Free Republic

Raphael Bostic, a former Obama administration housing official, was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, becoming the first African-American selected to lead one of the 12 regional Fed banks in the institution’s century of existence. Mr. Bostic, a 50-year-old professor of public policy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, will take over June 5, the Atlanta Fed said Monday. He succeeds Dennis Lockhart, who retired at the end of February after a decade of service, and his appointment was approved by the Atlanta Fed’s board of directors and the Fed board of governors, the...

Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding. If you want a central banker to choke on his croissant, read him this quote from socio-historian Immanuel Wallerstein: "Countries (have lost the ability) to control what happens to them in the ongoing life of the modern world-system." Stated another way, Wallerstein is asking: what do central banks no longer control? The quote is from Wallerstein's recent meditation on China: China is Confident: How Realistic? "The question is how realistic is this self-assessment of...

Yesterday I told you that the US government had recently released its annual financial report to the public.And the numbers are pretty gruesome.For example, the government’s “net loss” in fiscal year 2016 more than doubled, from MINUS $467 billion to MINUS $1 trillion.It’s astonishing that anyone could manage to lose so much money, let alone in a year where devoid of major wars, recessions, financial crises, or infrastructure projects.But what else can we expect from an institution that spent billions of dollars to build a website?Today I wanted to highlight a few other items from the government’s report that are...

You might remember the story of Obama’s DHS hacking the State of Georgia around the time of the 2016 Election. I was highly interested in the story, but the only explanation that was revealed by Jeh Johnson was a strange one of a “copy and paste” mistake by a lowly DHS worker. It did not make sense, so I did not report on it. However, it has just been revealed to be more of a story now; in fact, it could be a pretty big one for Obama and Jeh Johnson. Title 18 of the federal code makes it a...

Though they are officially “non-profit” organizations, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and several other Christian organizations are profiting from lucrative contracts with the federal government to resettle refugees in the United States. Of the 100,000 refugees resettled in the United States in 2014 under the Refugee Resettlement program, an estimated 40 percent were Muslims. In FY 2015, the State Department, through the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, spent more than $1 billion on these programs, which settled international refugees “vetted” by the United Nations High Commission on International Refugees in all 50 states...

"If Hillary Clinton would have won the election, then the Fed would have continued with more moderate interest rate hikes – or none at all – as they did for President Obama. So let’s get this straight – when the Fed raises interest rates it is to worsen the U.S. economy. Why? When interest rates go up, what happens? There is less borrowing. So what do you suppose happens to the total amount of money in the U.S. economy when there is less borrowing? There is less money. And that’s how the Fed justifies it.

The ten most populous cities where local leaders shield illegal immigrants from federal law could lose $2.27 billion in federal funds, a Reuters analysis has found. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other large cities could lose federal funding for housing, education, airport improvements, HIV treatment, and more. “The [funding] numbers do not include federal money for law enforcement, which was excluded in the executive order, and programs like Medicaid, which are administered by state governments,” Reuters states.

<p>Tax "reform," starting with taxes on business, seems to be on everyone's agenda, and it may be a place where the incoming Trump administration and its Democratic critics find common ground. But it's still going to be a slog, and one reason is so-called "pass-through" businesses whose taxes are levied at personal income tax rates.</p>

NEW HAVEN – Speculative markets have always been vulnerable to illusion. But seeing the folly in markets provides no clear advantage in forecasting outcomes, because changes in the force of the illusion are difficult to predict. In the United States, two illusions have been important recently in financial markets. One is the carefully nurtured perception that President-elect Donald Trump is a business genius who can apply his deal-making skills to make America great again. The other is a naturally occurring illusion: the proximity of Dow 20,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been above 19,000 since November, and countless news...

Donald Trump hasn’t moved into the White House yet, but the president-elect is already influencing the outlook for global economic growth. This week, the International Monetary Fund raised its US economic growth forecast by half a percent for 2017 and 2018, as a result of Trump’s planned tax cuts, infrastructure spending and regulatory reform. The IMF now expects the US economy to grow 2.3% this year and 2.5% next year. But Paul Sheard, chief economist at S&P Global, says the outlook for economic growth is largely dependent on which Donald Trump we get in the White House. Sheard believes there...

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to join all of you at the Commonwealth Club today, not the least because the club and the Federal Reserve have a few things in common. Both organizations, as it happens, have a board of governors and a chair. And both the club's and the Fed's histories extend back more than a century. The club, as many here know, was founded in 1903, and the Federal Reserve a decade later. Perhaps because of our shared origins in the Progressive Era, a period of reform in American life, we hold certain values in common. According...

U.S. stock futures indicated a slow start for Wall Street on Monday, but the Dow industrials may have another run at 20,000, after barely missing the psychologically important level in the last session. Comments from a lineup of Federal Reserve speakers later today and the lead-in to earnings season could help provide impetus. “European equity markets have opened slightly weaker this morning after Asian markets unwound some of the gains overnight, but with Dow futures only moderately lower, there is still potential for the market to turnaround later this afternoon and have another run at the number,” said James Hughes,...

For years, alternative economic analysts have been warning that the “miraculous” rise in U.S. stock markets has been the symptom of wider central bank intervention and that this will result in dire future consequences. We have heard endless lies and rationalizations as to why this could not be so, and why the U.S. “recovery” is real. At the beginning of 2016, the former head of the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve crushed all the skeptics and vindicated our position in an interview with CNBC where he stated

President-elect Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to return the US to 4% gross-domestic-product growth during his presidency. One of the best ways to achieve this appears to be his proposed $550 billion stimulus package to help rebuild infrastructure. Even if Trump can get his infrastructure plan past Democrats, deficit hawks in his own party, and regulators, there may be one more opponent preventing an economic boom: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen... ...comments at the Fed's December meeting appear to signal a "Yellen Call" that will dampen the financial and economic impact of any large-scale infrastructure plan. The strategists...

Monetary Policy: It was a foregone conclusion that the Fed would raise rates by a quarter point this week. No surprise there. What was a surprise was the sudden hawkish tone. Are they trying to tamp down enthusiasm after Donald Trump's election? It sure looks that way. Instead of just two rate hikes next year, which was the Fed's own expectation just last September, its forecasts now look for three rate hikes. Why the change? A sudden surge in inflation? Faster than expected growth? Hardly. The Fed's own forecasts don't see unemployment getting below where it is now, about 4.5%....

The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter point on Wednesday, as expected, but policymakers signaled a likelihood of three increases in 2017, up from prior expectations for two moves. In her post-meeting press conference, Chair Janet Yellen called the change in outlook "a very modest adjustment" in the path of Fed policy. She noted that some members, but not all, factored in some fiscal stimulus following the election of Donald Trump, into their forecasts, even though his policies are still being crafted. The lower jobless rate, which fell to 4.6% from 4.9% in November, also was...

Federal Reserve officials, amid signs that the U.S. economy soon could shed its long period of stagnation, approved the first interest rate hike in a year Wednesday and said it foresees three more increases next year. The stock market reacted calmly, while the dollar and bond yields rose.

For the second time in 10 years, the Fed is poised to deliver an upward move in its target interest rate this week. The probability of a rate hike on Dec. 14 has risen to over 97%, according to much-watched CME Fed Funds futures. Consistent U.S. employment growth, coupled with improved housing figures, solid retail sales, rising consumer confidence and increased industrial production, have led Fed officials to prep markets for this long-awaited change. The positive data has fallen within the context of persistent anemic GDP growth, suppressed business investment/capital spending... ...a lower regulatory burden and the tax stimulus expected...

New York Fed president backs gradual interest-rate hikes Without mentioning President-elect Donald Trump by name, Federal Reserve officials on Monday warned that the incoming administration’s fiscal policy must be intelligently designed to spur the economy while maintaining a rainy-day fund to help the economy withstand another downturn. “Smart” government spending and tax reform could help the economy grow, said Chicago Fed President Charles Evans in a speech to the Executives Club of Chicago, according to Reuters.

President Trump will have a choice opportunity that few if any presidents have had — the immediate chance to fill two openings on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve. Only five of the board’s seven seats are now filled, a fact that has received scant attention in the press. Yet finding the right nominees will be important in setting the stage for monetary reforms needed to end the age of fiat money and put paid to the “false economy” of which Mr. Trump warned. We are only one stop on the organ known as the “Great Mentioner,” but...