Posted on 12/14/2010 6:12:54 PM PST by FromLori
Today we get a brief glimpse of what will happen to the Fed's balance sheet when rates surge. In the span of one day, the Fed took an $8 billion unrealized loss on its $1.07 trillion in Bonds, TIPS and Agencies. It also likely experienced a comparable loss on its MBS portfolio. It's a good thing the Fed has $57 billion in capital accounts. Which means 4 days like today, and all of the Fed's equity buffer is wiped out. What happens next is up to congress.
The question that Zero Hedge has long been posing, namely why the Fed, which is now the world's biggest and most leveraged hedge fund (well second most, after the ECB) has no interest rate hedges on its books whatsoever, remains as valid today as ever. And with it being in print, Ben Bernanke will not have the fallback option of saying nobody had ever suggested the idea...
These days you have to make up words to fit unprecedented situations.
The loose, informal definition of "fandango" is "nonsense", "tomfoolery". It seemed to fit.
That was my intended meaning of the word.
I was trying to give a little commic-relief to a very grim subject.
My play on words was weak humor.
The Fed is a serious issue, has been one for a very long time. More people today are listening to the discussion than at any time since the Federal Reserve System began.
Your welcome thank you for breaking it down so people realize the magnitude of the problem. Bernanke is enabling that spending and he has no plan to stop.
Thomas M. Hoenig who is a Fed governor (probably the best one)knows Bernankes policies are a disaster.
To him, Mr. Bernankes plan is a dangerous gamble and a bargain with the devil, strong words that have rankled some officials of the Fed, where dissent is tolerated but not celebrated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/business/14fed.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&ref=business
None the less Banana Ben plans on moving full steam ahead!
Fed Retains $600 Billion Bond-Buying Plan to Boost Economy
Were not very far from the level where the economy is not self-sustaining, Bernanke said. Its possible the Fed may expand bond purchases beyond $600 billion, he said.
10 Signs That Confidence In U.S. Treasuries Is Dying And That Financial Armageddon May Be Approaching
Just send the bill to the taxpayers, couldn’t be any more easier than that. What? Me worry?
The problem is not a matter of politics, it is the math. Increasing debt with compounding interest on a credit card destroys personal finances. It can also destroy nations. It is happening in Europe. It can happen in the USA and will if the spending does not stop.
At this point it will mean cutting entitlements, unfortunately, whether one wants to do so or not.
The irony is that Fred Thompson had a Christmas video a couple of years ago at the time of TARP which explained all this.
I'm sorry about that...I read your post again and I was the one being weak.
Apologies.
Maybe I am blowing this out of proportion (I don't think so) but my gut tells me we are in big trouble and this time it's different. Everything I've considered "normal" and "right" now raises doubt in my mind.
Read this little snippet from a publication widely bashed as left-wing and tell me what's wrong with this picture. It concerns the "Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission" led by former congressman and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas [R]
$nip>
During a private commission meeting last week, all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases "Wall Street" and "shadow banking" and the words "interconnection" and "deregulation" from the panel's final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal.
$nip>
I have no doubt that the “banking crisis” was planned.
The question is who is behind Obozo (Dems, RINO Pubbies and foreign interest)? The assault is much bigger than Soros. It the “Globalist” interests in Government, Banking, Industry and Academia. Traitors.
A second real estate collapse would mean houses being sold for nothing as they are next to nothing now.
You bet.
and the money they have to buy bonds is shrinking.
How do you figure that?
The point of the Zero Hedge article is that the Fed is on the verge of being insolvent if rates keep rising.
Insolvent? I thought that meant unable to pay your debts? What debts does the Fed have?
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