Free Republic

First Liberty Building and Loan, a Newnan-based private lending firm operated by the Frost family, abruptly shut down this week, suspending all payments to investors and announcing it is cooperating with federal authorities as it winds down operations. In a notice posted to its website, First Liberty said it would no longer accept new investments or make bridge loans, and that interest payments on existing promissory notes and other investments were “indefinitely suspended.” The company also stated employees would not be taking calls or emails while it works with federal agencies to sort through its affairs. The announcement marked a...

Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Update: Week Of August 12 Total Federal Reserve balance sheet assets for the week of August 12 of $1,990 billion (an increase of $13 billion from the prior week) consisting of: Securities held outright: $1,373 billion (an increase of $107 billion MoM, resulting from $43.7 billion in new Treasury purchases, $53.8 billion increase in MBS and $9.4 billion in Agency Debt), or $18.6 billion increase sequentially Net borrowings: $340.5 billion (a decline of $47 billion month over month) Float, liquidity swaps, Maiden Lane and other assets: $277 billion (another record decrease of $83.7 billion month...

...The weak dollar is pummeling equities, disrupting the economy, distorting global trade and giving hundreds of billions of dollars in windfall revenues--through skyrocketing commodity prices--to our adversaries such as Iran and Venezuela. Not since Jimmy Carter has the U.S. had a President so oblivious to the damage done by an increasingly feeble greenback. ...The U.S. Treasury Department could buy dollars in the currency exchange markets. Our allies would gladly cooperate with such an operation; their exports are being hurt more and more. The Fed could mop up some of the excess liquidity it has created since 2004, even as it...

If you spent more each month than you made and got deeper and deeper into debt, but had an asset equal to your debts, like a big expensive boat you never used, what would you do? If you were rational, you would sell the boat. The U.S. government has spent more than it receives in tax revenue for most of the last 75 years, and, as a result, the national debt and the associated interest payments have gotten bigger and bigger. But what is not well known is that the U.S. government also has many trillions of dollars of assets,...