Federal Reserve

Archive for Federal Reserve

America’s Platinum Express

I have a question and a comment: ==> The “trillion dollar coin” thing is just because a billion is too little, and a quadrillion is too much, right? For example, there’s nothing to stop them from using this “option” but doing so by minting, say, 10 coins each with a face value of $100 billion? […]

Learning From Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman

[UPDATE below.] Rather than have a long series of posts discussing the fallout from my (price) inflation bet with David R. Henderson, I decided to do one comprehensive reply to Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman. I had toyed with not even responding, but two things ruled that out: (1) This isn’t a case of two […]

Clarification on Fed Monetizing Deficit in 2013

I realized something wasn’t adding up with the numbers, and went and double-checked the JP Morgan report that led me (in this video) to say that the Fed may monetize the entire federal budget deficit in 2013. Well, that’s a misleading way to describe it (which is why I’m posting this clarification). What the JP […]

And to All a Good Night

You guys already know about this, but maybe you have someone on your list who’s been naughty and reading Scott Sumner or something. Also, I needed to break up the karaoke videos on my YouTube channel…

Rowe Ruh Roh

Sorry, I was trying to come up with the analog of a Krugman Kontradiction for Nick Rowe, and this was it… Some of you may recall that I happily linked to Nick Rowe explaining just how nutty was Paul Krugman’s praise of a hypothetical bond vigilante attack on the US. (Remember, Brad DeLong had to […]

Richmond Fed President Can Talk the Talk on Cantillon Effects

Richmond Fed President Lacker dissented from the recent Fed decision, and said in part: “I also objected to the continuing purchase of agency mortgage-backed securities. If asset purchases are appropriate, the FOMC should confine its purchases to U.S. Treasury securities. Purchasing agency mortgage-backed securities can be expected to reduce borrowing rates for conforming home mortgages […]

JP Morgan Says Fed Will Probably Buy “Almost All” New Treasuries in 2013; Market Monetarists Yawn

The fretful von Pepe sends this article, which quotes a JP Morgan analysis saying that with the new policy announcement, the Fed may very well end up adding (“almost”) the equivalent of the entire federal deficit next year to its balance sheet. In other words, the US government is going to spend more than it […]

Brad DeLong Has Met the Enemy, and He Is Him

Brad DeLong explains how it’s not easy being in a club of Cassandras: Back in the middle of 2011, in the circles in which I traveled–policy-oriented macroeconomists who actually knew something about the world and about financial history–there was a rough consensus that we all ought to make one last charge for more aggressive policies […]