Category Archives: Federal Reserve

Misunderstanding Volcker

A reappraisal of Volcker, who was more hostile to workers and less hard on financiers than the press would have you believe.

Repo Madness: Fed Plumbing Gone Awry

How the Fed’s fingerprints are all over the repo mess.

Wolf Richter: The Fed Slaps Down Negative Interest Rates

The first major discussion of negative interest rates recounted in the FOMC minutes show serious disapproval.

How the Fed Boosts the 1%: Even the Upper Middle Class Loses Share of Household Wealth to the 1%. Bottom Half Gets Screwed

It is bizarre to see the Fed present data showing the Gilded Age level of wealth accumulation by the 1% as if that were a badge of honor.

The People’s Money (Part 1)

An explanation of the Federal Reserve money system.

Long Term Real Interest Rates Fell Below Zero in all Euro Area Countries

Is praise of negative real interest rates in Europe making a virtue out of (mis)perceived necessity?

Mark Carney’s Trojan Unicorn — Are Central Banks Considering Stealth Nationalization in Sovereign Digital Currencies?

Mark Carney talks about digital soverign currencies. But is he really describing nationalization? And if so, whither the commercial banks?

The End of Super Imperialism?

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s proposal to invent to replace the US dollar as the key reserve currency with a “synthetic hegemonic currency.”

The Fed Has Not Covered Itself in Glory: Fed Funds Mess Edition

Why the Fed should be embarrassed.

Kalecki, Minsky, and “Old Keynesianism” Vs. “New Keynesianism” on the Effect of Monetary Policy

Larry Summers, a barometer of leading edge conventional wisdom, questions Keynesianism as a distortion of Keynes and for its overconfidence in monetary policy.

Marshall Auerback: We Are Clearly Living in a Bizarro Capitalism Era—And It’s Time to Change How the World Manages Economies

Central banks don’t have the tools to address our problems. It will take well-constructed fiscal policy to set right our topsy-turvy economy.

The Fed Thinks the US Economy Is Fine. Do You?

Seeking reader input on the health of their economy.

Michael Hudson: Why Frances Coppola’s “The Case for the People’s Quantitative Easing” Is for Banks, Not the People

A dubious proposal to continue over-reliance on monetary policy, this time with a quantitative easing scheme, instead of fiscal spending.

Trump Was [Selectively] Right About the Dollar

Turns out Trump was not all wrong in saying the dollar was overpriced.

Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete

In a 1946 classic, New York Fed chairman Beardsley Ruml explains why taxes aren’t necessary for Federal spending and argues against corporate income taxes.