monetary policy

by Claus Vistesen Life can be incredibly cruel sometimes. Only a week after Bernanke gave markets an early Christmas present with another helicopter drop, the S&P500 is stuttering and it seems, much as many astute observers have…

This is a hilarious cartoon video about the Fed and its program of quantitative easing, explaining it in terms everyone can understand. Watch for humourous references to "The Quantitative Easing," "The Inflation," "The Deflation," and…

This is a must-see video that runs 30 minutes. Take the time to watch the whole thing. It is a real coup that CNBC got Grantham on their program.  Overall, Grantham's view is the same as mine. The Fed should get out of trying to use…

The Fed, for whatever reason, has induced a shift in private portfolio preferences simply by talking about something.  But I think the point commentators like the Pragmatic Capitalist make is indisputably correct.  The policy…

This is a cross-post from New Deal 2.0. On the eve of President Obama’s arrival to the G20 talks in South Korea, a growing chorus of voices is questioning the direction of U.S. monetary policy. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang…

Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009). "igher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase…

China reported an October trade surplus of $27 billion Wednesday. This is a very big number and not one likely to soothe anger directed at China. It will be very hard for China credibly to argue that it is trying to contribute to global…

I am on-board with Roach's sentiments. This is certainly what I take away from the U.S. policy mix. Now, a lot of economists of the Keynesian variety are telling us that the problems in the US are cyclical i.e. an aggregate demand (AD)…

by Annaly Capital Management One of the goals of QE is to raise asset prices, as we have been told by Chairman Bernanke and Brian Sack among others, which should stimulate wealth-effect consumption. Leaving aside all of the obvious hazards…

The reason: QE. The downgrade for the U.S. is to A+ from AA, with a negative outlook because of quantitative easing, according to Xinhua. According to the ratings agency, quantitative easing will further depreciate the U.S. dollar and…