Last week I noted the spike in ECB drafts on the Fed’s swap lines, which were reopened in May 2010 to help keep dollar liquidity flowing as Europe entered its sovereign debt crisis. This morning the major central banks, including the Fed, ECB, and the Banks of Japan, England, Switzerland and Canada, announced that as of Dec. 5, 2011 …
Federal Reserve
Newsflash: The Fed Saved the World
Bloomberg has a well-researched story out today based on a massive Freedom of Information Act inspection of the Fed’s lending during the financial crisis from August 2007 through April 2010. The headline-making numbers: In sum, the Fed gave the banks more than $7.7 trillion in loans, and banks may have made $13 billion in part thanks …
Can the Fed Help Save Europe’s Banks?
The U.S. Federal Reserve has been pumping billions of dollars into the European banking system in recent weeks in an attempt to help stabilize the continent’s financial crisis. And while the effort remains small, it is likely …
Rebranding the Federal Reserve’s Printing Presses as Economic Rejuvenators
On Sunday, the Obama Administration’s former top economist, Christina Romer, put to paper an idea she has been bandying about for a while: The Federal Reserve, she argues, should restate its mission and commit to returning the …
Republicans Are Right to Pressure the Fed, Even If What They Want Is Wrong
Monetary policy is dull, so the Republican Party’s bizarre advocacy of job-killing tight-money policies during a jobs crisis hasn’t gotten much attention. But political food fights are exciting, so today’s letter from GOP leaders pressuring Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke not to approve more monetary stimulus is likely to get a lot …
The Fed Is Debating Whether to Give the Economy Another Jolt: Does Obama Care?
The most important news to emerge from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Wednesday testimony before Congress is that the central bank is open to taking further action to juice the economy if the recovery remains stalled, and that the Federal Open Market Committee is divided on what to do. Another round of …
Bernanke: Everything’s Going to be Fine. Maybe.
You know things are bad when even the optimists sound unsure about the future.
The Federal Open Market Committee came out with more negative predictions for inflation, economic growth and unemployment today, but still said that by the end of 2013 everything should be much better than it is now.
However, at his second-ever press …
Bernanke: Sharp Spending Cuts Could Hurt the Economy
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke again on Tuesday, but you didn’t miss much. He still thinks unemployment is way too high, and he still has no plans to do anything about it. His primary message didn’t change since …
No, Ben Bernanke Has Not Taken Sides
I try not to start arguments with people who are way smarter than me, especially when we’re basically on the same side of an issue, but in my part-time capacity as Ben Bernanke’s English translator, I feel compelled to point out that Ezra Klein’s take on the Fed chairman’s press conference is wrong. Bernanke did not choose sides in the …
If the Fed Can’t Save Us, Then Who Can?
Fed-watchers may recall that in my last post, I courageously risked my membership in the Ben Bernanke Fan Club by asking the chairman why he had failed to juice the economy enough to avoid sky-high unemployment. The boring …
