By Bud Conrad, Chief Economist, Casey Research The Fed is a corrupt and powerful institution, and Chairman Bernanke is making the global crisis worse. His new speech given last week in Europe was terribly misguided and will upset markets as the Chinese and Germans won't ignore his challenges. Bernanke’s interpretations of the markets have been wrong since before he was appointed to head the Fed, and his actions are doing nothing but aggravating the situation. In this seminal speech, titled “Rebalancing the Global Recovery,” Bernanke not only defended QE II as the right policy, but also attacked the monetary policy of China, the biggest holder of U.S. debt, an action that must be … [Read more...]
Worldwide Economic Recovery Slowing
By Tim McMahon, editor The effects of the Trillion Dollar economic stimulus are wearing off and the "recovery" is looking pale and thin. So it may be time to crank up the printing presses again... According the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Assessment, the world economic recovery may be slowing faster than previously anticipated. Growth in the the seven largest developed countries of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and Canada is expected to be around 1½ per cent on an annualized basis in the second half of 2010 down from the OECD’s previous estimate of around 1¾ per cent in May. … [Read more...]