“Monetary policy” on The Daily Caller

Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry’s comments about Ben Bernanke and monetary policy have set off a firestorm. He is being criticized by both the left and the right. (more)

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan challenged Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s policy of so-called quantitative easing – the printing of new U.S. dollars to buy government debt – and raised concerns that a weakened dollar and inflation could cause the loss of the currency’s global reserve status. (more)

Could the U.S. Federal Reserve have had an indirect hand in the unrest that is plaguing Egypt and other nations in North Africa and the Middle East? (more)

Decades of autocratic government and a lack of free elections are, of course, the main drivers of the political upheaval in Egypt. But did the sinking dollar and skyrocketing food prices trigger the massive unrest now occurring in Egypt — or the greater Arab world for that matter? (more)

After years spent as an outsider in his own party, Rep. Ron Paul will finally have a perch from which to advocate his central policy goal: shutting down the Federal Reserve. When Republicans take over the House in January, the 75-year-old Texan will assume chairmanship of the Financial Services Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the central bank. Paul talked about his plans with National Journal. Edited excerpts follow. (more)

The Federal Open Market Committee released its latest statement on the economy and monetary policy on December 14. In it, the Bernanke Fed reaffirmed its commitment to running loose monetary policy in the hopes that it will somehow juice up economic growth and job creation. (more)

Stop wasting my time
You know what I want
You know what I need
Or maybe you don’t (more)

On February 24, Ben Bernanke went before Congress to issue a stern warning regarding the national debt. Simply put, it was growing much more quickly than the chairman of the Fed deemed appropriate. Along with chastising the out-of-control spending, Bernanke issued this warning about the possibility of the Fed printing money to pay off Uncle Sam’s credit card: “We’re not going to monetize the debt.” (more)

Retiring New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, one of the Federal Reserve’s most stalwart Republican supporters, showed up for a meeting at the central bank in November bearing a surprising gift: a box of End the Fed books. As he handed out the 2009 best seller by Representative Ron Paul, a longtime Fed critic, Gregg told the gathering it would be worth reading to see what the other side is plotting. (more)

Chauncey and Graff’s song, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, was published in 1912, seven years before Eire proclaimed herself a republic and captured a romantic optimism that was matched by reality in 1995. For the next twelve years the young republic embarked upon a period of rapid growth and was re-christened the Celtic Tiger. The pride of her people was palpable and a joy to behold. (more)

President Obama on Monday defended the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent move to buy $600 billion more in U.S. Treasuries, which has been criticized by top officials in foreign governments as a move to devalue the U.S. dollar. (more)

In the late nineteenth century, public health in Chicago was suffering. The city’s industrial waste and sewage from its upstream neighbors was befouling the Chicago River, and a disgusted populace blamed it for outbreaks of typhoid and other forms of pestilence. City leaders, under pressure to “do something,” eventually conceived of an audacious idea: Why not reverse the course of the “stinking river” and send the polluted waters downstream to the Mississippi? As unthinkable as that proposal sounds to modern ears, in those days no one had even conceived of an environmental impact study and upstream towns along the river turned out to be no match for big city political power. The Army Corps of Engineers was engaged to build the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, in what was then the largest earth moving effort in North American history. On January 17, 1900, the locks of the canal were opened and water began to flow from Lake Michigan downstream towards New Orleans. The filth had become someone else’s problem. (more)

The Federal Reserve Wednesday unveiled a controversial new plan to buy U.S. Treasurys, hoping to spur growth in a disappointingly slow U.S. economy. (more)

For the second time since he became chairman in 2006, Ben S. Bernanke is leading the Federal Reserve into uncharted monetary territory. (more)

China raised interest rates for the first time since emerging from the financial crisis, in a surprise move that highlights the widening gap in the world economy between economically vibrant developing countries and the rich nations trying to fend off stagnation. (more)

BOSTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that high unemployment and low inflation point to a need for a further easing of U.S. monetary policy, but he offered no details on the central bank’s next step. (more)

The current economic environment reminds me of the great old soul singers who used to drop to their knees to scream, beg and shout as they pleaded for their baby’s love. Sadly, the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown and Solomon Burke are gone, but there has been plenty of pleading, begging and beseeching afoot as central bankers, government officials and ordinary citizens lament the woeful state of the world’s economy. For the last two years the volume has been rising and the only thing missing seems to be a chorus of back-up singers like the Raelettes. I wonder if Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd can carry a tune? We may be about to find out. (more)

The head of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday said that China’s currency is “substantially undervalued” and that he feared countries had begun viewing exchange rates “as a weapon” in the competition for economic growth. (more)

Fed head Ben Bernanke and the FOMC dropped a new policy bomb at their meeting this week. Now they say inflation is too low. That’s the real problem. And the solution? Punch up the money supply and punch down the dollar — or what I used to call King Dollar. No more. (more)

TOKYO — Japan moved Wednesday to prop up the U.S. dollar and weaken the yen in a bid to protect its export-led economy, intervening in international currency markets for the first time since 2004. (more)