Topic: Monetary Policy

“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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“Fed’s Bullard: Full of Self-Contradictions”

– December 22, 2010

“The bottom line is this: Unlike China where its central government can mandate banks to actually lend to business and individuals, Fed’s two rounds of QE liquidity did not go to where it’s intended; it is instead trapped on banks, and corporations’ ba …

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“Fed Has Aided Stocks, Not Rates or Jobs” – CNBC

– December 22, 2010

“The Federal Reserve’s policy to purchase $600 billion of bonds in a program widely known as QE2 has been mostly ineffective at lowering interest rates and will do little to improve the unemployment rate, according to the exclusive CNBC Fed Survey in D …

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“Inflation, Here is Thy Sting”

– December 20, 2010

“The sting of inflation is showing up in the emerging market economies, where rising food prices are stinging the consumer. (Oh sorry I forgot, food inflation isn’t inflation!) China has a de facto USD peg and that policy means that, in the absence of …

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“Canada Urges ‘Moderate’ Monetary Policy”

– December 17, 2010

“On Monday, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney warned that Canadians are “stretched” financially and “increasingly vulnerable to an adverse shock” such as interest rate hikes. Carney urged Canadians to be “prudent in their borrowing,” and ensure that …

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“Money Rules” – Scott Sumner

– December 17, 2010

“There is no laissez faire in fiat money. If the Fed holds the money supply constant, it will be changing the interest rate and the price level. And if it holds interest rates constant, it loses control over the price level and money supply. As a resul …

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“Ron Paul Appears Poised to Irk the Fed Chief” – NYT

– December 17, 2010

“Mr. Paul takes on the subcommittee post at a time when the Fed is far better known than it was in the 1960s, and after its reputation has alternately soared and plunged. It was given credit for the long booms of the 1990s and earlier this decade, and …

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“Hyperinflation, Money Demand, and the Crack Up Boom” – Mises Institute

– December 16, 2010

“The 20th century saw many hyperinflations, including China in 1949–50, Brazil in 1989–90, Argentina in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Russia in 1992, Yugoslavia in 1994, and, most recently, Zimbabwe in 2006–09. All of these hyperinflations were the d …

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Stylized Facts, Public Policy and the “Crack Up Boom” – Peter Boettke

– December 16, 2010

“In reading Mises I am always struck by how fresh he still reads, and how relevant his analysis of contemporary policy in the first half of the 20th century still is relevant for us at the beginning of the 21st century. Of course, there is the enduring …

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“Audit the Fed in 2011” – Ron Paul

– December 16, 2010

“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 i …

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