Federal Reserve

Two More Fed Nominees Blocked: A Missed Chance for Obama

Two years ago, in April of 2010, President Obama nominated economist Peter Diamond to the board of the Federal Reserve. Four months later, after Republicans in the Senate blocked his appointment, Obama nominated him again. After almost a full year of waiting, Diamond gave up and withdrew his name from consideration last summer. …

Chairman Eeyore: Bernanke’s Dour Outlook Explained

Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have been taking some big leaps in recent months: policy prescriptions tied to explicit dates, dire warnings to Congress, open press conferences, college lectures and even a Twitter feed. So while it’s still natural to expect characteristic caution from the Fed chairman, it’s not impossible to imagine …

Ben Bernanke Warns Congress in Its Own Language

There’s “a massive fiscal cliff” in our future, Ben Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. To anyone accustomed to breathless congressional debate, this metaphorical escarpment must sound familiar. …

The Federal Reserve’s Rule-Making Secrecy

The Wall Street Journal has a thoroughly reported story today on the rise in regulatory secrecy at the Federal Reserve. On 45 of 47 of the draft or final regulatory measures voted on by members since the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill in July 2010, the Fed’s five voting members have e-mailed their votes in, rather than …

Is the Fed Undermining the Recovery?

Ben Bernanke is playing chicken with the real economy. By most measures the economy in the past few months seems to be improving. The unemployment rate has been falling. Manufacturing appears to be perking up. U.S. car companies are back in business. And home sales even rose in December. Yet, on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank said that …

Obama (Finally) Looks to Fill Empty Fed Seats

Way back in April 2010, Obama nominated three economists to fill out empty seats on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors. Two sailed through, but one, Peter Diamond, was snared in the net of the Senate, where Republican Richard Shelby was unconvinced of the Nobel-winner’s monetary bona fides. After a long back-and-forth, Diamond …

Ben Bernanke Bites Back

First let me apologize to all the supporters of Ron Paul who believe that the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke didn’t save the world in 2008 but rather just delayed the inevitable day of reckoning when our walls will be papered with worthless greenbacks and we’ll retreat to our bunkers to fight it out frontier-style. (I’ve never …

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 …

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 …

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