On March 10, the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) of Santa Clara, California, was closed by California regulators who appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. The failure caught the bank’s investors, customers and funders — and the country — by surprise. This was the second-largest bank failure in U.S....

Recent debates surrounding President Biden’s plan for government spending on infrastructure has refocused attention on public debt, but the sleeping and dangerous debt giant is really private debt.    American households were drowning in debt before the COVID-19 crisis, and now they’re deluged by it. Household debt today totals $17.5 trillion,...

In 1791 Alexander Hamilton prepared his “Report on Manufactures,” which gives us a sense of America’s early business activity. His list included the production of animal hides into leather, shoes, saddlery, breeches and gloves. It also included the use of iron and steel to make tools, nails, agricultural implements, stoves,...