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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, acting in the face of a weak economic outlook, decided to start a program to twist the yield curve by swapping shorter-maturity government securities for longer-dated ones. In a statement, the Fed will buy $400 billion of Treasury securities in the 6-30 year range and sell an equal amount of maturities of 3 years or less. The Fed also announced a new plan to purchase agency mortgage-backed securities with proceeds of maturing securities.

Dear Chairman Bernanke, It is our understanding that the Board Members of the Federal Reserve will meet later this week to consider additional monetary stimulus proposals. We write to express our reservations about any such measures. Respectfully, we submit that the board should resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, particularly without a clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for success, ample data proving a case for economic action and quantifiable benefits to the American people. It is not clear that the recent round of quantitative easing undertaken by the Federal Reserve has facilitated economic...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week in a sign concerns about a weak economy were sapping an already beleaguered labor market, data showed on Thursday. Applications for unemployment benefits climbed to 428,000 in the week ending September10 from an upwardly revised 417,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the second straight week in which claims rose. Wall Street analysts had been looking for a dip to 410,000. Excluding one week in early August, claims have held above 400,000 since early April. A Labor Department official said there was no...

In the run-up to the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve fueled the housing bubble with its easy money policy. Now, we know that after the crisis struck, the Fed secretly propped up elite bankers all the way from Wall Street to Brussels to the Central Bank of Libya. A Bloomberg news investigation found that while the Treasury Department was pumping $700 billion into banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Fed was covertly operating its own bailout program — the biggest in American history. The Fed's Shadow TARP issued $1.2 trillion in loans to domestic and foreign banks from...

Former presidential candidate and Forbes magazine editor Steve Forbes tells Newsmax that President Obama’s planned economic reforms are “the definition of insanity” — repeating failed policies in the hopes that somehow they will become successful. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, Forbes also declares that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should have resigned a long time ago, says Obama will be a one-term president, and looks for significant and positive reforms in Washington after the 2012 elections. He also predicts the United States will make an “astonishing” move and return to a gold standard in the next five years, and says...

FOR the last three years we have been told repeatedly by government officials that funneling hundreds of billions of dollars to large and teetering banks during the credit crisis was necessary to save the financial system, and beneficial to Main Street... --snip-- Bloomberg reported that the Fed had provided a stunning $1.2 trillion to large global financial institutions at the peak of its crisis lending in December 2008. --snip-- In 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland received $84.5 billion, and Dexia, a Belgian lender, borrowed $58.5 billion from the Fed at... --snip-- Mr. Todd also questioned the Fed’s decision to...

The Federal Reserve has done all it can for now to get the U.S. economy back on track. Now it's time to simply wait for it to heal. That was the message delivered by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a widely anticipated speech Friday to an annual gathering of bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyo. "It may take some time, but we can reasonably expect to see a return to growth rates and (better) employment levels," Bernanke said. "This economic healing will take a while, and there may be setbacks along the way." The Fed chairman stopped short of any...

Many politicians and media pundits who should know better are not thinking very rationally about Governor Rick Perry’s recent critical remarks concerning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and further additions to the nation’s money supply. It turns out that a constitutional analysis adds weight to Governor Perry’s instructive remarks. As reported, those remarks on August 15th were: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American...

Super-low interest rates haven't done what they usually do after a recession. They haven't ignited economic growth or revived the home market or persuaded consumers to spend freely again. They have, though, caused misery for retirees and others who depend on interest income. Such income plummeted 27 percent from 2008 to last year. Now, some economists worry that low rates might be hurting the economy itself -- defeating the purpose of the Federal Reserve's low-rate policies. When savers earn less, they spend less. And spending by individuals drives about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. Those concerns arise 2 1/2...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry has been on a Bernanke-bashing binge this week, demanding on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve "open their books up." That comment comes after Perry said earlier this week that it would be "treasonous" if Chairman Ben Bernanke used Fed policy to stimulate the economy before the election. But what books exactly does Perry want opened? The Federal Reserve already publishes its balance sheet online every Thursday for the entire world to see. Not only that, it is audited regularly. Every year, an external accounting firm audits the financial statements of the Federal...

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...

** Did Perry go too far? A day after appearing to outshine Michele Bachmann on her home turf in Waterloo, albeit with some tough rhetoric aimed at President Obama, Rick Perry might have gone a bit too far in criticizing Obama and even the Federal Reserve while campaigning in Iowa yesterday. For Texans, this is typical Perry. But for Americans who do not know him, it's eyebrow-raising rhetoric. In fact, he sounded more like Trump or Gingrich. "I think the greatest threat to our country right now is this president trying to spend his way out of this debt," Perry...

.....Campaigning in Iowa on Monday, the Texas governor said he would consider it "treasonous" if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke "prints more money between now and the election" in November 2012 -- a fresh sign of the political heat the central bank faces as it tries to right the stumbling U.S. economy. The White House responded by saying it is important for the central bank to remain independent, and jabbed back at Perry, who on Saturday entered the race for the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama. "I certainly think threatening the Fed chairman is not a good idea,"...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Texas Gov. Rick Perry turned his rhetorical fire on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke here Monday night, saying that the chairman would be committing a “treasonous” act by ordering the printing of more money and said doing so would amount to a political decision to help President Obama win reelection in 2012. “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what you all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas,” he said of the possibility of another round of so-called quantitative...

FLORENCE, Alabama | FLORENCE, Alabama (Reuters) - The risk of a new U.S. recession has risen over the last couple of months, but an outright contraction will most likely be avoided, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday. Lockhart said there is plenty the central bank could do if the economy does deteriorate further, including ramping up asset purchases or shifting their composition. Recent market volatility, driven in part by concerns of slowing economies both in the United States and Europe, threatens consumer confidence and could put a crimp on spending, Lockhart told a Rotary Club meeting....

During a stop tonight at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired a warning shot at the Obama Administration and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Perry was asked to comment on “the Fed,” and while he said he didn’t really want to take on the Fed question right now, he did have some blunt comments about the rumored possibility of the Federal Reserve printing a lot more money between now and November 2012 to make the economy appear better than it really is. Perry said: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what...

NEWS last week that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates near zero until mid-2013 was welcomed by many investors, but the bleak message about the economy still came through loud and clear. The Fed has spent several years trying to kick-start the economy with low rates and other policies, with little success. Which raises this question: Will more of the same help now? Among the doubters is Thomas M. Hoenig, the soon-to-be former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Hoenig, at the helm of the Kansas City Fed for the last 20 years, has thought...

On Twitter, Nouriel Roubini declares that the latest currency interventions from Switzerland and Japan represent the start of QE3, ultimately ending in more Fed easing.

James Pethokoukis of Reuters published a chart Tuesday demonstrating exactly why all the hysteria about a debt default or missing Social Security check payments is a bunch of nonsense. If America's news outlets were actually interested in disseminating the truth rather than fear-mongering, this chart or something like it would be part of every report involving the debt ceiling: What this chart created by the securities firm Goldman Sachs perfectly demonstrates is that there are ample tax receipts coming to the Treasury in August to pay the interest on our debt, Social Security, Medicare, and "essential" defense costs.