Category Archives: Federal Reserve

Sen. Merkley, Dem. on Banking Committee, to Vote Against Bernanke

This morning, Senator Jeff Merkley, a freshman Senator from Oregon, announced he would vote against Bernanke’s confirmation: Tomorrow, I will vote against confirming Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The reason, in short, is that as Chairman, Dr. Bernanke failed to recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark […]

Bernanke Stonewalls and Prevaricates in Response to Questions by Sen. Bunning

Senator Jim Bunning gave a long, detailed, specific, and very good list of questions to Fed chair Ben Bernanke, and Bunning has posted the resulting Q&A on his website. I find this a pretty remarkable document. While a certain amount of bureaucratic jousting is to be expected (ie, there is a level of artful dodging […]

Guest Post: The Fed’s “Independence” Argument Is False

The House has passed a bill to audit the Federal Reserve. 79% of the American people support a full audit. In response, the Fed says that an audit would interfere with its “independence”. However, the Constitution does not empower a central bank. And Congress – which created the Federal Reserve in 1913 and which has […]

Guest Post: House Passes Bill to Audit the Fed

I have just received confirmation from a very credible Congressional source that the bill to audit the Federal Reserve is included in the House financial reform legislation which passed today. My source says: The Fed audit provision which passed the Financial Services Committee a few weeks ago is part of the bill. This is a […]

“Highlights from the Bernanke Testimony”

By Richard Alford, a former economist at the New York Fed. Since then, he has worked in the financial industry as a trading floor economist and strategist on both the sell side and the buy side. It has been almost a week since the Bernanke testimony and since the dust has settled, two exchanges stand […]

No Need for New TARP: Fed Land Grab in Miller Amendment

We’ve commented repeatedly and disapproving of the increasing operation of the Fed as an off balance sheet vehicle of the Treasury, in violation of normal budgetary processes (as have some former central bankers, most notably Willem Buiter). Even thought Congress has been attempting to beat back the expansion of the Fed’s authority that Team Obama […]

Alan Grayson Asks Bernanke for Answers in Latest Retrade of AIG Deal

The ongoing tempest in a teapot about executive compensation at AIG appears to be a bit of Kabuki theater designed to divert attention from the real drama, which is the continuing sweetening of the deal to the troubled insurer. We will get to Congressman Alan Grayson’s pointed questions to Bernanke about the latest de facto […]

BIS Warns Low Rates Lead to Excessive Risk Taking

The Bank of International Settlements is taking a more public stand on a matter it took up with central bankers privately prior to the crisis, namely, that overly low interest rates stoke asset bubbles. Its chief economist William White had been warning against overly lax monetary policy as early as 2003: White recognized the brewing […]

“Values and Rules”

By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers by Andrew Smithers (2009) The Road to Financial Reformation: Warnings, Consequences, Reforms by Henry Kaufman (2009) In a sense, this crisis is about values […]

Republican on Senate Banking Committee to Place Hold on Bernanke Confirmation

It’s one thing for Bernie Sanders, who is an independent in more ways than one, to put a hold on Bernanke’s confirmation (a threat to filibuster, which if executed, will at a minimum will mess up the Senate’s calendar for a few days) and quite another from someone across the aisle, and a member of […]

Progress on “No on Bernanke,” Including Sanders Putting Hold on Confirmation

The efforts to block Bernanke’s confirmation are getting some traction. First, Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he is putting a hold on Bernanke’s confirmation. A hold (in lay terms) is a threat to filibuster. This is actually pretty serious and seldom done. It takes 60 votes to beat one back, and there are enough procedural […]

Most Senators “Have Fingers in the Wind” on Bernanke

This came via e-mail from a legitimate source: As a former staffer for one of these Senators [on the Banking Committee], I’ll just point out the obvious: most of them have their fingers in the wind right now. they’re leaning to confirm BB, because they don’t want to be out on a limb, and there’s […]

Is Bloomberg Engaging in Bernanke Boosterism?

There is a curious disparity in the reports on Bernanke’s odds of reconfirmation as Fed chairman. Now on the one hand, incumbents generally have an upper hand. But incumbents seldom preside over massive disasters that started on their watch and remain sufficiently unobservant as to be unable to connect the dots that they might have […]

Guest Post: Questions for Bernanke’s Senate Confirmation Hearing

The Senate Banking Committee will be chatting with Ben Bernanke this Thursday to vote on his reappointment. Demand that the Committee ask the following questions for our esteemed Esteemed Chairman (and contact your own Senators also and demand that they find out the answers to the following questions). If you are a Senate aide, please […]

“The Fed, Treasury, and AIG”

By Richard Alford, a former economist at the New York Fed. Since then, he has worked in the financial industry as a trading floor economist and strategist on both the sell side and the buy side. The Fed has recently come under heavy criticism, largely for its role in the AIG bailout. The Fed deserves […]