reserves

In June of last year, I wrote a post called "Central banks will face a Scylla and Charybdis flation challenge for years." The crux of the piece was that we are living in a world in which debt deflation is always one downturn away,…

I recorded the video segment below on on RT America on Wednesday night (Notice my green tie for St. Patrick's Day!). The overall gist of the clip was that the currency battle now brewing between China and the U.S. is mostly a political…

UPDATE: 19 MAR 2010: Given the debate on China and its currency peg, I thought this post from November 2008 would be relevant. It called for a new world order centered around a new monetary system. This idea has gained some currency as it…

The federal funds rate has been creeping up in recent days.  At first, many dismissed it as a technical quirk.  In early February, the effective federal funds rate firmed to 14 bp as it did in early March.  However it did not…

Back in July, Ed pointed to some comments by George Soros on currencies that I felt were perceptive. Soros said: The dollar is a very weak currency except all the others. With most major currencies down significantly against the…

I wrote a post yesterday (The Fed’s exit strategy) to explain the mechanics surrounding Monday’s Federal Reserve announcement that it is offering CD accounts to banks. The Federal Reserve does not control the demand for credit and therefore…

Randy Wray says: The Federal Reserve on Monday proposed allowing banks to park their reserves at the central bank, a move aimed at weaning the economy off extraordinary infusions of cash and curbing inflation. The Fed would create the…

The last I had heard about a prospective Gulf currency union came yesterday morning in a note by Marc Chandler who is the Chief Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman’s FX group.  He indicated that he was more optimistic about a Gulf…

There has been quite a lot of hub-bub today about President Obama’s fat cat remarks and his meeting with bankers exhorting them to lend. Let me tie these events in with a few other themes into a comprehensive picture of what is happening in…

When I read Yves Smith's recent comments on Bank of America's repayment of its TARP funds, I couldn't help but think of a post I wrote six months ago called "Asymmetric information and corporate governance in bank bailouts." The…