Category: Central Banks
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Friday, December 24, 2010
Bernanke Is Untouchable, Except by Ron Paul and the Internet / Politics / Central Banks
Ben Bernanke has an overwhelming majority on the Federal Reserve System's Open Market Committee (FOMC), which meets every six weeks to set Federal Reserve policy. There is only one dissenter, Thomas Hoenig, who consistently votes against any expansion of the FOMC's asset purchases, meaning any expansion of the FED's balance sheet: the monetary base. The vote is consistently 10 to 1.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
Central Banking 101: What the Fed Can do as "Lender of Last Resort" / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
We’ve seen behind the curtain, as the Fed waved its magic liquidity wand over Wall Street. Now it’s time to enlist this tool in the service of the people.
The Fed’s invisible hand first really became visible with the bailout of AIG. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in June 2009:
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Ron Paul Terrifies Ben Bernanke / Politics / Central Banks
I have good news and bad news for Ben Bernanke.
First, the good news.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Fed’s Final Days, The Temple Of Paper Money Is Under Seige / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
In 2008, America suffered a massive economic heart attack. Its doctors, thought to be the world’s best, believed the US to be in good health, having recovered from a similar though smaller crisis in 2000.
But America hadn’t recovered. In fact, the Fed’s palliative for the 2000 crisis, i.e. lower interest rates, soon created an even larger crisis, i.e. the 2002-2006 US housing bubble whose collapse caused global credit markets to contract and investment banks to fall, necessitating government intervention on such a massive scale it led to today’s sovereign debt crisis as private losses were absorbed onto public balance sheets; and, now, in 2010, the crisis continues to fester and spread.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
Ron Paul, Audit the Fed in 2011 / Politics / Central Banks
Since the announcement last week that I will chair the congressional subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, the media response has been overwhelming. The groundswell of opposition to Fed actions among ordinary citizens is reflected not only in the rhetoric coming out of Capitol Hill, but also in the tremendous interest shown by the financial press. The demand for transparency is growing, whether the political and financial establishment likes it or not. The Fed is losing its vaunted status as an institution that somehow is above politics and public scrutiny. Fed transparency will be the cornerstone of my efforts as subcommittee chairman.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
Sell Bernanke and the U.S. Dollar, Buy Gold and Silver / Politics / Central Banks
Who am I? What is Money? The Fed is Here to Help
"I am a macroeconomist rather than an historian. My focus will be on broad economic issues rather than details."
Read full article... Read full article...Professor Ben S. Bernanke, "The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach,"1995
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Ben Bernanke Digits Juggler about to Drop / Politics / Central Banks
At a circus, there is always a juggler. If he is dressed as a clown, he is not a great juggler. If he is in a sequin-covered tight suit, he is the real thing. He is there to impress us.
The juggler I most remember was a young man who was juggling a bunch of hoops. He was really good . . . until he dropped all of them in his grand finale. They came down in disarray. He picked them up and walked out of the ring. What else could he do? The finale was not so grand.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Bernanke Caught Out in Massive Lie on Money Printing / Politics / Central Banks
Leave it to the Daily Show to express in a humorous way the blatant lies of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about "Printing Money". The amazing thing is Bernanke exposed himself, in his own words.
The clip notes an interesting discrepancy with what Ben Bernanke told 60 Minutes in his first infomercial on 60 Minutes in March of 2009 and what he said Sunday December 5, 2010.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Bernanke Lied His Way Through a '60 Minutes' Infomercial, He Misinforms with Gusto! / Politics / Central Banks
Ben Bernanke ought to write country music songs on the side. They would all have the same theme: I cheated on you honey, but take me back one more time.
His appearance on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, December 5, was clearly his attempt to deal with criticism of the Federal Reserve's policy of purchasing up to $600 billion of Treasury debt – or more, as he admitted.
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Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Bernanke's 2 Big Lies on 60 Minutes / Politics / Central Banks
This past Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes", Americans received a massive dose of mendacity from our Fed Chairman. Mr. Bernanke's shaky delivery, and even shakier logic may cause faith in America's economic leadership to evaporate faster than the value of our dollar. In particular, Bernanke delivered two massive distortions:
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Monday, December 06, 2010
The Federal Reserve's Secret Set of Books Hiding $9 Trillion Off Balance Sheet Transactions / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
I have been grudgingly getting to work every day and on-time since, unfortunately, it looks like my incompetence, stupidity and sheer lazy worthlessness is going to produce another losing quarter, and the rumor is that the Board of Directors is looking for heads to roll.
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Wednesday, December 01, 2010
The Dual-Mandated Failures of the Federal Reserve / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
I thought I knew everything about the foul Federal Reserve in that I knew they cause inflation in prices by deliberately creating too much money, which is the One Big Thing (OBT) that you do not want because of the social upheaval of people starving to death and rioting in the streets.
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Monday, November 29, 2010
Can the Fed Become Insolvent? Should We Care? / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
In light of Bernanke's plans to purchase $600 billion of longer-term government debt, many academic economists are beginning to worry: Could the Federal Reserve itself become insolvent? In this article I'll explain these fears and I'll argue that the Fed, with its printing press, cannot really go bankrupt the way other corporations can.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010
Money, Credit and the Federal Reserve Banking System - Part 3 / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
This is Part III, the final part of our series "Robert Prechter Explains The Fed." (Here are Part I and Part II.)
Read full article... Read full article...Money, Credit and the Federal Reserve Banking System Conquer the Crash,
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Duel over the Fed Dual Mandate of Inflation and Full Employment / Politics / Central Banks
Given the opposing views of the potentially parsimonious new Congress and the continuously accommodative Federal Reserve, there is a movement afoot among Republicans to eliminate the Fed's "dual mandate." Prior to 1977, the Fed only had one job: maintaining price stability. However, the stagflation of the 1970s inspired politicians to assign another task: promoting maximum employment. This "mission creep" has transformed the Fed from a monetary watchdog into an instrument of social policy. We would do well to give them back their original job.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Bernanke Defends Fed Monetary Policy By Blaming China for Currency Manipulation / Politics / Central Banks
In a major speech delivered November 19, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the American central bank’s decision to print dollars in order to purchase $600 billion in Treasury securities. The second round of so-called “quantitative easing,” launched on November 3, is designed to lower long-term US interest rates.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Geithner Politicizes the Fed, Warns Congress to Not do the Same, Inflation Targeting Parabolic Curve / Politics / Central Banks
The hypocrisy of treasury secretary Tim Geithner would be stunning except for the fact hypocrisy from Geithner is pretty much an every day occurrence.
Geithner is blasting Congress for politicizing the Fed, while doing the same thing himself. To top it off, the Fed itself is politicizing the Fed by interfering and commenting on Fiscal policy while bitching about Congress commenting on monetary policy.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Robert Prechter Explains Money, Credit and the Federal Reserve Banking System, Part II / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
This is Part II of our three-part series "Robert Prechter Explains The Fed." You can read Part I here -- and come back later this week for Part III.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
Bernanke's Crybaby Blabber Speech at ECB Conference / Politics / Central Banks
Say what you will about Alan Greenspan, he was never a whiner. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about present Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke's speech on Friday at a conference for the European Central Bank (ECB) was so full of crybaby blabber that attendees must have thought they'd ducked into a Frankfort daycare center by mistake. What an embarrassment! For nearly an hour, Bernanke went on and on about how mean China is and how they manipulate their currency to gain competitive advantage. It was surreal; like listening to a serial arsonist complain about his wife smoking in bed.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
Perhaps Bernanke And Geithner Should Try Acting? / Politics / Central Banks
When Ronald Reagan became President of the United States some people were surprised that an actor could reach such a high level of government service. Do you think maybe it could work in reverse and that these two in government "service", Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner, could make it in the acting business? They certainly have had some on the job training and I guess you could say their ongoing screen tests have passed with flying colors.
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