Yearly Archives: 2013

Overstock CEO: money ’too important to leave to government officials’

"Overstock.com Inc., an online discount retailer, is preparing to accept the virtual currency bitcoin as payment in the second half of 2014, according to Chief Executive and Chairman Patrick Byrne. The news was first reported by the website newsBTC, and confirmed in a Thursday morning phone interview with Byrne. The project is in an early stage, with no decision yet on whether Overstock.com would work with bitcoin companies to allow bitcoin payments or create its own system. A team of six to 12 people is expected to work on bitcoin payments at the company, said Byrne." Continue reading →

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Fed’s ‘Elixir’ Is Surely a Temporary One

"The idea once was that powerful central bankers would work behind the scenes to make sure that various markets were stable and fair. Nowadays, central bankers work to ensure that markets – especially stock markets – are propped up so that the appearance of an improving economy can be maintained. And far from working in secret, this generation of bankers is desperate to reassure investors that optimal conditions for continued equity gains will be continued. This is, in fact, what the Bloomberg article is telling us. The Fed's magic elixir is simply the ability to assure top investors that they can continue to shovel money into the stock market without undue risk of reversals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFed’s ‘Elixir’ Is Surely a Temporary One

Punk Economics: The Kidnapper wears Prada

"The Kidnapper wears Prada: Why the rich are getting much, much richer, why the Fed is in a corner and what it means for you! As the Federal Reserve gets a new chair and decides what to do next, whether to print $85 billion a month more or not, we examine the heist, who gets all the loot, why today's kidnappers wear Prada. Wake up. See what happens when financial kidnappers dress up as loyal patriots and extort money in the name of the common good." Continue reading →

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Fed to America: ‘QE Scam Will Continue’

"Yesterday, the Fed announced that the scam would continue. In a typical sleight of hand, it took its monthly asset buying down from $85 billion to $75 billion… but also told us that zero-bound interest would keep flowing for even longer than expected. As a card-carrying, asset-owning and secret-handshake-giving member of the 1%, we’re delighted to know that the filthy lucre will continue coming our way. But as a financial philosopher we find the whole show rather shabby and tawdry. Not only does the program shift income from the public to the insiders, it also masks the real problems in the economy and stifles real corrections." Continue reading →

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When We Will Celebrate the End of QE, and Why

"Central bank money is disseminated through the banking system. And the banking system over years funnels it into investable facilities like the stock market. It is a criminal system, predicated on rigorous control of money stock. If bankers really wanted to benefit the middle class, they'd pump it directly into bank accounts. But they won't, for that would reveal the essential phoniness of the system and it would also generate vast price inflation. But price inflation they will have nonetheless. By the time bubbles are visible, as they are, it is way too late for the economy to contain the damage. And thus they pretend to cut. Or trim the advance. But markets, especially stock markets, will continue to rise." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhen We Will Celebrate the End of QE, and Why

My Fed Forecast Was Right on Target — What to Look for Next

"Outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded a much more confident tone on the economy in his post-meeting press conference. And he indicated that the incoming chairman, Janet Yellen, fully supported the day’s action. Furthermore, he said that barring some economic catastrophe, the $10 billion reduction in the QE program we’ll get in January is just the first of many steps. It should be followed by cuts of roughly an equivalent size — or more — at every single meeting in 2014. That, in turn, sets the stage for the next major surprise. (At least to the Wall Street crowd.) I’m talking about the first actual short-term interest-rate hike in 2014." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMy Fed Forecast Was Right on Target — What to Look for Next

What Happened to the Fed’s Trillions? Back on Deposit…at the Fed!

"So you can understand why they wanted to have the tool. Now the question is whether or not this tool as it was implemented throughout this financial crisis, and aftermath, has exacerbated the problems with the credit channel. A bank can decide, 'Do I want to give a three-year loan to a risky borrower, or do I want to get 25 basis points at the Federal Reserve? I'm really risk averse right now. I don't really want to lend to anybody so I'd rather take my 25 basis points.' So I believe that at the margin, this has affected the credit channel, the effectiveness of the credit channel." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Happened to the Fed’s Trillions? Back on Deposit…at the Fed!

David Stockman: Lunatic Fed Engineering Global Collapse

"Yellen has been part of this Fed system since the 1990s. Just start with the year 2000: The balance sheet of the Fed was $500 billion. Today it’s pushing $4 trillion. That’s an eight-fold increase just in this century. She’s been part of it all along, and if that isn’t monetizing the debt, (then) I don’t know what the word means. It is only the top 1% that has experienced a huge windfall from the serial bubbles that the Fed has created. So, if you go right to the core of what this is all about -- what the Fed’s mission is, what the new chairman of the Fed will be doing and saying, I think we had a pretty good indication that she’s going to take this lunatic policy that we’ve had for years now right over the edge." Continue reading →

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Yellen Strikes Out

"Mrs. Yellen insisted that she supports 'transparency and openness on the part of the Fed.' She claimed that in terms of the 'range of information and the timeliness of that information, we are one of the most transparent central banks in the world.' That’s not only irrelevant but wan. She then declared that she would not support 'a requirement — any requirement — that would diminish the independence of the Federal Reserve in implementing, and deciding on implementing, monetary policy.'" Continue reading →

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The FED’s New Normal: $900 Billion a Year . . . Indefinitely

"This is the Federal Reserve System at 100 years. The economy is now addicted to an emergency monetary policy. The FOMC has made it clear: the bubble conditions of the financial markets will not deliberately be popped by a return to 2007. This is the new normal -- endless addiction to monetary expansion. Meanwhile, the banks refuse to lend into the economy. They pile up excess reserves. The FOMC clearly does not expect this to cease. That is why $900 billion a year is the new normal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe FED’s New Normal: $900 Billion a Year . . . Indefinitely