Thursday Update: Jim Grant criticizes Fed policy and quantitative easing; John Tamny writes “bubble” is the mythical default adjective used by lazy pundits.

Politics and Government

Fox News reports consumer spending rose less-than-expected in May.

When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending fell for a second straight month, suggesting spending this quarter could struggle to regain momentum after growing at its slowest pace in nearly five years in the first quarter.

At Chron, Martin Crutsinger writes consumer spending in May was disappointingly weak.

BBC reports the U.S. GDP shrank at a 2.9% rate in the first quarter.

Monetary Reform

On Bloomberg, Jim Grant criticizes Fed policy and quantitative easing.

From Forbes.com, John Tamny writes “bubble” is the mythical default adjective used by lazy pundits.

From Bloomberg, Leonid Bershidsky says the U.S. shouldn’t weaponize the dollar.

FT Portfolio’s believes the U.S. is in no danger of losing its reserve currency status.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko recounts the legend of Dido and her gold treasure.