News
CNBC | Gold Replacing Dollar as World's Reserve Currency
Central banks are shedding dollars, reducing their holdings by about $9 billion in previous quarter.
WSJ | Fed Official Hoenig, a Policy Critic, to Retire
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig will retire Oct. 1, marking nearly four decades of central bank service. The announcement by his bank Friday wasn't unexpected, as Mr. Hoenig is approaching the central bank's mandatory retirement age of 65. He took office in 1991.
Econ Comments
Ludwig von Mises Institute | Where Is QE2 Taking Us?
Five months into the second round of quantitative easing — "QE2" — it is useful to take stock of what it has, and has not, accomplished. In short, the monetary base is way, way up, price inflation is up, long-term interest rates are up, and bank lending is down.
Ludwig von Mises Institute | The Moral Hazard of the Euro
The current sovereign-debt crisis is the direct result of credit expansion by the European banking system. In the early 2000s, credit was expanded especially in the periphery of the European Monetary Union such as in Ireland, Greece, Portugal, and Spain. Interest rates were reduced substantially by credit expansion coupled with a fall both in inflationary expectations and risk premiums.
Minyanville | Fractional Reserve Banking: A Response to Mish Shedlock
Mike "Mish" Shedlock responded critically to an article by Keith Weiner. Here, Weiner responds, noting the importance of determining the validity of fractional reserve banking.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Fed’s Plosser: Monetary Policy Creates Inflation
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser warned Friday of the risks of keeping monetary policy too easy in the face of an energy price shock.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | A Look Inside the Fed’s Balance Sheet
Assets on the Fed’s balance sheet expanded to around $2.584 trillion in the latest week from $2.566 trillion a week earlier. Nearly all the additions came from $25 billion in Treasury purchases. The Fed announced earlier last year that it will buy an additional $600 billion of Treasurys through June in addition to previously announced purchases with money reinvested from its MBS portfolio.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Fed Sets Schedule for 2012 — No November Meeting
Last year, the Federal Reserve launched its controversial QE2 — quantitative easing, round 2 — effort at its Nov. 2-3 meeting, which coincided with Election Day. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the Nov 2 balloting, and, with new attention to their utterances, immediately turned to bashing the Fed and QE2.
