alternatives is a think tank project dedicated to finding alternatives to failed monetary and financial regimes

[Cato Institute @CatoInstitute]

The Bank Secrecy Act is crushing small businesses with financial surveillance that delivers little in return. Banks filed 28.7 million reports last year, yet just 275 IRS investigations were launched from them. Massive surveillance, tiny results, and serious costs for privacy and small businesses, writes Cato's @EconWithNick.

https://t.co/SYtR4ebLKw

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

New entry in financial services is important to support more competitive markets.

To that point, banks should be allowed to charge for access to data that is likely to yield market benefits.

@SolveigSinglet https://t.co/iGYOI73CJe

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

Is it true that free market policies "emptied out" Midwestern cities, or that Midwestern cities emptied out at all?

A closer look at the data reveals this common narrative is likely a fairytale.

@NorbertJMichel, @JaiKedia & @JeromeFamularo https://t.co/HQcO6Oj8qm

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

It’s time to put postal banking to rest once and for all.

Congress should amend the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act to prohibit the United States Postal Service from engaging in new financial services without congressional approval.

@EconWithNick https://t.co/T9zrWcoqtk

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

The Supreme Court fought for privacy in Chatrie v. United States, putting another dent in unchecked surveillance.

Yet, the decision seems to be drawing lines in the sand when it comes to the Fourth Amendment.

@EconWithNick https://t.co/F4nXuhTsi2

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

The unease lingering now around the Fed can be owed to something that Kevin Warsh hasn’t had enough time yet to address: the Fed still has no objective framework for setting its federal-funds rate target.

@JaiKedia https://t.co/bgMdPV73hG

[Nick Anthony @EconWithNick]

So the truth of the matter is that "The digital euro will offer the maximum level of privacy that _policy_ will permit."

That is a very different statement.

[Nick Anthony @EconWithNick]

How do we know? Because the @ecb specifically says the transactions will be monitored for anti-money laundering and other purposes.

[Nick Anthony @EconWithNick]

The @ecb says, "The digital euro guarantees the maximum level of privacy that technology can offer."

Yet, this can't be true. 🧵

[Aaron Klein @Aarondklein]

Trump promised cost-benefit analysis for all new regulations. Where is the analysis for this BSA overreach @USTreasury ?

[Norbert J. Michel @norbertjmichel]

Warsh hit the nail on the head: central bank forecasts have been abysmal, and adding more "dots" won't fix it. You can’t fine-tune an economy in normal times, much less in the middle of a massive tech shock and persistent inflation.

More simple rules, less discretionary guesswork. That’s what’s needed. @JaiKedia @CatoCMFA @CatoInstitute

[Nick Anthony @EconWithNick]

"In reality, these programs are always doomed to fail as they misunderstand or misattribute the forces raising rates in the first place." - @CatoCMFA's @JaiKedia https://t.co/eJwnUTpW2R

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

Scott Bessent announced the Treasury will double long-end buyback operations from $2B to $4B to push prices up and yields down.

But these types of programs misunderstand what actually drives rising rates—dooming them for failure.
@JaiKedia https://t.co/NoXqaMcgdU

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

The Trump administration decreased Bank Secrecy Act reporting thresholds last year from $10,000 to $200, crushing valuable business for many small companies.

While the threshold has since been moved to $1,000, the damage is already done.

@EconWithNick https://t.co/1P3ZdZGXlL

[Norbert J. Michel @norbertjmichel]

"The glaring ideological problem with the buyback program is that Washington can treat the interest rate as something to manage rather than a price set by the market...

When the 30-year yield comes in higher than the government hoped, it reports on the government’s own finances and poor policies, and the remedy is to repair them rather than suppress the signal. Until Congress and the administration confront their own culpability, upward pressure on yields will keep returning as it did this week, and no amount of interventionist fine-tuning will stop it."

@JaiKedia

[Nick Anthony @EconWithNick]

https://t.co/EyA2E314kq

[Jai Kedia @JaiKedia]

U.S. 30-yr bond yields hit their highest level since 2007. But the Treasury buying back its own debt to lower yields won’t work. The government is trying to fix a problem the government created.

Read my latest @CatoCMFA article here:
https://t.co/8lBIcfzXjJ

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

The SEC's regulatory agenda is headed in the right direction. However, it is even more important to ensure that the trajectory set by this agenda results in concrete policy outcomes.

@ChristianJKruse & Ryan Chan-Wei https://t.co/zMJk91soyY

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

What's going on @CatoCMFA?
-----------------
Events:
- Sept. 24 - Money, Markets, and the American Experiment: 250 Years of Financial Opportunity - https://t.co/rz40gAK1MU

Articles:
- Answering Objections to the Clarity Act - Ryan Chan-Wei https://t.co/xdfYhoQpsa

[Jai Kedia @JaiKedia]

Saying that the govt had the tariff money in the Treasury is an implicit admission that tariffs are a tax. This money is no more available to people than their tax filings.