The fiscal cliff that is the current hot topic in the news is a combination of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that are scheduled to go into effect at the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. The spending cuts were triggered when congress failed to reach a deficit reduction agreement during last years debt ceiling debate. The tax increases are also automatic because Congress failed to make the "Bush Tax Cuts" permanent opting instead for a more politically expedient temporary tax reduction. In other words, they "kicked the can down the road" and it landed at the end of 2012. Perhaps they were hoping the Mayans were right and the world would end before they had to deal with the … [Read more...]
What is Quantitative Easing?
Is Quantitative Easing Money Printing? Quantitative Easing is often referred to as "money printing" or a way for the government to increase the money supply. According to Wikipedia, quantitative easing is different from the typical method whereby governments buy treasury debt to increase the money supply. In QE1 when the market was panicked, and banks didn't want to buy government bonds, the central bank implemented "quantitative easing" by purchasing relatively worthless financial assets (like mortgage backed securities) from banks and giving them new electronically created money. So this is straight forward money printing compared to the more round about traditional method. Thus … [Read more...]
Five Things You Need to Know About the Economy
By David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research At any point during the recent negotiations in Washington over the debt, did you seriously think for even a second that the U.S. was about to default? Of course, in time the U.S. government (along with many others) will default. However, they are highly unlikely to do so by decree or even through the sort of legislative inaction recently on display. Rather, it will come about through the time-honored tradition of screwing debtors via the slow-roasting method of monetary inflation. Yet most people still bought into the latest drama put on by the Congressional Players – a troupe of actors whose skills at pretense and artifice might … [Read more...]
What is the Federal Reserve – Part 3
Money, Credit and the Federal Reserve Banking System Conquer the Crash, Chapter 10 By Robert Prechter How the Federal Reserve Has Encouraged the Growth of Credit Congress authorized the Fed not only to create money for the government but also to “smooth out” the economy by manipulating credit (which also happens to be a re-election tool for incumbents). Politics being what they are, this manipulation has been almost exclusively in the direction of making credit easy to obtain. The Fed used to make more credit available to the banking system by monetizing federal debt, that is, by creating money. Under the structure of our “fractional reserve” system, banks were authorized to employ … [Read more...]
What is the Federal Reserve – Part 2
This is Part II of our three-part series "Robert Prechter Explains The Fed." In part 1 we saw how Central Banks came into being and money went from something tangible and of value like Gold or Silver to paper backed by Gold to paper backed by nothing. You can read Part I in "What is the Federal Reserve - Part 1" -- and come back later this week for Part III. "Let's attempt to define what gives the dollar objective value. As we will see in the next section, the dollar is 'backed' primarily by government bonds, which are promises to pay dollars. So today, the dollar is a promise backed by a promise..." … [Read more...]
What is the Federal Reserve – Part 1
Do you really know What a Dollar is? Or how the FED controls interest rates? What is quantitative easing? Or (QE2)? Or monetary stimulus? For answers, let's turn to someone who has spent a considerable amount of time studying the Fed and its functions: EWI president Robert Prechter. Today we begin a 3-part series that we believe will help you understand the Fed as well as he does. (Excerpted from Prechter's Conquer the Crash and the free Club EWI report, "Understanding the Federal Reserve System.") Here is Part I. … [Read more...]
How The FED Prints Money- Part 4
This is part 4 in the video series on the effects of Quantitative Easing by Chris Ciovacco the Chief Investment Officer for Ciovacco Capital Management. To see the other parts How the FED Prints Money, How the FED Prints Money – Part 2, How The FED Prints Money- Part 3 … [Read more...]
How The FED Prints Money- Part 3
Last week we looked at who gets all the money the FED prints and before that we looked at the process the FED uses to get the money "Out of Thin Air" and into the hands of people who can spend it. Today we are going to look at what is "Quantitative Easing" well it sounds cool anyway... ~editor What is Quantitative Easing? Fed’s Perspective & Writings Part 3 in a 6 Part Video Series on Quantitative Easing A Wall Street Journal article (10/27/10) on quantitative easing (QE) hints the Fed will take a middle of the road approach in terms of the size and duration of QE2. As we would expect, the stock and commodity markets’ initial reaction is negative. A middle of the road … [Read more...]
How the FED Prints Money – Part 2
Yesterday we looked at the process the FED uses to get the money "Out of Thin Air" and into the hands of people who can spend it. In other words the "how" they do this magic. Basically, that route is through special dealers and then it goes into a few select hands. Today we are not going to look at the "how" but instead we will look at "Who" gets the money and where it is likely to go from there. Because if we know where it is likely to go we can get there first and profit from the incoming cash flow. ~Tim McMahon, editor Quantitative Easing (QE2): Who Gets the Fed’s Printed Money? Part 2 of a 6 Part Video Series on Quantitative Easing: In Part 1: How the FED Prints Money, we … [Read more...]
How the FED Prints Money
Printing Money: The process of "printing" money is always a kind of mystery to most people since only about 10% of the total money supply is actually in physical currency. Technically most of the money isn't printed so the term should be "money creation" or "money supply expansion" but "printing money" is used euphemistically to include all forms of expanding the money supply. The monetary base (or money supply) is typically controlled by adjusting monetary policy. This is usually done by the central bank (in the U.S. this is the Federal Reserve Bank or FED). The FED changes the monetary base through "open market transactions" (i.e., buying and selling of government bonds). The FED also … [Read more...]
