Free Republic

Can we finally admit that eight years of following the Keynesian coloring-book have not just failed, but failed spectacularly? ___ What do we call a status quo in which "emergency measures" have become permanent props? A failure. The "emergency" responses to the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008-09 are, eight years on, permanent fixtures. Everyone knows what would happen if the deficit spending, money-printing, zero interest rates, shadow banking, asset purchases by central banks and all the rest of the Keynesian Cult's program stopped: the status quo falls apart. Keynesianism Vs The Real World Let’s start by reviewing the core contexts...

Have you noticed that free checking accounts are now nearly nonexistent, and locally owned stores are increasing the $5 minimum charge on debit cards? These are not the result of some financial conspiracy. They are a direct result of Dodd-Frank regulations. After the financial crash of 2008, President Barack Obama decided to increase the role of the federal government in the economy and impose massive new regulations on banks. As one might assume, this hasn’t worked out so well. Included in the over 3,500-page Dodd-Frank bill are rules restricting access to credit for investors and homebuyers, raising lending costs for...

In the land of NIRP refugees and “Reverse Yankees,” who will get crushed? At the end of the week, something special happened, something totally absurd but part of the new normal: the average yield of euro-denominated junk bonds – the riskiest, non-investment-grade corporate bonds – dropped to the lowest level ever: 2.77%. April 26 had marked another propitious date in the annals of the ECB’s negative yield absurdity: the average euro-denominated junk bond yield had dropped below 3% for the first time ever. By comparison, what is considered the most liquid and safe debt, the 10-year US Treasury, carries a...

As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee. David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud. TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry...

[txt on image] Trump: Considering Rewrite or Elimination of Dodd-Frank President Trump entertained the idea of breaking up big banks Monday, sending major Wall Street stocks lower. Trump suggested that he is considering reinstating some form of Glass-Steagall, the repealed law that for decades mandated a separation between commercial and investment banks. "There's some people that want to go back to the old system, right? So we're going to look at that," Trump said when asked about the policy by Bloomberg.

Stocks drop after Trump says he's actively considering breaking up big banks Headline only at this time.

For most people, pleading guilty to a felony means they will very likely land in prison, lose their job and forfeit their right to vote. But when five of the world’s biggest banks plead guilty to an array of antitrust and fraud charges as soon as next week, life will go on, probably without much of a hiccup. The Justice Department is preparing to announce that Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland will collectively pay several billion dollars and plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations for rigging the price of foreign currencies, according to people briefed...

In an op-ed published in the Financial Times, John Reed says large banks like the one he used to run are now "inherently unstable and unworkable." The man who was one of the chief architects of the "Big Bank" model now says says the United States never should have repealed the Glass-Steagall banking act in 1999. That's exactly what Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley have been arguing on the campaign trail. They want the law reinstated. Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidates do not. As CEO of Citi from 1984 to 2000, Reed was one of the...

I've previously argued that the Trump administration should stop funding the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development because of its advocacy of higher taxes and tax harmonization. At the time, I was told that my position could be perceived as hypocritical because our government is responsible for the adoption and enforcement of the hideous Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Let me address this omission. FATCA, which was passed in 2010 by a Democratic Congress and enacted by President Barack Obama, requires law-abiding Americans with legitimate bank accounts outside the country and foreigners working in the United States to turn over...

Hoping to spur economic growth, President Donald Trump embarked Friday on new steps to dismantle some of the tax and financial regulations established by former President Barack Obama. Trump signed an executive order to review any major tax regulations set last year by his predecessor, as well as two memos to potentially revamp or eliminate fundamental elements of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms passed in the wake of the Great Recession. "This is really the beginning of a whole new way of life that this country hasn't seen in really many, many years," the president said before signing the measures...

U.S. President Donald Trump will order the Treasury on Friday to find and reduce tax burdens and review post-financial crisis reforms that banks and insurance companies have said hinder their ability to do business. A White House official said on Thursday that Trump will issue an executive order directing the Treasury on the tax issues. He will also issue two memoranda asking for reviews of two parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law - the Orderly Liquidation Authority that sets out how big banks can wind down during a crisis and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which...

A huge range of security exploits, said to be worth over $2m if sold on the black market, have been leaked online.The tools are said to have been created by the US National Security Agency (NSA), and accompanying documents appear to indicate a possible breach of the Swift global banking system.Such a hack could have enabled the US to covertly monitor financial transactions, researchers said.The files were released by Shadow Brokers, a hacking group that has previously leaked malware.If genuine, it represents perhaps the most significant exposure of NSA files since the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013.On Twitter, Mr Snowden...

President Trump on Wednesday threw his support behind the Export-Import Bank, a stark reversal of his opposition to the lender during the 2016 presidential campaign. “It turns out that, first of all, lots of small companies are really helped, the vendor companies,” Trump said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “But also, maybe more important, other countries give [assistance]. When other countries give it we lose a tremendous amount of business.” ADVERTISEMENT The president’s about-face is likely to anger conservative Republican critics of the bank, who say it has enabled crony capitalism. Many believed that with Trump in...

I. INTRODUCTION 1. De-cashing is defined as the gradual phasing out of currency from circulation and its replacement with convertible deposits. This initiative does not in any way target the abolition of money as an institution, but is, rather, a sweeping reduction of the role of currency, its cash component, in favor of transferrable deposits, its non-cash component. The monetary authorities in many countries have already taken steps towards de-cashing. These steps include abolishing large denomination bills, imposing ceilings on cash transactions, introducing declaration requirements on the carriage of cash in and out of the country, reporting requirements for cash...

Essentially, Too Big to Fail has been solved — taxpayers will not pay if a bank fails. The American public has the right to demand that if a major bank fails, they, as taxpayers, would not have to pay for it, and the failure wouldn’t unduly harm the U.S. economy. In my view, these demands have now both been met. On the first count, if a bank fails, taxpayers do not pay. Shareholders and debtholders, now due to total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) rules, are at risk for all losses. To add belts and suspenders, if all that capital is...

If the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is shut down in Russia, the country’s banking system will not crash, according to Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina. Russia has a substitute. "There were threats that we can be disconnected from SWIFT. We have finished working on our own payment system, and if something happens, all operations in SWIFT format will work inside the country. We have created an alternative," Nabiullina said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. She also added that 90 percent of ATMs in Russia are ready to accept the Mir payment system, a...

For the third time that day, Akili lit up and launched into a conversation he’s been having daily, with strangers and friends alike. The 68-year-old community organizer waved his hands in the direction of his new bank about five blocks up Crenshaw Boulevard: OneUnited, the largest black-owned bank in the country. “I’ve been trying to convince as many people as I can to open up accounts with black banks and invest in our own community,” Akili said, recounting the recent interaction. “I talk about this almost every time I use my card.” This new card is part of a rescue...

Events are moving so fast in Europe these days, it’s almost impossible to keep up. While much of the attention is being hogged by political developments, including the election in the Netherlands, Reuters published a report warning that the European banking sector may face even higher bad loan risks if the ECB begins to scale back its monetary stimulus programs, something it has already begun, albeit extremely tentatively. The total stock of non-performing loans (NPL) in the EU is estimated at over €1 trillion, or 5.4% of total loans, a ratio three times higher than in other major regions of...

RUSH: Hey, in the midst of all of this, Trump just signed his first bill today, first piece of legislation. You know what it does? I was watching CNN. They’re just livid. CNN is reporting that Trump’s bill that he signed weakens oil and gas and mining regulations. And you should have seen them when they announced this. They’re just shaking their heads, “Oh, my God.” And what they’re shaking their heads about is he won’t stop. We can’t make him stop! We thought we had him paralyzed with Flynn, he just keeps doing it. And that’s what’s gonna continue...

JUST IN President Donald J Trump signs repeal of Dodd Frank provision