The most powerful woman in the world without an army

American Thinker ^ | 12/19/2014 | James Longstreet

[SeekAndFind]

The most powerful woman in the world, without an army, just propelled the Dow Jones to a two-day 700-point spike by saying “patience.”  Janet Yellen said the Federal Reserve, the quasi-agency that neither is “federal” nor has any “reserves," can be “patient” in their rate hikes in 2015.

She was quick, and clumsy by other accounts, to confuse the rate hike issue, with language suggesting that it might not happen at all.  In the vein of the famous watering hole sign, “free beer tomorrow,” Yellen essentially gave the message that rates would go up in 2015, but they might not.  It depends.

So we have the Federal Reserve, which neither is federal nor has reserves, telling the financial community that rates might go up, and then, they might not.  If inflation isn’t as high as Yellen wants, though she is mandated to promote price stability, rates may not rise, but they might.

The game grows old.  It was much simpler back in the Greenspan days.  We could wonder about interest rate rises by the briefcase Alan carried into the meeting.  Was it large or small?  Large would mean something new was in the wind, maybe.  With which hand did he carry his satchel?  Left could mean a departure from present course.  Those were the easy days for guessing rate adjustments by the non-federal, no-reserves Federal Reserve.

[2banana]

You can do amazing things with fiat money and printing presses.

Destroy economies...

Start wars...

Change governments...

Bankrupt the middle class...

[DannyTN]

"though she is mandated to promote price stability, rates may not rise, but they might."

Federal Reserve Act Section 2A. Monetary policy objectives The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee shall maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

[DannyTN]

"though she is mandated to promote price stability, rates may not rise, but they might."

Federal Reserve Act Section 2A. Monetary policy objectives The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee shall maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

[Toddsterpatriot]

So we have the Federal Reserve, which neither is federal nor has reserves,

No reserves.

Except $2.3 trillion in Treasuries, $1.7 trillion in MBS and $11 billion ($308 billion, really) of gold.

Only off by about $4.3 trillion.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/