By perfectly calibrating his message, this time, Bernanke was able to taper yet see equities climb by 1.75% and bond prices barely budge. Quite a difference from this past May. By combining tapering with a commitment to keep short-term rates low into 2015, Bernanke has reduced uncertainty and compensated markets for the knowledge that QE will shortly be history. He’s also emphatically saying that 2014 will be pretty good. Bravo!
Tag Archives: Ben Bernanke
Fed Head Fiasco
The biggest loser in the current Fed Chairman Sweepstakes is the Fed. Simply considering Summers for the head Fed job politicizes a job that should be non-partisan. Arthur Burns, appointed by Nixon in 1970, was the last Chairman that was closely identified with one political party and he was a disaster. All evidence overwhelmingly shows that the more independent a central bank is from political intrusion the better it performs.
Money for Nothing
The Federal Reserve transferred all $76.9 billion of its profit to the Treasury in ’11 down from the record $79.3 billion in ’10. The Fed is profitable because rather than borrowing money, it simply creates what it needs. Thus all interest earned, is profit. The $76.9 billion paid to the Treasury was 3.3% of all revenues! While the Fed has been controversial, having that money returned to the Treasury beats paying it to China.