Topic: Central Banking

Is There a Government Bond Bubble?

– August 25, 2010

“YES, there is a government bond bubble. And it’s huge. Uncle Sam and his counterparts in the EU and Japan are broke and are, almost surely, going to print vast quantities of money to cover their enormous spending obligations. The printing presses are …

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Why QE Could Trigger a Collapse of the Dollar

– August 23, 2010

“A week ago, the Federal Reserve initiated a new program of “quantitative easing” (QE), with the Fed purchasing U.S. Treasury securities and paying for those securities by creating billions of dollars in new monetary base. Treasury bond prices surged o …

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“Fed’s Hoenig Says Big Banks Still Benefit From Safety Net”

– August 23, 2010

“The largest U.S. banks have an implied government safety net that gives them a lower cost of capital compared to community banks even after a congressional overhaul of banking regulation, Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig said. “Desp …

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“Treasure 10-Year Yields Near 17 Month Low”

– August 19, 2010

“The Fed’s purchases today will be its second this week, after it bought $2.551 billion of notes on Aug. 17. The central bank plans to purchase about $18 billion of U.S. debt by the middle of September using the money from principal payments on its hol …

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“Foreign Lenders: Friends Indeed to a U.S. Treasury in Need”

– August 18, 2010

“When the U.S. government wishes to spend more money than it receives as tax revenue, it covers the shortfall by borrowing, and foreign lenders have become increasingly important sources of such borrowed funds. Reliance on foreign lenders is as old as …

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“How to Feed a Recovery”

– August 18, 2010

“To get a sense of the current economic climate, I spoke with John Taylor, Stanford economics professor and George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution. He is well known in economic-policy circles for coining the Taylor rule, …

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“How the Market Creates Jobs, and the Government Destroys Them”

– August 18, 2010

“By bringing about the business cycle, Federal Reserve money creation causes unemployment. Inflation not only raises prices, it also misallocates labor. During the boom phase of the trade cycle, businesses hire new workers, many of whom are pulled from …

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“Nationalization of the Morgage Market”

– August 18, 2010

“On Sunday, September 7, the United States government took control of more than half the U.S. mortgage market, through its seizure—and that is the word used in mainstream press accounts—of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two colossal government-sponsored e …

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“Fed May Reemerge as Bigger Buyer With Resumption of Treasury Purchases”

– August 17, 2010

“The Federal Reserve will likely reemerge as the biggest buyer of Treasuries when it resumes purchasing U.S. government securities today to prevent money from draining out of the financial system. JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists estimate the Fed w …

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The Fed Can’t Solve Our Economic Woes

– August 16, 2010

A policy of low interest rates is a textbook response of monetary authorities to the economic weakness brought on by deficient aggregate demand. The policy is justified by pointing to various ways in which money can promote economic activity—including …

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“Treasury Fixing Mortgage-Finance System Juggles Limitless Bailout, Economy”

– August 16, 2010

“The U.S. Treasury Department, hosting a summit tomorrow on how to repair the mortgage-finance system, may get a blunt message from stakeholders in an industry tied to 15 percent of the country’s economy: Don’t screw it up. The system’s size and comple …

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“In a Sluggish Economic Summer, No Easy Fix Ahead”

– August 13, 2010

“Typically, the Fed can lower interest rates to encourage Americans to borrow money and spend it, invigorating the economy. But the benchmark interest rate controlled by the Fed has been almost zero for more than a year now. The Fed this week took a ne …

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