credit cards

by Annaly Capital Management Last Friday was a Z.1 Flow of Funds day, always a fun day. The 137 page report from the Federal Reserve features data for the second quarter of 2010. Total credit market debt outstanding grew slightly during…

As is often the case, the genesis of this post is a conversation initiated by Edward (Harrison) on the question of why we aren’t using monetary policy to stimulate aggregate demand. That question was posed here by Tyler Cowen at Marginal…

The Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey which concluded last week showed a high level of concern amongst top financial officers in major organizations worldwide. Of note are the CFOs ideas regarding employment and…

There were three pieces of data today that give the complete picture for the consumer economy right now. My read of the data says we are now in a holding pattern awaiting more concrete evidence that the technical recovery which began last…

In a recent post on the money multiplier, a reader Luis Enrique asked about bank lending and capital constraints. Anecdotally, much of the reduction in credit is supply-constrained as well as demand-constrained. That means it's a matter of…

Editor's Note: Do not confuse the use of the term 'loanable funds' used here with the theory of loanable funds which implies government spending crowds out private spending because of a limited pool of 'loanable funds' in an economy. The…

By Edward Hugh Look, if there is one simple chart which sums up everything that is wrong with current thinking at the International Monetary Fund, then it is this one. Basically, I spent much of the day yesterday scratching my head,…

Marshall Auerback here. Our Treasury Secretary has conceded that it is still a “tough economy” for most Americans, and warned it’s possible the unemployment rate will go up for a couple of months before it comes down. Given the…

From the Consumer Metrics Institute What credit numbers? During the past week there has been a flurry of Federal Reserve reports and commentary concerning the levels of credit in the current economy. The two most notable were: On July…

From Annaly Capital Management There has been a lot of discussion recently about corporate cash levels, both in newspapers and blogs. Back in June, the Fed published the 1Q 2010 Flow of Funds report that shows corporations are sitting on…