The Fed and Treasury

Will Trump Try to ‘Overrule’ Monetary Policy?

By Mark Thoma

How will the Federal Reserve evolve during Donald Trump’s term as president? Presently, three of the seven positions on the Federal Reserve Board are vacant. These vacancies, along with the...
Why the Treasury Is Ending a Low-Income Retirement Saving Program

By Beth Braverman

Less than two years after the Obama administration rolled out a myRA, a savings program aimed at helping the millions of Americans without access to a retirement account through work, the Trump...
Will Janet Yellen Give Wall Street a Scare?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, the Federal Reserve has been unable to convince the market it's serious about aggressively tightening policy. Janet Yellen and her cohorts have been guilty of "crying wolf," constantly...
Is the Fed About to Wage War on the Rich?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, stocks have been driven relentlessly higher thanks to a single statement that summarized the aggressive central bank largesse since the eurozone crisis flared up in 2012: Policymakers...
Is the Fed Fighting the Trump Rally?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The evidence is growing that the Federal Reserve’s policymakers are actively working to lean against the stock market's rise, a dramatic reversal from the years of policy support stock market bulls...

The Fed’s Big Mistake: Rate Hikes Hurt US Workers

By David Dayen

Protesters rallied in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia yesterday against an imminent government action that would damage the financial prospects of ordinary workers. And no, it had nothing...
The Fed, the Reality of Tax Cuts, and Donald Trump

By Mark Thoma

For many years, Republicans argued that tax cuts for the wealthy pay for themselves. Cutting taxes on the wealthy, according to Republicans, allows them to keep a larger share of anything new they...
Will Unwinding the Fed’s $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet Kill the Bull Market?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

Over the last decade, investors have grown accustomed to a Federal Reserve that constantly coddled them, allayed their fears and did everything possible to support the financial markets and asset...
The Key to This Market: Here’s What Will Determine if Stocks Rise or Fall

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For now, instead of putting pressure on risk assets, the Fed's newfound hawkishness is bolstering the reflation trade by lifting the dollar higher and attracting global capital into U.S. assets. Same...
Can Wall Street Handle Higher Interest Rates?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the second time in three months, signaling a dramatic quickening of its prior pace. For the first time in more than a decade, Fed policymakers are...

QE3: What Exactly Is It? An Explainer

By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

QE3 would be the third round of an unconventional monetary policy called quantitative easing, which is used by central banks to stimulate the economy. It’s a cash infusion by the Federal Reserve,...
Bernanke Forced to Do A Little More Magic, Again

By John Berry, The Fiscal Times

With the economy in near crisis again, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may have no choice next week but to dig into his bag of monetary tricks next week, including ordering up another round of...
New Debt Ratio Signals Out-of-Control Spending

By Jennifer Depaul, The Fiscal Times

The Treasury announced this week that – for the first time since 1946 -- the public debt is greater than the overall size of the U.S. economy, providing further evidence that government spending is...
What Is a Double-Dip Recession? An Explainer

By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

A double-dip recession, or a W-shaped recession, happens when the economy experiences a recession, comes out of that recession into a short period of growth, and then quickly falls back into...
Job Outlook Dims as Economy Slows to a Crawl

By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

Economic growth slowed to a crawl in the first half, limiting prospects for new hiring and renewing concern about a double-dip recession.

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