Category Archives: fiscal and monetary policy

Jeff Cane today cites with approval Edmund Andrews: On Sunday, Fed officials raised the stakes by offering investment banks a new loan program without any explicit size limit. These moves, along with a $30 billion credit line to help JPMorgan … Continue reading →

After a busy weekend, Ben Bernanke is clearly tired of giving the markets absolutely everything they want. Instead, he’s just giving them nearly everything they want. Today’s 75bp cut is actually a 100bp cut in the discount rate, at least … Continue reading →

WCW has this chart, and says of it: Any time that a properly normalized series starts rivaling the freaking Depression, you have to worry. Worry? Yes, I’m worried. But not so much because banks are borrowing from the Fed again … Continue reading →

The Fed is worried about a lack of liquidity in the credit markets. The Fed acts to make the markets more liquid. Is the Fed’s action foolish? We hope so! We like to think: "market — trade — liquidity — … Continue reading →

So you still want to know the difference between the TAF and the TSLF? Over at Interfluidity, "livingstone guy" explains: The new repo line you talk about is nothing more than the TAF for the brokers who dont have access … Continue reading →

Do you know your TAF from your TSLF? Frankly, it doesn’t matter if you don’t. Think of Ben Bernanke as action hero: every time the credit markets seize up and threaten to bring down the US financial system, he pulls … Continue reading →

Back at the end of 2004, the New York Times warned darkly that the Bush Administration had plans up its sleeve to abolish the deductibility of state and local income taxes on federal tax returns. And lo, less than a … Continue reading →

The Federal reserve, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, and Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, between them, have injected a huge amount of liquidity into the banking system during this credit crunch. But it’s been done in a reactive manner, … Continue reading →

I actually read Ben Bernanke’s testimony today all the way through to the end – this should get me a gold star from Barry Ritholtz, at the very least. The not-particularly-surprising news, of course, is that he’ll continue to cut … Continue reading →

In its front-page curtain-raiser for the Bank of England’s rate cut today, the WSJ prints a chart with the headline "Banking Bubble?". It shows that the financial sector now accounts for more than a fifth of all jobs in the … Continue reading →

We all know the thesis that the subprime crisis is Alan Greenspan’s fault for cutting interest rates way too much and fuelling an unsustainable mortgage-credit bubble. But now Michael Mandel comes along with the flipside argument: that the subprime crisis … Continue reading →

So it was to be 50bp after all: Ben Bernanke has proved himself capable of following through in the two-step rate cut he initiated a week ago, even in the knowledge that cutting 125bp over the course of little more … Continue reading →

Matt, a loyal reader, emails: If Ben is dropping money from helicopters, how do I get some? We’re not talking about professional money traders here who can simply play in the Fed funds futures market. If you’re a retail investor … Continue reading →

My blog entry about the surprise rate cut yesterday was very much a gut reaction, put out very quickly as my gate was being called at Heathrow. But it’s received a lot of attention in the blogosphere, and with 24 … Continue reading →