News
National Journal | The Internal War Over the Volcker Rule
The so-called Volcker Rule, a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform law that would ban banks from making risky bets with their own money, was supposed to be ready in 2011. And the federal government did release a lengthy proposal laden with hundreds of questions from Wall Street and chased by thousands of comment letters. Then, the final rule was supposed to be ready in 2012. Now it's supposed to be ready in 2013. "I think that it's close," Mary Miller, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, said last week. Meanwhile, regulators have come and gone in the agencies writing the rule. What, exactly, is the holdup?
CNN Money | Can the Fed and consumers keep rally going?
Stocks gained more than 1% last week and continue to march to record highs. Some key psychological levels are in sight. But will the market keep climbing? That may depend on more news from the Federal Reserve and how much consumers are spending.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Bernanke: Virtual currencies hold promise, risk
Bitcoins and other virtual currencies, like any online-payment system, "may hold long-term promise" and could one day "promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
AEI | The Fed in the age of Yellen
Someday the U.S. government’s currency monopoly might end. But probably not in my lifetime. I am willing to concede, though, that before our yellow sun goes red giant — the Republic will endure, my friends! — America might find itself awash in a competitive, Hayekian market of private currencies, perhaps the digital descendants of Bitcoin. It could happen.
Blogs
Economist | The solution that cannot be named
Earlier this month the IMF held a research conference in honour of Stanley Fischer. It featured a murderer's row of macroeconomic stars as speakers including, to round out the event, one Larry Summers. The video of Mr Summers' talk is now publicly available and is being heralded, with some justification, as an important and incisive piece of analysis. It also perfectly and maddeningly encapsulates the problem at the heart of the rich world's economic debate—and its economy, for that matter.
Economist | Germany's hyperinflation-phobia
Hyperinflation is among the worst catastrophes that can befall an economy. It can destroy output and destabilise societies. The hoarding of real assets, such as property and precious metals, wrecks business and financial investment in countries afflicted by it. Business costs soar, as wages and prices have to be increased on an hourly basis, reducing productivity. Foreign investment evaporates as the financial risks of doing business rise. The sudden redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors can eat at civil society and discredit political institutions.
