After Congress approved that BIG FINANCIAL BAIL OUT WITH NO CONDITIONS OR OTHER STIPULATIONS ON HOW IT WSA TO BE SPENT (Itself a RIP-OFF!), I now learned that the FED is now going to assist FOREIGN BANKS...
Appearing in the Austin American-Statesman, the daily newspaper of Austin, Texas on page D-1 of the Business section, Thursday, October 30..
I had to cite my source here or people would think that I was just making it up... I wish i was!
"washington, d.C. — The Federal Reserve said that it will supply new lines of credit to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore to help those countries deal with the global credit crisis.
The Fed will provide up to $30 billion to each of the central banks, It is the latest in a series of "swap" arrangements where the Fed provides dollars in exchange for the reserves of the other nations' currencies.
The central bank said the new credit lines like those already established with other countries, were designed " to help improve liquidity conditions in global financial markets" by increasing the global availability of U.S. Dollars."
Just what is the fed and how does it affect me?
Glad you asked.
The Federal Reserve System, the nation's central bank, was created in 1913 with two specific charges: promoting maximum sustainable employment and keeping inflation low.
To the extent that the nation's economy can be heated up or cooled down, the Fed is the institution with its fingers on the thermostat.
Teams of economists parse reams of statistics to take the economy's temperature and try, using some powerful tools, to ensure the economy is not running so hot that prices soar and not running so cold that thousands of people lose their jobs.
Of course, there's plenty that's outside the Fed's control, from bank blowups to stock swings. But it still has more power over the economy than any other institution. That's why Fed actions make headlines even before they happen think of stocks gaining $1 trillion in total value Tuesday, rallying on the hope that the Fed would cut its short-term interest rate target. It did just that Wednesday, cutting the key rate to 1 percent.
Here are some questions and answers about the Fed and what it does.
Q: Why was the Federal Reserve created?
A: Just as the recent economic crisis has shaped national policy, so did the crises of the past. The legislation that created the modern Federal Reserve system came after a bank run in 1907 that followed a period of Wall Street speculation. (Sound familiar?)
Congress first passed an act providing for emergency currency infusions during a crisis. When the Fed was created in 1913, Congress hoped it would serve as a bulwark against future panics.
There had been two previous attempts to create a central bank in the U.S. During the 19th Century, but neither worked.
Q: What does the Federal Reserve do?
A: The Fed sets monetary policy, making decisions about the total amount of money in the economy also known as the money supply.
To loosen the money supply, the Fed can make loans itself, either to banks, foreign countries or businesses. That's something it's been doing increasingly over the last two months. Besides those loans, one of the Fed's primary ways of controlling the money supply is buying and selling Treasury securities U.S. Government debt on the open market.
To loosen monetary policy when lending is tight and the economy is shrinking (as it is now), the Fed buys Treasury securities from banks. To pay the banks, it credits their reserves the cash banks keep on hand to cover loans they've made.
When those reserves rise, banks can, theoretically, make more loans. (Though there's no guarantee they'll do this like if they're too terrified to lend anything to anybody, as many seem to be now.)
To tighten monetary policy when the economy is growing and inflation is climbing, the Fed sells Treasuries to banks. The banks pay for them in cash, leaving them less money to lend. That should tighten lending, slowing the economy as loans get less common and more expensive, causing inflation to decline.
Another of the Fed's tools is its control over the Federal funds rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans.
The Fed is currently cutting the rate, as it did Wednesday, to free up money for loans in the hopes the economy will grow. Lower interest rates should mean it's easier for businesses to get loans to buy new factory equipment or hire more workers and for individuals to borrow money to buy a home or a new car.
The last time the Fed tightened rates was during the economic expansion from 2004 to 2006. The Fed has been in loosening mode since September.
Q: What's the difference between monetary policy and fiscal policy?
A: Monetary policy refers to the Fed's stance on the money supply and whether it's tightening or loosening access. Fiscal policy covers all the federal government's spending and taxation policies.
Q: Does the Fed set targets for unemployment and inflation?
A: The Fed does set unofficial targets for inflation; it does not set targets for employment.
The Fed targets a "nominal" level of inflation usually somewhere around 2 percent annually. When inflation gets much higher, as it did when it hit an annual rate of 5.6 percent in July, people struggle to buy necessities. When inflation gets much lower, as it did in 2003 when it hit 1 percent annually, the Fed acts to stimulate the economy.
Outside "supply shocks, " such as last summer's soaring gas prices, inflation is something the Fed can influence. Creating a sustainable level of employment, on the other hand, is something no central bank can control.
Let's say the Fed were to keep interest rates low even as the economy was growing furiously. While that might cause employment to balloon, which would be a good thing, it would also cause inflation to spike, for a couple of reasons: Cheap loans make people and institutions more willing to spend money, which pushes prices up; and when nearly everyone has a job, employers are forced to raise wages to keep their workers.
Higher prices lead to spending cuts by individuals and businesses, which in turn lead to job cuts.
Even if the Fed could directly control the unemployment rate, there's no agreement on what the maximum sustainable level of employment should be, in part because the structure of the economy keeps changing: For better or for worse, the steel mill and auto factory jobs of the 1970s had become security guard and call center jobs by the 1990s. No amount of monetary policy can influence those broad economic shifts.
Who is on the board of the fed?
The chairman is ben s. Bernake, phd.
Ben S. Bernanke was sworn in on February 1, as Chairman and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Dr. Bernanke also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. He was appointed as a member of the Board to a full 14-year term, which expires January 31, and to a four-year term as Chairman, which expires January 31.
Before his appointment as Chairman, Dr. Bernanke was Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, from June to January.
Dr. Bernanke has already served the Federal Reserve System in several roles. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2002 to 2005; a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia (1987-89), Boston (1989-90), and New York (1990-91,1994-96); and a member of the Academic Advisory Panel at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1990).
From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Bernanke was the Class of 1926 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He was the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Chair of the Economics Department at the university from 1996 to 2002. Dr. Bernanke had been a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton since 1985.
Before arriving at Princeton, Dr. Bernanke was an Associate Professor of Economics (1983-85) and an Assistant Professor of Economics (1979-83) at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His teaching career also included serving as a Visiting Professor of Economics at New York University (1993) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1989-90).
Dr. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide variety of economic issues, including monetary policy and macroeconomics, and he is the author of several scholarly books and two textbooks. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Sloan Fellowship, and he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Bernanke served as the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as a member of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee.in July he was appointed Editor of the American Economic Review. Dr. Bernanke's work with civic and professional groups includes having served two terms as a member of the Montgomery Township (N.J.) Board of Education.
Dr. Bernanke was born in December 1953 in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in Dillon, South Carolina. He received a B.A.in economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and a Ph. D.in economics in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Bernanke is married and has two children.
Last update: October 31
Donald S. Krohn, PhD. Is the Vice-Chairman of the Fed
Donald L. Kohn originally took office on August 5, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a full term ending January 31. On June 23, Dr. Kohn was sworn in as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a four-year term ending June 23.
Dr. Kohn was born in November 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A.in economics in 1964 from the College of Wooster and a Ph. D.in economics in 1971 from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Kohn is a veteran of the Federal Reserve System. Before becoming a member of the Board, he served on its staff as Adviser to the Board for Monetary Policy (02), Secretary of the Federal Open Market Committee (1987), Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs (1987), and Deputy Staff Director for Monetary and Financial Policy (1983-87). He also held several positions in the Board's Division of Research and Statistics: Associate Director (1981-83), Chief of Capital Markets (1978-81), and Economist (1975-78). Dr. Kohn began his career as a Financial Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (1970-75).
Dr. Kohn has written extensively on issues related to monetary policy and its implementation by the Federal Reserve. These works were published in volumes issued by various organizations, including the Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Brookings Institution.
He was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award from The Money Marketeers of New York University, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Wooster (1998), and the Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, from the College of Wooster.
Dr. Kohn is the Chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS), a central bank panel that monitors and examines broad issues related to financial markets and systems.
Dr. Kohn is married and has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Last update: October 31
Kevin M. Warsh - BOARD MEMBER
Kevin M. Warsh took office on February 24, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31.
Prior to his appointment to the Board, Mr. Warsh served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and as Executive Secretary of the National Economic Council from 2002 until February. His primary areas of responsibility included domestic finance, banking and securities regulatory policy, and consumer protection. He advised the President and senior administration officials on issues related to the U.S. Economy, capital markets, securities, banking, and insurance issues. Mr. Warsh participated in the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and served as the administration's chief liaison to the independent financial regulatory agencies.
From 1995 to Mr. Warsh was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department of Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. He served as financial adviser to numerous companies across a range of industry sectors, including manufacturing, basic materials, professional services, and high tech.in that capacity, Mr. Warsh structured capital markets transactions and facilitated fixed income and equity financings.
Mr. Warsh was born in April 1970 in Albany, New York. He received an A.B.in public policy (honors) from Stanford University in 1992 with significant course work in economics and statistics. Mr. Warsh studied law, economics, and regulatory policy at Harvard Law School, receiving a J.D. (cum laude) in 1995. He also completed course work in market economics and debt capital markets at Harvard Business School and MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Last update: October 31
Randall S. Kroszner, PhD BOARD MEMBER
Randall S. Kroszner took office on March 1, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31.
Before becoming a member of the Board, Dr. Kroszner was Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2006. He was also Assistant Professor (1990-1994) and Associate Professor (1994-1999) at the University. Dr. Kroszner was Director of the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State and editor of the Journal of Law & Economics. He was a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a director at the National Association for Business Economics. Dr. Kroszner also was a member of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Department of Labor.
Before joining the Board, Dr. Kroszner served the Federal Reserve System in several roles. He was a visiting scholar at the Board of Governors and a research consultant and a member of the Academic Advisory Panel at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Dr. Kroszner also has been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis.
Dr. Kroszner was a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) from 2001 to 2003. While at the CEA, he was heavily involved in formulating the policy response to corporate governance scandals, as well as in advising on a wide range of domestic and international issues, including banking and financial regulation, government-sponsored enterprises, pension reform, corporate governance reform, terrorism risk insurance, tax reform, currency crisis management, sovereign debt restructuring, the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), international trade, and economic development.
Dr. Kroszner has been a visiting scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission; the IMF; the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden; the Free University of Berlin, Germany; Stockholm University, Sweden; and the London School of Economics. He was the John M. Olin Visiting Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School and the Bertil Danielson Visiting Professor of Banking and Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Dr. Kroszner's research interests include conflicts of interest in financial services firms, international financial crises, corporate governance, debt restructuring and bankruptcy, and monetary economics.
Dr. Kroszner was born in June 1962 in Englewood, New Jersey. He received an Sc. B. (magna cum laude) in applied mathematics-economics (honors) from Brown University in 1984 and an M.A. (1987) and Ph. D. (1990), both in economics, from Harvard University.
Last update: October 31
Elizabeth A. Duke, BOARD MEMBER
Elizabeth A. Duke took office on August 5, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31.
Prior to her appointment to the Board, Ms. Duke was Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of TowneBank, a Virginia-based community bank. Prior to this, she was an Executive Vice President at Wachovia Bank, and an Executive Vice President at SouthTrust Bank. Earlier in her career, Ms. Duke was President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Tidewater, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Ms. Duke served on the Board of Directors of the American Bankers Association from 1999 to and served as its Chairman from 2004 to 2005. She also served on the Board of Directors and as President of the Virginia Bankers Association. From 1998 to Ms. Duke served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. She has also served as a member of the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council.
Aside from her work in the banking industry, Ms. Duke has held many civic positions, including service on the boards of directors of the Virginia Council on Economic Education, the Hampton Roads Partnership, the Old Dominion University Foundation, and the Economics Club of Hampton Roads. She also served on the Virginia Legislative Subcommittee to Study Capital Access and Business Financing and served on the Board of Commissioners of the Norfolk Airport Authority.
Ms. Duke, a Virginia native, was born in July 1952. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.B.A. From Old Dominion University. She is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management.
Last update: October 31
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