Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps | ZeroHedge

Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps | ZeroHedge: "The Fed had more than $600 billion of currency swaps on its books in the fall of 2008. Those draws were largely paid down by January 2010. As recently as a few weeks ago, the amount under the swap renewal agreement announced last summer was $2.4 billion. For the week ending Dec. 14, however, the amount jumped to $54 billion. For the week ending Dec. 21, the total went up by a little more than $8 billion. The aforementioned $33 billion three-month loan was not picked up because it was only booked by the ECB on Dec. 22, falling outside the Fed's reporting week. Notably, the Bank of Japan drew almost $5 billion in the most recent week. Could a bailout of Japanese banks be afoot? (All data come from the Federal Reserve Board H.4.1. release, the New York Fed's Swap Operations report, and the ECB website.)"

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Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps | ZeroHedge

Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps | ZeroHedge: "The Federal Reserve's Covert Bailout of Europe

When is a loan between central banks not a loan? When it is a dollars-for-euros currency swap.

America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here.

The Fed is using what is termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades or "swaps" dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an interest rate (currently 50 basis points, or one-half of 1%) above the overnight index swap rate. The ECB, which guarantees to return the dollars at an exchange rate fixed at the time the original swap is made, then lends the dollars to European banks of its choosing."

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Banks Set to Double Crisis Loans From ECB - Business News - CNBC

Banks Set to Double Crisis Loans From ECB - Business News - CNBC: "Goldman Sachs has told clients that banks could ask for twice as much in the February auction as in December when more than 500 lenders raised €489 billion. “They could do another €1tn easily in February,” said one senior banker. “It could be way more than that if things get worse in the markets.”"

Wow !!! Tyler Durden Is right again!
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Jim Rogers: I Would Not Buy Facebook - Business News - CNBC

Jim Rogers: I Would Not Buy Facebook - Business News - CNBC: "“There is an election in November 2012. Every time there is an election, the government pumps as much money as it can so it can to win the election. Of course things are going to look and feel better because Bernanke is printing money and Obama is spending money,” Rogers said.

He added that the US public are essentially “saps,” being fooled by a government eager to harness as many votes as possible in an election year.

“They want to fool all of us saps and get us through the elections, and then they’ll say we’ll worry about those saps next year,” he said."

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The great Indian head bobble | CNNGo.com

The great Indian head bobble | CNNGo.com: "The great Indian head bobble
Decoding the celebrated Indian head shake once and for all
By Mahesh Nair 23 January, 2012

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Excerpt from FRB Chicago page dated 6/15/2009-Nontraditional Monetary Policy* - Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Nontraditional Monetary Policy* - Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago: "Because of these limitations, the Fed has turned to nontraditional policies. These can be broadly categorized in three groups. The first group expands on something that has always been a part of our policy toolkit, namely discount window lending through which the Federal Reserve Banks make short-term loans to depository institutions against adequate collateral. Since August 2007, the Fed has taken steps to encourage the use of the discount window as a source of liquidity, including reducing the discount rate and lengthening the terms of the loans. The second group of policies consists of opening new lending facilities to a wide array of participants in financial markets. One can think of it as a sort of discount window for financial actors who are not depository institutions. The third group of policies consists of large-scale purchases of GSE notes. This can be seen as an extension of traditional open-market operations: the Fed still exchanges reserves for bonds, but on a vastly different scale."

Bernanke announced today the relaunch of the above NT Policy moves.

QE3 is already here!

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President Obama Proposes Mortgage Refinances for 'Responsible Borrowers' - CNBC

President Obama Proposes Mortgage Refinances for 'Responsible Borrowers' - CNBC: ""I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks," the President announced in his State of the Union address."

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