Articles About Central Bank

Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
04.05.2011

The Fed’s 2010 Profit? A Cool $81.7 Billion

The Federal Reserve made some serious money in 2010. The central bank’s profit soared to $81.7 billion, a record high, primarily from growing interest earnings on federal agency and government-sponsored enterprise mortgage-backed securities.  The Fed’s balance sheet — which also can be monitored monthly — ballooned to $2.43 trillion, up $193 billion from 2009, as […]

Read More ›
Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
05.25.2010

Congress Will Examine the Fed’s Actions During the Financial Crisis

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate voted 96 – 0 to attach a modified version of an amendment proposed by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) to the financial regulatory bill to investigate transparency in emergency lending practices by the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.  “This amendment begins the process of lifting the veil […]

Read More ›
Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
03.12.2010

Fed Retirement Gives President Obama the Go-Ahead to Chart a New Fiscal Course

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may get all the headlines, but the retirement of Vice Chairman Donald L. Kohn is giving President Barack Obama the historic opportunity to reshape the nation’s central bank. Kohn is one of seven Fed governors who set U.S. monetary policy and regulate the financial system. The change comes at a […]

Read More ›
Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
02.17.2010

Bernanke Edges Closer to Closing the Cash Floodgates

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is starting to look at ways to back off from the central bank’s heroic efforts to keep the nation’s economy afloat through the financial crisis of the past 18 months. The trick to raising short-term interest rates, which have been at historic lows for more than a year, is to […]

Read More ›
Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
12.28.2009

Ben Bernanke: Person of the Year

Time magazine has settled the much-anticipated question of its choice for “Person of the Year” for 2009.  It’s Ben Bernanke,  the scholarly chairman of the Federal Reserve, and “the most important and least understood force shaping the American – and global – economy.”  A former Princeton professor well versed in the causes and cures of […]

Read More ›
Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
07.24.2009

Bernanke Report to Congress: Signs of Stabilization

In his semi-annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that although the economy is exhibiting “tentative signs of stabilization,” he plans to maintain a “highly accommodative” monetary policy for the time being.  According to Bernanke, “The pace of decline appears to have slowed significantly.  In light of the […]

Read More ›
Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
12.30.2008

How Low Can the Fed Go?

The Federal Reserve is pulling out most – if not all — of the stops to thaw credit.  The central bank has cut its federal funds rate for overnight borrowing to just 0.25 percent, the lowest level ever.  But the move is likely too little, too late because the problem is not the lack of […]

Read More ›

Categories

Archives