Post tagged with Federal Reserve

  • Why Isn't the Fed More Worried About Inflation?

    November 19th, 201008:52 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    I thought some readers might find it helpful to understand why the Fed doesn't appear to be as concerned as many commentators about the risk of future inflation. Note that I'm not writing this explanation because I necessarily think the Fed is right and its critics are wrong. This is simply to help you understand both sides of the argument a ...

  • Between a rock and a hard place

    November 12th, 200908:40 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    That's where the Fed finds itself currently, trying to balance its dual mandate of price stability and full employment. As Randall Forsyth writes in this week's Barron's (subscription required): Friday's jobs data underscored Wednesday's reiteration by the Federal Reserve that it will keep its key policy rate at 0-0.25% "for an extended per...

  • We should have seen it coming

    November 05th, 200909:02 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    In a column for the Wall Street Journal, the always-insightful Jeremy Seigel, a professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (and author of Stocks for the Long Run), gets to the heart of what led to the financial meltdown. The key, he writes, can be found in data collected by Prof. Robert Shiller of Yale University. ...

  • "Too big to fail" is too big

    October 29th, 200909:03 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    Jim Jubak's latest column is a pretty convincing explanation of Why Big Banks Hate Banking. He runs through several examples (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) showing that these companies may be involved (to varying degrees) in regular banking activities, but at least recently, they've been making most of their profits ...

  • Fed starting to pull money out of economy

    September 10th, 200907:30 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    In three recent SMI cover articles (May, August, September), we've noted our concern that current fiscal and monetary policy - including an unprecedented increase in the money supply orchestrated by the Fed - is likely to create significant inflationary pressures. Of course, no one can accurately predict exactly when an inflationary surge will be...

  • Bernanke - Take 2

    September 02nd, 200910:50 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    Last week, President Obama made it official and reappointed Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. This wasn't a big surprise and was viewed by many as the safe choice. It would have been tough to switch to a new leader while we're still very much in the midst of volatile economic times. That's not to say, however, that ev...

  • Baby steps back toward normal

    August 13th, 200908:41 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    As expected, the Federal Reserve left its target interest rate unchanged yesterday. However, they did take one tiny, positive step back towards "normal" monetary policy. One of the more controversial policies to come out of the financial crisis was the Fed's program to buy long-term government bonds directly from the Treasury. In other words, ...

  • Will the Fed be able to restrain inflationary pressures?

    August 05th, 200911:20 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    In two recent SMI cover stories (May and August), Austin explained why current fiscal and monetary policy could lead to a surge, perhaps even a strong surge, in inflation. While Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is busy offering repeated assurances (here, for example) that when the time is right the Fed will act to restrain inflationary pr...
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