Credit Writedowns

Editor's note: The FDIC released the following press release today in conjunction with findings by the FDIC's Committee on Economic Inclusion to Discuss Strategies to Expand Access. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today…

I note that several of the policy mistakes listed above date back to the same period, namely the late 1990s. Not only does it demonstrate the gung-ho approach of the time, but it also goes to show that policy mistakes do not necessarily…

There are no big stories in today's links so I am going to leave it as is. Tomorrow at 10AM German time we get the German Constitutional Court ruling. That's the big piece of news that we are waiting on. Most people think the court will…

Here's a good essay from the St. Louis Fed, examining how effective 'permanent zero' rates are. As you know, I think permanent zero is toxic. Let's see what the St. Louis Fed is saying though. Since the late 1980s the Federal Open Market…

By Sober Look With the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) forced to shrink their balance sheets (see discussion), the private sector will need to step in. As demand for mortgages increases with the growth of the US population (see…

The following press release was issued by Moody's Investors Service earlier today regarding the United States. New York, September 11, 2012 -- Budget negotiations during the 2013 Congressional legislative session will likely determine the…

Even before the crisis, there were some who stressed that monetary policy should keep an eye on asset bubbles and the growth of credit. This column argues that the policy of inflation targeting, used widely in the 1990s and 2000s, did…

A friend tipped me off to this BIS paper from 2009. It looks into unconventional monetary policy and the inflationary consequences of adding a huge amount of reserves to the system. The abstract reads as follows:  Abstract The recent…

By Sober Look Continuing with the recent theme of the US labor markets, consider the chart below. It's the total US employees on nonfarm payrolls going back to the mid 60s. We've heard numerous discussions about how the current payrolls…

No huge commentary today. But what struck me about the links in today's edition was how many were related to the loss of jobs and income both in the US and Europe. Rick Bookstaber's post about the Great Labor Reset has me thinking about how…