http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/federalreserve/ en-us Sat, 2 Jan 2010 15:57:37 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419517/posts Some days ago we wondered aloud at the blank check extended to Fannie and Freddie along with the suspiciously convenient timing of those announcements on Christmas Day. Back then we wondered if we had been told the entire story. To wit: So. Let us summarize: We do not expect the GSEs to grow their portfolios at all, so we are fixing the bloated portfolio problem by easing the portfolio caps to permit a quarter trillion dollar expansion thereof. We do not expect either of the GSEs to need more help from the Treasury, so we are responding to the underutilized... Zero Hedge http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419517/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 15:57:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416356/posts In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Obama blamed "fat cat bankers" for causing the crisis, putting America through its "worst economic year...in decades." He went on to chide Wall Street banks for "fighting tooth and nail" the new regulations he believes would be vital in preventing future crises. A deeper examination, however, reveals that this is neither a housing crisis nor a Wall Street banking crisis. This is a monetary crisis, rooted in the lending of money created out of thin air. This is what leads to economic booms and busts. Barrons http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416356/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:17:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415619/posts (snip) Sen. Lindsey Graham believes his fellow South Carolina Republican's verdict is too harsh. He plans to vote to confirm Bernanke, who just turned 56. “I remember what it was like in September 2008 when the stock market went down a thousand points, and we had one failure after another of major financial institutions,” Graham told McClatchy. “Bernanke and some others came up with a game plan to save us from another Great Depression,” Graham said. “I think he's been a pretty steady hand at the tiller.” DeMint also blasts Bernanke on the $700 billion financial bailout bill pushed by... The Herald, Rock Hill, SC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415619/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:27:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415440/posts ... [T]his is neither a housing crisis nor a Wall Street banking crisis. This is a monetary crisis, rooted in the lending of money created out of thin air. This is what leads to economic booms and busts. The current crisis goes back to the Asian Contagion of 1997 and the meltdown of the Long Term Capital Management hedge fund in 1998. In response to each of these situations, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and rapidly expanded the money supply. This excess liquidity helped push stocks, especially tech issues, to unsustainably high levels. The excess money created by the... Barron's http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415440/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:49:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415237/posts Millions of Americans are paying a high price for a safe place to put their money: extremely low interest rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit. The elderly and others on fixed incomes have been especially hard hit. Many have seen returns on savings, C.D.’s and government bonds drop to niggling amounts recently, often costing them money once inflation, fees and taxes are considered. “Open a Savings Plus Account today and get a great rate,” read an advertisement in the Dec. 16 Newsday for Citibank, which was then offering 1.2 percent for an account. (As low as it was,... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415237/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:01:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411007/posts US Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) proposed reinstating the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that split commercial and investment banking to rein in Wall Street firms in response to the financial crisis. McCain and Cantwell join other lawmakers in Congress proposing to reinstate the 1933 law, repealed a decade ago by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that led to a rise in conglomerates including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America active in retail banking, insurance and proprietary trading. Legislation to reinstate the ban was introduced yesterday in the House. Under the Senate legislation, financial firms operating commercial banks and investment... NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411007/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:04:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412435/posts It's Time: Read NDCIC. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412435/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:01:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412176/posts Most of us today realize the undoubted necessity of major health care reform. For those of us who do not wish to maintain the status quo, there are two sides to the argument. The Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress propose more government. Even Republicans are proposing their own slightly lighter version of ObamaCare. However, the only real solution to our health care problems is not more government, but less. It is the very regulations, subsidies, taxes, and inflationary policies proposed today that have led to our health care problems in the first place. People are being taxed... Your Life, Your Liberty, Your Property http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412176/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:00:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411381/posts **** Bank failures now total 140 in 2009 **** LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - OneWest Bank, formerly failed mortgage lender IndyMac, bought the assets of First Federal Bank after it was closed by U.S. regulators, in a deal that may bolster the case for private investment in banks. California's First Federal was one of seven U.S. lenders closed on Friday by regulators, bringing the total number of U.S. bank failures this year to 140. The 39 branches of First Federal -- formerly controlled by FirstFed Financial (FFED.PK) -- reopen on Saturday as OneWest Bank FSB. In addition to... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411381/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:24:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410280/posts Are the White House, Congress and the Fed on the same page? The White House says the nation is in an unemployment “hole” of epic proportions — and that even though its $787 billion stimulus effort is performing well, the country still needs new jobs programs. Congress agrees, and on Wednesday the House passed a $154 billion jobs bill that included more money for infrastructure projects, states and unemployment programs. But over at the Federal Reserve, the prospect of an improving economy has caused an increasingly cautious central bank to start talking up the process by which it will begin... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410280/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:39:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2409149/posts The issue of TIME scheduled to hit newsstands Friday is described in a news release today as the "most anticipated issue of the year." Why? Because it features Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the cover as the magazine's "2009 Person of the Year." Bob McCarty Writes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2409149/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:08:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408442/posts Long ago I quit criticizing the Federal Reserve chairman for failing to avert the latest systemic financial disaster, though I still pity him for enduring the endless Socratic essays, polemics, and indignant soliloquies of his detractors. Criticizing the Fed chairman for a lack of prescience is like criticizing a dog for an inability to recite the alphabet. When something is physiologically impossible, why bother? But many people do bother, and they bother by retreading the same opposing laments: insufficient regulation or misguided regulation; too much liquidity or too little liquidity; too-low interest rates or too-high interest rates; excessively political or... Mises Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408442/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:34:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408224/posts Congressman Ron Paul’s “Free Competition In Currency Act” Won’t Solve The Problem But Still Raises Vital Issues Politics / Fiat Currency Dec 15, 2009 - 11:58 AM By: Richard_C_Cook While Congressman Ron Paul’s Free Competition in Currency Act is not a workable proposal, it points to a deeply serious problem with the Federal Reserve System that must be faced if the U.S. economy is to have a future. Over the last 40 years the Federal Reserve, with the acquiescence of Congress and the executive branch, has become the primary regulator of the economy. The prevailing philosophy is called monetarism, and... The Market Oracle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408224/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:54:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2407529/posts Last week, in the name of protecting the little guy from Wall Street, the House passed HR 4173 to increase the little guy’s false sense of security in the financial system. This mammoth piece of legislation would massively increase government regulation and oversight in the banking industry under the misguided reasoning that more government could have stopped faulty lending practices, when in actuality it caused them. This bill would also greatly increase the powers of the Federal Reserve, which too many in Congress still see as savior rather than perpetrator in this mess. One silver lining is that the amendment... U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, 14th District http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2407529/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:27:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406483/posts Maybe it’s the smoke from Mt. Vesuvius that keeps Arianna Huffington and the financial community from seeing that the economic collapse has nothing to do with the Fed "missing" the warning signs leading up to the October meltdown. “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy The Fed didn’t miss anything; the October meltdown was an inside job. Capitalism never made senseProfessor Ebeling, the Ludwig von Mises professor of Economics at Hillsdale College, understood something was wrong when he wrote: "the perverse development and evolution of historical capitalism, the institutions necessary for a truly free-market economy... The Market Oracle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406483/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:59:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405978/posts Even if the Federal Reserve gets around to strengthening the dollar--which would do wonders to get the economy really moving again--we still face a mammoth and growing problem: the government's increasing domination and distortion of the capital markets. It's not only the need to finance Uncle Sam's deficits that crowds out other credit seekers in the marketplace. It's also the proliferation of government entities (think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), government loan guarantees, tax credits and the government's growing sway over the banking sector. Even if Washington's red ink were back to the levels of a couple of years ago,... Forbes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405978/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:01:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405377/posts ... I don’t think many people grasp just how much job creation we need to climb out of the hole we’re in. You can’t just look at the eight million jobs that America has lost since the recession began, because the nation needs to keep adding jobs — more than 100,000 a month — to keep up with a growing population. And that means that we need really big job gains, month after month, if we want to see America return to anything that feels like full employment. How big? My back of the envelope calculation says that we need... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405377/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:51:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403562/posts A group of academic economists — including several Nobel Prize winners, leaders of respected economic journals and former Fed officials — is dialing up its call for lawmakers to drop plans to subject the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress. In a letter to leaders on the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee, the economists say a bill proposed by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Tex.) and Alan Grayson (D., Fla.) to let the GAO review Fed monetary policy would do “serious harm to the economy.” They warn increased congressional... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403562/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 11:07:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402597/posts Rep. Ron Paul's attempt to rein in central bank is finally close to passing -- just don't expect him to vote for it. Ron Paul is used to going it alone. During 20 years in Washington, the libertarian Republican congressman from Texas has proposed doing away with personal income taxes, federal antitrust laws and the minimum wage. He's advocated pulling the United States out of the United Nations, NATO and the International Monetary Fund. Those efforts have mostly been legislative non-starters. Many of his bills fail to attract a single co-sponsor. But one of his perennial causes is headed to... The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402597/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 04:06:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401912/posts There’s a strange political cocktail brewing in Washington, one that mixes top conservative strategist Grover Norquist and tea party organizers at FreedomWorks with democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), progressive activists and public interest advocates. The unlikely coalition’s bid to block Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve until Congress votes on legislation to audit the secretive central bank is tapping into a growing anti-establishment mood — and legislators up for reelection next year are taking notice. Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401912/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:50:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399993/posts Video interview of Gerald Celente about why Bernanke should not be reconfirmed. Youtube (RT) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399993/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:32:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399803/posts Republican Senator Jim DeMint, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said on Thursday he would oppose Ben Bernanke's nomination for a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. "Americans want a new Fed chairman who is willing to provide transparency into the Fed's actions, who is willing to accept responsibility for the Fed's mistakes, and who is willing to support true monetary reform that guarantees the soundness of our money," DeMint said in a statement. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399803/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 00:51:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399794/posts “We must take care that the Federal Reserve remains effective and independent,” Amid tough but generally respectful questioning, most senators appeared ready to support Mr Bernanke’s renomination, but many voiced deep concerns about the Fed as an institution and challenged the chairman’s views as to the roles it should play in the future. Financial Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399794/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 00:38:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399737/posts Ben S. Bernanke used a hearing for his reconfirmation as Federal Reserve chairman on Thursday to express concern about legislation that would put the Fed on a tighter leash and let Congress “second-guess” its decisions. Mr. Bernanke’s chief concern was a proposal by Representative Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, to “audit the Fed.” The amendment to the House of Representative’s bill overhauling financial regulation would submit the Fed to audits of its decisions concerning monetary policy. “To be very, very clear, I in no way object to — in fact I welcome — transparency about the Fed’s activities and the... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399737/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 23:33:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399695/posts Sen. Jim Bunning has placed an additional hold on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term. Bunning's office confirmed that the Kentucky Republican is joining with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, to seek to block Bernanke's confirmation to a second term atop the Federal Reserve Board. Bernanke has come under fire from lawmakers on the left and the right, who have expressed varying concerns about his record as Fed chairman, though his course to a second term was eased somewhat on Thursday when a number of members of the Senate Banking Committee, including Chairman... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399695/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 22:29:40 GMT