Tag Archives: FRS

"...What we learned was that the Fed provided $16 trillion in secret, low-interest loans to every major American financial institution..."

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From a great WaPo op-ed by indy Senator Bernie Sanders (it’s on Sanders’ site, too):

Trust in government is at an all-time low. That’s not because Washington is too heavy-handed with Wall Street. Quite the contrary! The American people are angry and disillusioned because they see our government act boldly to protect Wall Street CEOs but not ordinary Americans. When Wall Street needed a $700 billion bailout, the government was there for them. When working families need an end to excessive oil speculation and real relief at the gas pump, the government has failed to act.

The same Dodd-Frank bill that required commodity regulators to limit speculators included my amendment calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve from Dec. 1, 2007, to July 21, 2010, the period of the financial crisis. What we learned was that the Fed provided $16 trillion in secret, low-interest loans to every major American financial institution and to other central banks, large corporations and wealthy individuals. The audit provision was vigorously opposed by the Federal Reserve chairman. It was right, however, that the veil of secrecy at the Fed was lifted and the American people learned about its actions.

This sums it up. The USG effectively fails to oversee the Fed and giving out loans of $16 trillion seriously fucks with our economy.  Think about it: 16 trillion new dollars injected into our economy.  It’s a miracle the USD is worth anything at this point.  It’s like we’re injecting water into our bloodstream because we think the more liquid is in our veins and arteries the more blood we have.  So, when the USG doesn’t bother to audit the Fed like they’re supposed to and when the USG openly bails out big businesses and banks, it makes We, The People, wonder just what the hell government is there for.

“…for the people, by the people,” my ass.  More like “for banks and corporations, by the guys who used to run them.”

Read the rest of Sanders’ piece on his website and learn about how oil prices are being artificially hiked by excessive futures speculation.


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Fed's Bernanke `Doesn't Understand' Economics, Jim Rogers Says - Bloomberg

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Fed’s Bernanke `Doesn’t Understand’ Economics, Jim Rogers Says – Bloomberg

Oh, man—this guy is saying exactly what I’ve been thinking ever since CoalSpeaker first pointed out the Fed’s latest action to “save” our economy (which they decided to do right while we were distracted with the election). Anyway, so here’s a cutting from an article at Bloomberg.com from today:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s decision to pump a further $600 billion into the economy shows his grasp of economics is weak, said investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings.

“Dr. Bernanke unfortunately does not understand economics, he does not understand currencies, he does not understand finance,” Rogers, 68, said in a lecture at Oxford University’s Balliol College yesterday. “All he understands is printing money.”

“His whole intellectual career has been based on the study of printing money,” said Rogers, who predicted the start of the global commodities rally in 1999. “Give the guy a printing press, he’s going to run it as fast as he can.”

I’m continually surprised that most people who are aware of how the Fed works and yet aren’t upset by the fact that there’s a bunch of unelected white guys in suits someplace who can just print up more money while the rest of us have to work for it.

What’s really scary here is that Bernanke’s plan to print up a fresh wad of bills, totaling $600 billion, will devalue our currency even more (they did this before, back in September of 2008 while all eyes were on Congress while they debated how to save the economy, and gosh it really saved us?).  $600 billion is a huge amount of money. 

I’m not sure how else to describe this aside from mass devaluation. 

I think the idea is to encourage foreign investment and make it super cheap for domestic businesses to borrow money.  Since that money won’t buy much, what are businesses supposed to do with it?  Hire new employees and pay ‘em!

That’s the hope, I suppose.  In the meantime, our money buys less.  The other irony is that the inflation rate will go up and make your savings accounts useless or even costly to you.  Think about it.  The inflation rate this year has fluctuated between 1 and 2.6(ish)%.  What’s your savings account interest rate? If it’s not more than that window, you’ve already taken a hit.

Don’t have a savings account?  Good boy!  Shove that cash under the mattress or buy stuff with it.  You’re probably better off.

That’s just my ¥2, of course.

Go read the Bloomberg article for all the details.  Sure, Rogers has a book to sell, but his logic is sound, sadly.

UPDATE: And I just read this in another article on Bloomberg about Japan’s economy:

No matter how much yen the Bank of Japan pumps into the economy, deflation deepens. It’s all about confidence, of which there is virtually none. Companies don’t trust that growth will return and so they avoid investing and hiring and trim salaries. Households fret about the future.

Was puzzling about that article is that it talks about deflation being the cause of a race to the bottom for prices.  He cites Hooters as an example because they sell cheap food and cheap alcohol.  But does that mean deflation?  How many wings is the Yen actually buying?  Hm, maybe it’s that we’re switching positions with Japan.  We’ll all be making more money (if this plan works) but the money won’t buy as much so we’ll have to spend more to get the same stuff.

But injecting money into the economy in Japan hasn’t worked and has inspired price-drops across every sector because the money injection didn’t work.  So, maybe we’re seeing into our own futures?

Geh… why does money have to be so confusing?


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Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus

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Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus

The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting panel began a crucial two-day meeting Tuesday, poised to cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-manage the economy in a bid to avoid a lost decade of growth.

The central bank’s open market committee (FOMC) is expected to approve massive stimulus spending not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

At the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce it will resume the large-scale purchase of long-term US bonds — essentially printing billions of dollars — in the hope of boosting a weak recovery.

I wonder if this actually happens if it’ll show up on the MSM.

Funny how the Fed has tried things very similar to this before and it hasn’t worked.  It didn’t work the time before that, either.  It’s so funny how these allegedly intelligent people keep doing the same thing, thinking it will yield different results. 

The BIG problem here is they’re essentially loaning money to themselves—at least, if I understand this whole thing correctly.  Usually, they loan money they create from nothing to banks.  Again, that’s assuming I understand this correctly. This means they’ll be able to loan more and profit more.

Whether we’re voting for political leaders who we pretend care for our interests or use money that we pretend has actual value, we are living in a virtual virtual reality.

Kinda scary when you realize this is the other side of the looking glass.

Forgot to say: found via: CoalSpeaker.com


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