RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook
Email
HomeWall Street’s Meaningless ‘Mea Culpas’
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 18th, 2011 8:56 AM |
“I’m sorry. No, really I am. I did not mean to do it….er, I mean we did not mean to do it. I hope nobody got too badly hurt. Oh, sorry if you did. Really, I mean it and we mean it. I think we were well intentioned but things just got a little out of control. We will definitely try to make sure this stuff NEVER happens again…no, really. This time we definitely mean it. Will you still trust us? Please?”
Are you kidding me? Is “sorry” the best America gets for the ineptitude, incompetence, reckless and abusive behaviors of those on Wall Street and their regulatory overseers in Washington after driving our markets and economy over the cliff?
Who is issuing these meaningless mea culpas? (more…)
Robert Auerbach Unloads on the Federal Reserve
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 26th, 2011 5:00 PM |
Tomorrow may be a truly special day in the history of our country’s financial hierarchy. The normally secretive institution known as the Federal Reserve led by current chair Ben Bernanke will host a live press conference shortly after the Fed Board of Governors exits from its regularly scheduled meeting addressing our nation’s economy and the Fed’s current monetary policy.
Will Bernanke surprise the markets and announce a continuation of the Fed’s asset bubbling, commodity inflating policy known formally as quantitative easing? Did somebody in the markets today know something about the Fed’s stance? Did anybody else find it particularly interesting that both stocks and bonds rallied big today?
While market participants anxiously await Bernanke’s words of wisdom, I actually think the better “Fed-show” may have been delivered today by Robert Auerbach. Who is Robert Auerbach? (more…)
Federal Reserve: Increasingly Defensive and Admits Structural Issues
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 22nd, 2010 7:55 AM |
The Federal Reserve may be America’s greatest enigma.
The Fed would clearly much prefer to remain opaque in the midst of our current economic turmoil. However, even the ‘all powerful’ Fed is unable to withstand the pressure from those seeking answers and clarity while navigating our economic landscape.
I have often tried to highlight the Fed’s shortcomings and inconsistencies. From the Fed’s overly optimistic economic projections to its unwillingness to openly admit the ongoing structural issues and changes within our economy, I believe the Fed has been playing politics for far too long and well beyond its goals and mandates. (more…)
The Credibility of the Federal Reserve
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 16th, 2010 7:12 AM |
The Federal Reserve is arguably the most powerful institution in the world. Additionally, it is one of the least understood.
In the midst of the ongoing financial experiment known as quantitative easing are we supposed to blindly trust the abilities of our central bankers within the Fed, especially Fed chair Ben Bernanke? I know of no institution, especially with the size and scope of the Fed, that has so much power in one man’s hands and simultaneously so little transparency and accountability.
Yet, despite that lack of transparency and accountability, at this very point in time our nation’s future largely rests in the hands of one Ben Bernanke and his control of the Federal Reserve. Should we have reason for concern? We should. (more…)
Fed Minutes Flashing Caution
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 14th, 2010 3:24 PM |
The Federal Reserve just released the minutes from a June 22-23 meeting and an early May conference call. The Fed as an institution is always careful in its delivery, but in reading through their tea leaves this afternoon I sense concern on the Fed’s part of a real slowing, if not a double dip, in our economy. A summary of the Fed minutes includes the following highlights:
FOMC participants’ forecasts for economic activity and inflation suggested that they expected the recovery to continue and inflation to remain subdued, but with, on balance, slightly weaker real activity and a bit lower inflation than in the projections they made in conjunction with the April 2010 FOMC meeting. (more…)
Is the Federal Reserve Behind the European Bailout? Audit the Fed!! [UPDATED with video]
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 10th, 2010 12:52 PM |
Is the American taxpayer ultimately bailing out the European Union? Far fetched? Don’t be so sure.
While the focus of the European bailout has been on the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the IMF, little attention is being given to swap lines which were reopened between the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
The ECB has steadfastly fought the idea of breeching the principles which formed the European common currency (the Euro) in order to fashion a bailout for the EU. Did the ECB crater to political pressure by the EU? Or, did the risks of the bailout shift from the ECB to another large central bank? Such as? The Federal Reserve! (more…)
Fed Treadmill Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 28th, 2010 2:33 PM |
The Fed just released its regularly scheduled statement reviewing the economy and providing its outlook for monetary policy. What is interesting is not the report from the Fed but the market reaction, or lack thereof. Has the octane in the Fed’s fuel finally been exhausted? Is the engine running in reverse in the EU putting the brakes on the overall market?
The Fed provided a very qualified statement indicating that the economy is improving ever so slightly, that inflation pressures remain subdued, that employment prospects are beginning to improve, but that real slack remains in the overall economy. The Fed gave no hint that it is thinking of selling any assets (mortgages or agency debt). Add it all up and the Fed is in no hurry to make any change in its easy interest rate policy, that is a 0-.25% Fed Funds rate for an extended period. (more…)
Price Fixing on Wall Street?
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 9th, 2010 11:16 AM |
Lessened competition in any industry will lead to wider margins and greater revenue and profit opportunities.
Wall Street circa 2010 is certainly a dramatically changed landscape with significantly lessened competition. Is Wall Street today an honest display of capitalism in which ‘to the victors go the spoils’? Or is Wall Street an oligopoly which is using its increased power and leverage to control, if not outright fix, prices for products and services?
In the midst of all the other issues Washington is facing, I think there is very little focus on this topic, but we overlook it at our peril. Why? Price fixing, or iterations thereof, is nothing more than a vehicle to transfer wealth from consumers to providers. (more…)
Robert Reich, “The Fed in Hot Water”
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 1st, 2010 5:14 PM |
Former Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich had some very strong words today for the Federal Reserve. In his commentary which I find at Wall Street Pit, Reich questions the constitutionality of the Fed’s actions in 2008. None of this comes as a surprise, but it should cause America to wake up to the fact that the Wall Street-Washington incestuous relationship has run roughshod over America before and now throughout our economic crisis.
Who in Washington is willing to blow the whistle on this incest? Reich writes, The Fed in Hot Water:
The Fed has finally came clean. It now admits it bailed out Bear Stearns – taking on tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s bad loans – in order to smooth Bear Stearns’ takeover by JPMorgan Chase (JPM). (more…)
