Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Fed To Bailout NY Yankees

Admit it, you had to think for a second about whether this was serious or not didn’t you?

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Calculating the cost of bailing out the economy

Now that the NBER has decided to endorse my view that we went into recession last December which I first first claimed last January, I think my points about the efficacy of fiscal stimulus still apply. As for spending already … Continue reading

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Whoopee, its bailout time!

From the comments at Financial Times: Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — In a surprise move today, Whoopee Cushions Inc was approved bank holding company status by the Fed to enable the company access to the recently revised TURD scheme. Imported far-eastern … Continue reading

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Are We Maiking Things Worse?

Yves Smith hits a theme I have been harping on, the Federal Reserve, and central banks in general, are making things worse in may ways by destroying the incentive for banks to lend or borrow from one another. She quotes … Continue reading

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JP Morgan, Lehman and Nightmares

I am often asked about individual bank stocks, especially JP Morgan. Generally my answer is that Bank of America, JP Morgan and a few others look to be likely survivors, but how profitable they will be I am really unsure. … Continue reading

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Another Reason To Not Like The Plan

I have argued in the past that the Federal Reserve’s policies may be helping in some ways, but hurting in others. Way too much borrowing and lending is running through the Fed which is drying up lending between banks. It … Continue reading

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My favorite proposal for helping financial institutions

I do believe we should be doing something as a nation, through our government, to avoid the not insignificant chance of a total financial meltdown. I have seen several things proposed that I find interesting, and I will get into … Continue reading

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The Monetary Base Finally Moves

The Federal Reserve has for a long time eschewed increasing the money supply directly, and instead has manipulated credit to affect the economy and control inflation. This has led to three important things which are in my opinion at the … Continue reading

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Uprecedented Financial Turmoil

Today the Fed went to the Treasury and asked for a line of credit. You know, the lender of last resort has had to turn to our Treasury to protect their balance sheet. Want to see something weird. Go here … Continue reading

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Bernanke has a solution

FROM: Dr Ben Bernanke Central Bank of United States of America 01-658-555-1234 TO: CEO Lagos, Nigeria Dear Friend: I have been requested by the regional members Federal Reserve of the USA to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. … Continue reading

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Scarce $10 Bills

I’m sure it’s just me and my strange world, but I realized tonight I haven’t seen a $10 bill in several weeks. It seems in every cash exchange I’m getting back two fives in instances needing a ten. I suppose … Continue reading

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Fail Early or Don’t Fail at All

On tonights podcast at QandO, I called in at McQ’s request to discuss the economy. One of the things we discussed was the likelihood of our government continuing to bail out our financial institutions. For a number of reasons that … Continue reading

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You Walk Away Hits Television

Cross posted at Risk and Return You may remember the website we discussed back in January. Dale Franks just discovered their program, because they now are on Television. He asks the obvious question: So, should the mortgage companies get off … Continue reading

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The Grinding Gears of the Economy

The Fourth quarter GDP numbers came in this week, and then the Fed went ahead and cut rates further. That is 125 basis points in about a week.! I have a roundup of news, related opinion and other reactions at … Continue reading

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Inflation or Deflation?

Contra David Merkel, Amity Schlaes says a choice can be made, and Bernanke’s worry should be inflation.

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Fed Cuts Interest Rate 75bps!

From The New York Times: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve, confronted with a global stock sell-off fanned by increased fears of a recession, cut a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday. Quicker and larger … Continue reading

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Markets Tank

World markets are not happy with the stimulus plan. My breakdown of the plans likely impact can be found here. Share prices in Asia, Europe and the Americas all plunged by significant amounts; Wall Street only avoided joining the tumble … Continue reading

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Today’s links: Washington tries to step up

 (cross posted at Risk and Return) Ben Bernanke gives Congress and the President the green light to take steps to stimulate the economy along with a warning:

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ChrisB and the Federal Reserve

Chris asked what he thought the Federal Reserve could have done differently. I gave him an answer, but there was more to be said. My full answer is here. Scroll around, there is a lot more on the what could … Continue reading

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Monetarist Hero Anna Schwarz on the Fed

Milton Friedman’s research partner, Anna Schwartz, goes after the federal reserve: As rebukes go in the close-knit world of central banking, few hurt as much as the scathing indictment of US Federal Reserve policy by Professor Anna Schwartz. The high … Continue reading

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Is Fiscal Stimulus the Answer? -updated

The economy is slowing, and if we are not already in a recession (I think we probably are) the risks of one are certainly high. So should our politicians do something with fiscal policy? Alex Tabarrok says no : Fourth, … Continue reading

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