Free Republic

The Obama administration appears to have come up with a novel way of financing trillion-dollar budget deficits – demanding IRA and 401(k) holders buy trillions of dollars in Treasury bonds. With the Treasury needing this year to see another $1 trillion in debt to finance the anticipated federal budget deficit, and the Federal Reserve about to discontinue its 2009 program of buying Treasury bonds for the Fed's asset portfolio, the Obama administration is scrambling to find ways to sell government debt without having to raise interest rates. Bloomberg reported Friday that Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant...

NEW YORK) MarketWatch - The Treasury Department said Thursday it plans to sell $104 billion in short- and medium-term debt next week. It will auction $40 billion 2-year notes on Tuesday and $37 billion in 5-year notes the following day. Finally, $27 billion in 7-year notes will end the note auctions on Thursday. The amounts of 5- and 7-year debt are more than expected by Wrightson ICAP, a research firm specializing in government debt. The broader Treasury market remained lower, weighed by positive economic data. Benchmark 10-year note yields , which move inversely to price, rose 6 basis points to...

23 October 2008 A Record Number of Buyers Cannot Take Delivery of the US Treasuries that They 'Own' He who sells what isn't his'n Must buy it back or go to Prison. Daniel Drew Naked short selling and float and reserve plays are causing a record 'failures to deliver' in the US Treasuries markets. Some of this may be a 'kiting' scheme in which the sellers are playing an aribtrage against the slight fees and penalties versus returns on price distortions and extremes in volatility. Or it might be a case of selling and using the same thing so many...

<p>Washington, March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve may opt for unconventional tactics, such as direct purchases of Treasury notes, to fight deflation should a possible war with Iraq weaken an already flagging U.S. economy.</p> <p>Word that the nation lost 308,000 jobs in February raised odds that the Fed next week will cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 1 percent, the lowest since July 1958. Even that may not be enough to keep the economy growing if a war starts and takes too long to resolve, some economists said.</p>