Money For Nothing

Senate Democrats to Obama: ‘It Would Be Great To Have A Woman’ As Fed Chief

"In another boost for Ms. Yellen, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said in an interview with Bloomberg television, due to air this weekend, that while both Mr. Summers and Ms. Yellen were well qualified, 'it would be great to have a woman'' nominated to the post. If nominated and confirmed, Ms. Yellen would be the first female Fed chief. Republicans in the Senate have expressed increasing opposition to the Fed's $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program. Ms. Yellen has been instrumental in the continuation of the bond-buying program, and is known to be a strong proponent of the Fed's easy-money policies." Continue reading →

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2013 Bitcoin Mid-Year Review and Outlook

"The past six months may one day prove to be among the most important in bitcoin’s history. As global events sparked increasing need for frictionless wealth transfers, bitcoin’s popularity ballooned and ignited a conversation that will likely continue to flourish in the years to come. Growth in bitcoin’s value was outpaced only by the incredible interest from entrepreneurs, investors and the press. In this 27-page report we cover the major events from the first half of 2013 and what to look out for in the months ahead." Continue reading →

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Are You Ready for This Coming Disaster?

"Interest rates will remain at low levels for a very, very long time. The Fed will remove the stimulus in baby steps because it has no other choice. Any significant moves would send world markets into a tailspin. When the money printing finally stops, the Fed will still keep interest rates at zero for a while, just to make sure the economy can stand on its own feet. Only then – and if everything goes well – will the Fed slowly begin to hike rates. Most bubbles burst when the Fed starts to move rates above the inflation rate. As you can see in the chart above, that’s what happened in 2006. But, the Fed will only do that when inflation starts to get out of control." Continue reading →

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Fantasy Land Financial Analysis for Investors

"Here is the most recent chart from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This is the adjusted monetary base over the past 12 months. This reflects the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is in control of the monetary base. Perhaps we should look at the longer-range policy. Do you see any change since 2009? The MarketWatch writer draws a conclusion from this 'tightening.' He writes: 'The Fed’s tightening is primarily to prevent a full-blown asset bubble. Its burst could bring another financial crisis.' But if the FED is not tightening, what happens to the asset bubble?" Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: Bernanke’s Farewell Tour

"Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered what may well be his last Congressional testimony before leaving the Federal Reserve in 2014. Unfortunately, his farewell performance was full of contradictory comments about the state of the economy and the effects of Fed policies on the market. One thing Bernanke inadvertently made clear was that the needs of Wall Street trump Main street, the economy, and sound money. Quantitative easing (QE) and effectively zero interest rates have created paper prosperity, but now the Fed must continuously assure Wall Street that the QE spigot will not be turned off." Continue reading →

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The Democrats Finally Embrace Money Printing

"Even though Quantitative Easing started in 2008, it seems as if Democrats didn’t really 'get it'. They viewed it as a way to save the banksters’ collective bacon—they didn’t see it as the way by which the Federal government could go into limitless debt. But with Thursday’s testimony, it’s clear like a bomb blast that the Democrats finally understand what QE really means: The Federal government can go into as much deficit spending as it wishes, because the Federal Reserve will be buying the bonds that finance this deficit spending by way of QE. And now that they understand this, they are all in favor of more of it." Continue reading →

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UK Telegraph: ‘We No Longer Have Free Markets’

"If Bernanke really shakes the tree, half the world may fall out ... We no longer have a free market. The world's financial asset prices have become a plaything of central banks and the sovereign wealth funds of a few emerging powers. Julian Callow from Barclays says they are buying $1.8 trillion worth of AAA or safe-haven bonds each year from an available pool of $2 trillion. Nothing like this has been seen before in modern times, if ever." Continue reading →

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Bernanke “The Only Game in Town”: Really?

"America's real economy is innovating away from the dead hand of the Fed and its toxic spew of free money to the predatory class. There's actually three games in town: the financier game the Fed is playing that will end in collapse, the Federal government's borrow-and-blow trillions of dollars game that will also end badly, and the real economy, where millions of people don't give a rat's rear-end about Bernanke's latest attempt to placate the financial Monster Id he has created. Bernanke is irrelevant to millions of people who are building the next economy beneath the rotting soggy mess of the financialized one Bernanke is attempting to resuscitate." Continue reading →

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Bernanke: I’m Clueless About Gold

"Chmn. Bernanke: When we buy securities from a private citizen, we create a deposit in their bank, and it shows up as reserves. So if you look up our balance sheet, our balance sheet balances. We have Treasury securities on the asset side. On the liability side we have either cash or reserves at banks, and on the margin that’s what has been building up as excess reserves at banks. Rep. Rothfus: You create the reserves? Chmn. Bernanke: Yes. Rep. Rothfus: Is that printing money? Chmn. Bernanke: Not literally." Continue reading →

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Dow, S&P 500 set record highs on Bernanke, upbeat earnings

"Stocks finished higher Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 setting fresh highs, boosted by a batch of upbeat economic reports and after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated that monetary policy will remain highly accommodative, even as the central bank starts to pare back its bond buying. Bernanke returned to Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on the economy and QE after reassuring the markets Wednesday that there was no concrete timetable for the Fed to scale back its bond purchase program. Bernanke also emphasized that there could be a lengthy time-lag between the end of asset purchases and a hike in interest rates." Continue reading →

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