Obfuscation is an art form in which the Federal Reserve Board excels. It follows a few simple rules: Never use a word or phrase that is simple and widely understood…
Bad News – The Economy May be Recovering
“This is what it sounds like when doves cry.” …
The Dollar Is In Danger
It’s a sign of America’s strength and its position as leader of the free world that the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Just as English is the closest we’ve…
The QE Apocalypse
The end is near. The Federal Reserve Board has now put a date on the quantitative easing apocalypse, letting us know that bond buying will end in October – unless…
Sprinkling the Fairy Dust of Illusory Riches
When the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) calls central bank market rigging “the fairy dust of illusory riches,” it’s time to pay attention. The BIS is the central banks’ central…
Prozac Nation
It’s all stress-free bliss these days … at least for anyone who’s not paying attention. Has someone been putting anti-depressants in the water supply? That’s one way to explain Wednesday’s…
The Market’s Missing Mojo
Easy money policy has its share of side effects. The stock market continues to hit new highs, thanks to the Fed, but the level of risk that investors and taxpayers…
Translating Fedspeak
While the week’s biggest news has taken place in Russia, Ukraine and China, it’s the news out of the Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Open Market Committee that’s most in need…
Mission Not-Quite Accomplished
Remember when the announced goal of quantitative easing (QE) was to reduce the unemployment rate to 6.5%? It’s now 6.6% and heading down. So can we expect QE to finally…
Century Old Fed Has Inflationary History
With the Federal Reserve Board celebrating its 100th birthday, it’s a good time to look back on the past century to see how The Fed has fared. We’ve been critical…