The Very Best People at the Fed
Click the chimp! (Jerome Powell is chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.) Only the very best people at the Fed! Continue Reading →
Click the chimp! (Jerome Powell is chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.) Only the very best people at the Fed! Continue Reading →
One question that has come up is whether this was a failure of regulation. Stanford Prof. John Cochrane is a proponent of this idea. I don’t find his arguments persuasive. Continue Reading →
On March 10, Silicon Valley Bank was closed by the FDIC. The main cause was an incompetent management team that wasn’t interested in banking. Continue Reading →
Here’s a short explanation of where Herman Cain fit in the Federal Reserve system. President of the Kansas City Fed is not an easy job. Continue Reading →
President Trump was considering nominating Stephen Moore and Herman Cain to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system. All three men support a return to the gold standard for U.S. monetary policy. Here’s why they’re dead wrong. Continue Reading →
But the real problem is that the Fed has not understood why banks are holding all those reserves. There are two reasons. First, there is incredible risk aversion caused by the random, frequent regulations and lawsuits emanating from the Obama administration. Second, there is the small matter of loan demand. Banks are holding reserves because they don’t see demand for loans whose return is worth the risk. The only way loan demand will increase is for the economy to ascend to a decent growth rate. Until that happens, the Fed should just give up. Continue Reading →
The Fed has spoken. The new target rate for the Federal Funds rate will gradually rise to between 0.25 and 0.50 percent. I wrote extensively about this yesterday. It will be interesting to see whether the folks at the Board of Governors can make this rate increase stick. Continue Reading →
Not, mind you, because the Fed will raise interest rates any time soon. No, the geniuses at the Federal Open Market Committee and the Board of Governors seem to be leaning in a different direction: NIRP. … Better get used to seeing those initials. They stand for negative-interest-rate policy. That’s right. The Fed thinks they can drive nominal short-term interest rates below zero. Continue Reading →
A two percentage point increase in the interest rate would double the U.S. government budget deficit. Continue Reading →
Average annual growth rates of M1 and M2 are in the 6% – 8% range. Reserves have averaged 215.25% per year. Reserves are not being loaned. And until lending picks up the Fed might as well close up shop. Continue Reading →