As the world financial markets (and a chorus of market commentators) react negatively to the latest policy guidance from the U.S. Federal Reserve and ...
"Too Big to Fail" banks played a key role in causing the last financial crisis. Not a single executive has been prosecuted, despite their rampant lawbreaking, which means that there's been no effective deterrent against reckless and illegal behavior.
Commentary and debates from some of the most talented brains in economics reveal a myriad of differing opinions surrounding orthodox and unorthodox monetary policy, but one fact we can be certain about -- QE cannot last forever.
This is little more than a brazen attempt to bully U.S. regulators into delaying and weakening U.S. rules, which, as Senator Elizabeth Warren has pointed out, must not happen.
There were three especially noteworthy events concerning mortgages during the week of June 17. All of them point to a mortgage environment very much in a state of change.
President Obama found himself before friendly crowds again -- he went to Europe. Why did he go there? Take our news quiz for the answer.
I had expected the Fed to 'grab the nettle', and this week's FOMC statement and Bernanke's comments at the subsequent press conference certainly did n...
Ben Bernanke has been saying that the economy's getting a bit better, so interest rates are going up. And at some point, sooner than later, he and his buds at the Federal Reserve are going to start adding a bit less juice to the punch bowl. I don't really know what to make of the markets and I suspect they're just going to be volatile for a while. But it's the real economy I'm worried about, and I used to have a friend in Bernanke when it came to that. Now, I'm not so sure. Fed policy always has costs and benefits and deep monetary stimulus is no free lunch. But as long as the broader economy remains in the residual gravitational pull of the great recession, the benefits of the Fed's aggressive actions outweigh the costs. I get that they're planning their pivot, which isn't the same as pivoting. But they're doing so too soon.
The price of oil, and in turn gasoline, continues on its clearly speculation-driven trajectory. A significant break in the price of oil would be an enormous boost to the economy.
As the government's role as economic hall monitor is debated and global markets and foreign economies adjust to their own challenges, our focus is on investing in the old-fashioned companies with strong balance sheets, increasing earnings, strong cash flow, and seasoned management teams.
The Fed is feeling better about the economy because they perceive it to be on steadier footing than at any time since the crash. But as I see it, there's an important difference between steady-footing and actually getting up and running ahead.
Corporate profits are up, but wages aren't. Wages are now at the lowest percent of the economy on record. The median wage hasn't budged this century. College and non-college grads are now losing ground. The good jobs that were lost are being replaced by low wage and part-time jobs. Young people are starting out behind, unemployed or underemployed at ruinous high rates. Our Gilded Age inequality is getting worse, with the top 1 percent pocketing all of the rewards of growth. We need dramatic reforms to make this economy work for working people. Americans won't recover without a dramatic change in course. And that will require the Republicans who control the Congress to get out of the way and the Democrats who control the Senate to get better vision and stronger backbones.
Despite 13 years of slow growth, two recessions, the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the financial crisis, earnings on U.S. stocks have increased by 85 percent since 2000.
Investing in our young people has worked before and can work again; and if Congress orders the Fed to fund this investment in our collective futures by "quantitative easing," it need cost the taxpayers nothing at all.
Confronting bullies no matter what size, shape or corporate configuration should be the sworn moral duty of every citizen.