News
MSNBC | Rep. Paul planning hearing on Fed foreign lending
Subcommittee would not expect Bernanke to respond to a call to testify, but he could be asked to send a deputy.
WSJ | OECD Frets Over Inflation
Economic growth in the world's richest countries outside disaster-stricken Japan is gaining strength, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday in an upbeat interim assessment, but warned that a rise in commodity prices may push up inflation expectations.
MSNBC | Bernanke says Fed will improve oversight role
Law requires that central bank work with other regulators to watch 'clearninghouses'.
CNN: Money | China raises interest rates again
For the fourth time in six months, China's central bank is hiking interest rates to combat rising inflation in the country. The People's Bank of China said Tuesday that it will raise its one-year lending rate to 6.31% from 6.06%, effective Wednesday.
NationalJournal | Fed Lent to Over 100 Banks That Later Failed
The loans posed little risk to the Fed, as the central bank demanded significant collateral. Such financial support can be a stopgap that enables struggling banks to survive, or, alternatively, a crutch that delays inevitable demise while allowing banks to sink even deeper into debt.
Econ Comments
Ludwig von Mises Institute | The Cure (Low Interest Rates) Is the Disease
According to the Austrian School of economics, however, the latest crisis has been brought about by a monetary policy of artificially suppressing the interest rate; and pushing interest rates down even further will only make matters worse.
Washington Times | RAHN: The responsible, the timid and the ugly on inflation
A three-way donnybrook will determine our economic future.
CNN: Money | Fed should focus on inflation, not jobs
Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have the authority to curb unemployment. Here's why they shouldn't.
Ludwig von Mises Institute | Life with the Fed: Sunshine and Lollipops?
We have heard the objection a thousand times: Why, before we had a Federal Reserve System the American economy endured a regular series of financial panics. Abolishing the Fed is an unthinkable, absurd suggestion, for without the wise custodianship of our central bankers we would be thrown back into a horrific financial maelstrom, deliverance from which should have made us grateful, not uppity.
Cato Institute The Responsible, the Timid, and the Ugly on Inflation
For the past year, the Federal Reserve has been the largest single purchaser of U.S. government securities, buying well more than half of all new debt. The Fed calls this program quantitative easing (QE2), or what normal people would call printing money. The Fed has stated that this program will stop in June. Who is going to purchase all of the new government debt when the Fed stops?
Ludwig von Mises Institute | Is Inflation Harmless or Even Good?
As Ron Paul's "End the Fed" movement grows, more and more Fed economists are speaking up on behalf of the central bank. In a recent post, David Andolfatto of the St. Louis Fed argues that the systematic debasement of the currency has had a negligible effect on the average American. The Fed and commercial banks have been ripping off everyone who uses dollars.
Minyanville | The Long Wave Cycle of Fed Policy
Fed policy's nature is that of a long wave because it's not something that is dictated by an intraday chart.
Blogs
Café Hayek | Podcast: BitCoin
The latest EconTalk is Gavin Andresen talking about BitCoin. BitCoin is an electronic currency with a very clever way to increase the amount of BitCoins in circulation but not by too much and in a transparent way.
