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Time Bomb? Banks Pressured to Buy Government Debt CNBC, NETNET, NET NET, EUROPE DEBT, GREEK DEBT, EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS, ECB, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK Posted By: Jeff Cox | CNBC.com Senior Writer CNBC.com | 31 May 2012 | 02:42 PM ET US and European regulators are essentially forcing banks to buy up their own government's debt—a move that could end up making the debt crisis even worse, a Citigroup analysis says. Regulators are allowing banks to escape counting their country's debt against capital requirements and loosening other rules to create a steady market for government bonds, the study says. While that...

‘Fear of the Future’ Keeps Lid on Economic Growth: Greenspan ECONOMY, INFLATION, EMPLOYMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT, MANUFACTURING, CPI, CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, JOBLESS CLAIMS Posted By: Jeff Cox | CNBC.com Senior Writer CNBC.com | 01 Jun 2012 | 07:39 AM ET Investors could revolt at a moment's notice against high government deficit levels, jeopardizing chances at a recovery and potentially sending interest rates soaring, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told CNBC. The former central bank leader — nicknamed "The Maestro" by his supporters — said he worries the current economy could be heading on a path similar to 1979, when the 10-year...

Actually, I know the answer to my own question. The answer is manyfold: Hussein has lifted the drilling moratorium; Hussein approved Keystone; Hussein has opened domestic exploration, drilling, and production; Hussein has opened the "strategic reserve"; Hussein didn't actually "invest" all those billions in Brazil's, etc. petroleum industries, he invested it our petroleum industry; Hussein Obama pees oil thereby increasing domestic supply driving the price down; isn't Obama wonderful? NOT I'm not an industry economist so what did I miss? Don't tell me it's all because of Memorial Day and summer's arrival, that doesn't make sense. This is not an...

Even though unemployment rose to 9.1% for the month of May, the White House wants you to believe this is good news. According to Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee, the country’s job situation is actually getting better. Today’s employment report shows that private sector payrolls increased by 83,000 [54,000 net] in May and the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent. There are always bumps on the road to recovery, but the overall trajectory of the economy has improved dramatically over the past two years.The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision....

BANGKOK (AP) — World markets took a beating Monday as another setback for the U.S. economic recovery sent investors fleeing from stocks. A weak U.S. jobs report flustered investors and intensified fears that a global recession was in the making. The dismal report released Friday came on the heels of other data that showed weak economic conditions in Europe and Asia.

The Tokyo market slumped to a 28-year low on Monday as Asian shares dived on fears of a nightmare scenario of euro-zone breakup, U.S. economic relapse and a sharp slowdown in China. Investors hedged against global financial and economic crisis, heading for havens such as the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond whose yield fell below 0.80 percent to its lowest since July 2003. Ten-year JGB futures prices jumped to a 19-month high.

Things are shaping up for another hot summer on Wall Street, and there is a long, long way to go yet. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be back on Capitol Hill on Thursday to testify before a congressional committee about the state of the U.S. economy. He's not going to get an easy ride. The blue-chip Dow average of stocks is now negative for the year. Employment appears to be slowing to a snail's pace and Europe remains mired in crisis. "This puts the Fed firmly in play and they will likely feel compelled to respond," said Tom Porcelli,...

Paul Krugman is now so far into outer space with ridiculous economic proposals that even Helicopter Ben Bernanke recognizes Krugman's proposals as "reckless". Bloomberg reports Bernanke Takes On Krugman’s Criticism Ignoring Own Advice

Who ever imagined that Ben Bernanke would become a poster child for the student loan debt problem in America? Recently Bernanke told Congress that his son will graduate from medical school with about $400,000 of student loan debt. For most Americans, such a staggering amount of debt would almost certainly guarantee a lifetime of debt slavery. Unfortunately, Bernanke's son is not alone. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, approximately 167,000 Americans have more than $200,000 of student loan debt. The cost of a college education has increased much more rapidly than the rate of inflation over...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday offered a tempered view of the U.S. economy, pouring cold water on the notion that recent upbeat signs herald a stronger recovery. Bernanke told Congress that unless growth accelerated, the unacceptably high U.S. unemployment rate would not keep dropping. But he stopped short of signaling further Fed bond purchases, dashing the hopes of some traders in financial markets who were betting on more monetary stimulus. "The job market is far from normal," Bernanke said. "Continued improvement ... is likely to require stronger growth in final demand and production." The swift decline in the...

Out on the campaign trail, Fed head Ben Bernanke is an unpopular guy. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have both said they would replace Bernanke, not reappoint him. Rep. Ron Paul would swap the whole Federal Reserve monetary system for a gold-linked dollar, making the yellow metal legal tender. And it was Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, before he dropped out of the race, who said more quantitative easing by the Fed would be "almost treasonous." Republicans in Washington are equally unimpressed by Bernanke. Rep. Paul Ryan recently criticized the Fed for bankrolling our huge budget deficits and thereby accommodating...

In a fascinating exchange between Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican from Wisconsin accused the Fed of eroding peoples’ savings, creating a false sense of security by manipulating the yield curve, and bailing people out by indirectly engaging in fiscal policy. Bernanke hasn’t been comfortable the last couple of times he was forced to testify in Congress. On Thursday, the Fed Chairman was questioned by the House Budget Committee on the state of the economy. After giving his usual description of the economic outlook (inflation has remained moderate, unemployment is high, Fed will do whatever...

Politics: You'd think a Republican debate on the economy would be a perfect time to blast Obama policies as an unmitigated disaster. Yet Obama escaped largely unscathed. Whom do these folks think they're running against? If aliens landed Tuesday night and managed to find the GOP debate on Bloomberg TV, they might think the GOP candidates were running against Ben Bernanke, someone named Dodd-Frank, Obama-Care and China. Newt Gingrich focused his ire, for example, on Bernanke, saying he's "the first person to fire." Michele Bachmann went on about Dodd-Frank, calling it "the jobs and housing destruction act." Rick Santorum said...

Wall Street wanted to hear Ben Bernanke talk about cheap money today. Instead, the Fed chair offered no hint of any more easing of monetary policy, causing a slight decline in the stock market after his speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bernanke told the audience that Washington needs to start finding ways to create jobs fast in order to repair the economy: Bernanke’s speech at a central banking conference appeared to disappoint some market participants who had hoped the Fed chairman would make a clear case for a further easing of monetary policy. The U.S. dollar strengthened and stocks added...

As I write this, investors around the world are anxiously awaiting Ben Bernanke’s speech at the annual Fed gathering at Jackson Hole, Wyo. They want to know whether Mr. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, will unveil new policies that might lift the U.S. economy out of what is looking more and more like a quasi-permanent state of depressed demand and high unemployment. But I’ll be shocked if Mr. Bernanke proposes anything significant — that is, anything likely to make any serious dent in unemployment or offer any serious boost to growth. Why don’t I expect much from Mr....

Howard Dean: Bush camp will ‘take Perry out’ By Daniel Strauss - 08/17/11 01:59 PM ET Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean predicted that prominent political supporters of former President George W. Bush will throw a critical blow to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) presidential campaign. “The Bush people don’t fool around, as you know,” Dean said Tuesday night on MSNBC. “You can say a lot of things about Bush’s presidency and his failures as president, but one thing nobody should say [anything] bad about [is] his political team. They know what they’re doing, and they are ruthless, and...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry made a statement about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calling his actions treacherous and treasonous. Of course, the media is coming to the defense of the chairman. Media Republican analysts such as Karl Rove and Bill Kristol are calling Perry's statement unpresidential and pathetic. Peter Wehner, a former Bush White House aide, wants Perry to apologize. Remember, Bush appointed Bernanke to head the Fed, so it is not surprising that former Bush officials are quickly coming to the defense of their pal Ben. The only person who should be apologizing is Ben Bernanke for pushing...

* Perry threatens Fed chairman, Bachmann also criticizes * Remarks reflect intense political pressure on Fed * White House says threatening Bernanke "not a good idea" (Adds fresh quotes from Bachmann, Obama, economist) WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The White House denounced Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry on Tuesday for his threatening remarks toward the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve that represented some of the most inflammatory rhetoric of the 2012 election campaign. Campaigning in Iowa on Monday, the Texas governor said he would consider it "treasonous" if Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke "prints more money between now and the...

Rising prices are no surprise to anyone who has been following the actions of Ben Bernanke’s Fed. Two rounds of “quantitative easing” injected more than $2.3 trillion into bank reserves, and thus to some extent into the economy. The more money chasing products and services, the more those products and services cost.Bernanke’s thinking was that by pumping trillions into the financial system, he could spur lending, investing, and spending via lower interest rates, and thus goose the economy. But the strategy not only hasn’t improved the economy, it has also had two major bad side-effects. Increased inflation is one side-effect,...

People have been speculating about the prospects for QE3 since before QE2 even got off the ground. And with the recovery sputtering and stocks plummeting, the drumbeat has gotten even louder. It helps that Jackson Hole -- the conference where Bernanke announced his plans last year -- is right around the corner. And now the talk begins for real. WSJ's crack Fed Report Jon Hilsenrath interviews some former Fed officials (Donald Kohn, Vincent Reinhart and Brian Madigan) and finds growing support for QE3 IF inflation comes down. And inflation seems to be plummeting everywhere (oil is below $92, all the...