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...

Why Wall Street Has Tuned Out Congress

By Jeff Cox, CNBC

Washington may have just swung at strike three of its efforts this year to scare Wall Street into doing its bidding.
Cruz Finally Blinks as Senate Debt Plan Moves Ahead

By Eric Pianin

With the day of reckoning upon us, Congress now appears on track to approve a bipartisan compromise today that would end the two-week old government shutdown and avert a first-ever default on U.S...
Tea Party Finally Trusts Boehner

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) finally seems to have gained the trust of Tea Party conservatives . All it took was a government shutdown and threat of default threat in a botched attempt to stop...
Debt Ceiling: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

What exactly does the term debt ceiling mean, anyway? While lawmakers struggled on Wednesday to button up an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown and avert a default on the...
Pentagon Overpays Boeing by Millions

By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

The Pentagon needs to keep better tabs on its purchases, or more tax dollars will go down the drain. Within the past few years, Boeing International—the Defense Department’s second largest contractor...

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