Topic: Monetary Policy

Second Annual Sound Money Essay Contest

– December 30, 2010

Is the world economy in crisis because it lacks the fundamentals of sound money?  If you believe that sound money is the key to our recovery, tell us why.    Join Atlas’s 2nd Annual Sound Money Essay Contest and win cash prizes.  This  year’s theme is …

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“Impacts of Proposed Changes in the Fed’s Mandate” – Taylor

– December 29, 2010

“[T]here are several reasons to believe that QE2 would not have happened had Fed officials not been able to refer to a dual mandate in the Federal Reserve Act as justification for the intervention. First consider this bit of emprical evidence: There ha …

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“Lehman ‘Prophet’ Fears Second Crisis If US Interest Rates Are Kept Low”

– December 29, 2010

“The criticism of the Federal Reserve comes as it embarks on another $600bn (£380bn) of quantitative easing – or printing money – in an effort to fire up a stronger recovery next year. Interest rates around the western world, including in Britain, have …

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“Inflation and Interest Rate Trends Look Positively for Gold in 2011”

– December 28, 2010

“Gold prices generally rise during times of actual or projected inflation because of gold’s traditional status as a “safe haven” asset. Gold buyers seeking an asset which reacts favorable to inflation or currency devaluation often move from the falling …

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“Central Bank Targets Inflation” – China

– December 28, 2010

“The over-fast growth of the domestic real estate market has been the result of the country’s unusual monetary policy since the start of the global financial crisis. The latest rate hike indicates the central bank’s resolve to restore the emergency mon …

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“The Fed’s Dual Mandate Is Not The Problem” – WSJ

– December 28, 2010

“While some clarification of its price-stability mandate might help, the central bank is already required to keep credit growth in check. Its full legal mandate is as follows: “The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open M …

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“Current course leads to inflation”

– December 27, 2010

“The Federal Reserve, and the Congress, are both playing a high-stakes game of risk. Essentially, the one is betting that it can spend its way out of our recession and unemployment problems and the other is betting that it can add huge amounts of liqui …

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“For Tough Fed Call, Even Hindsight Is Not 20/20” – WSJ

– December 27, 2010

“The world has changed since the Federal Reserve decided in November to purchase an additional $600 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds to give the U.S. economy a lift. The U.S. economy looks stronger. The government is unexpectedly cutting taxes. The Fed i …

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“New Voters May Sway Fed Actions” – NYT

– December 27, 2010

“Most economists think the Fed is unlikely to drastically alter its policy direction, though some of the new members could nudge policy toward more restraint and less activism. Two of the four new voters are viewed as hawkish on inflation, meaning that …

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“Fed’s Mysterious Policy: How will we know if it’s working?”

– December 23, 2010

“Few economists expect the jobless rate to fall below 9 percent in 2011; the Fed itself projects a range between 8.9 percent and 9.1 percent. That’s why Alice Rivlin, a former Fed vice chairman, expects little from QE2. “I think it was conceived as ins …

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“Is the Fed Printing Money?” – WSJ

– December 23, 2010

“The Fed has been buying bonds since early 2009. When a private investor buys bonds, the investor uses cash or sells some existing asset to raise cash and uses that money to buy bonds. The investor might also borrow money from a bank and use the borrow …

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Fed Swap Lines Purposefully Keeping Dollar Weak

– December 23, 2010

“In layman’s terms, we can think of a swap line as a standing guarantee of U.S. dollar liquidity. If you (as a central banker) ever need greenbacks in a pinch, you know you’ll be able to procure them instantly, no matter how “tight” the open market may …

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