Ending a Taking Economy and Creating a Giving Economy: Confronting the Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) and Taking Effective Action by Zeus Yiamouyiannis (guest essay) Introduction The world can no longer afford a taking economy, where “make a killing” is…
Let’s start with a simple chart of the Fed Funds Rate, which the Federal Reserve has pinned near zero for years. This Zero Rate Interest Policy (ZIRP) is the god the PhD economists in the Fed and other central banks…
It’s no secret that virtually every pension fund is dead man walking, doomed by central banks’ imposition of low yields on safe investments, i.e. Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP). Given that both The Economist and The Wall Street Journal have…
The fundamental premise of global central bank policy is simple: whatever’s broken in the economy can be fixed with zero interest rates (ZIRP). And the linear extension of this premise is equally simple: if ZIRP hasn’t fixed what’s broken, then…
You may have seen a variation of this chart of employment in the U.S. by age group. This chart–courtesy of mdbriefing.com– shows the number of those employed (with any kind of job–full-time, part-time, self-employed) as a percentage of the Civilian…
The Federal Reserve is appalled that we’re not spending enough to further inflate the value of its corporate and banking cronies. In the Fed’s eyes, your reason for being is to channel whatever income you have to the Fed’s private-sector…
The Federal Reserve is appalled that we’re not spending enough to further inflate the value of its corporate and banking cronies. In the Fed’s eyes, your reason for being is to channel whatever income you have to the Fed’s private-sector…
The past six years of expansion have been as illusory as Cinderella’s magic carriage. The clock is about to strike midnight, and our Cinderella economy’s magic carriage will revert to a pumpkin. The magic of the Federal Reserve’s flood-the-fields policies…
U.S. and UK GDP Fall Heralds New Depression – ZIRP to Continue – U.S. first quarter GDP grew 0.2%, down from 2.2% last quarter – U.K. GDP for first quarter was 0.3%, last than half the previous quarter’s figure –…
Gold Rises, Silver Surges on Short-Covering and Physical Demand – Greece, Ukraine, Russia Risks – Gold rises over 2% while silver surges 4.4% – Speculators caught off guard as prices rose forcing them to cover their short positions – Concerns…
The Fed had multiple opportunities to let the air out of unsustainable asset bubbles by notching interest rates higher and tapering its asset purchases (QE). The Federal Reserve blew it by not normalizing interest rates a long time ago. The…