Word: fed
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...when someone in the Obama Administration says something like "We want to reform Wall Street pay," what goes through your head? I hope they can actually follow through with it. But here we have folks in Washington - in the Fed, in the Treasury - who are also investment bankers, especially from Goldman Sachs. So it makes me wary. We're all implicated in this...
...this willingness to explain policies and chat with Congress about them hasn't endeared Bernanke and the Fed to all its members. Far from it. After thanking Bernanke in his opening remarks, Bachus - the ranking Republican on the committee - went on to complain that the Fed had taken on too much authority and should restrict itself in the future to setting monetary policy. Texas Republican Ron Paul, whose calls to abolish the Fed have gotten more attention lately than they used to, claimed that "the Federal Reserve, in collaboration with giant banks, has created the greatest financial crisis ever seen...
...surprisingly, then, Bernanke's testimony went well beyond the usual Humphrey-Hawkins report on how the Fed is doing in meeting its two congressionally mandated goals of maintaining stable prices and full employment (fine on the first, not so fine on the second) to defend the Fed against the rising tide of criticism in Congress. (Read "The Fed Holds Steady: Mixed Signals on the Economy...
...actions taken last fall by the Fed, Treasury, Congress and governments around the world "may well have averted the collapse of the global financial system, an event that would have had extremely adverse and protracted consequences for the world economy," Bernanke said. Market improvements were already allowing the Fed to unwind some of the extraordinary actions it took last fall, with credit extended to banks and other financial firms declining from $1.5 trillion at the end of 2008 to less than $600 billion now. Congressional meddling in Federal Reserve decision-making - there are proposals to increase Congress's audit authority...
...hard to tell whether the Fed is in any actual danger from its congressional critics. The Administration's proposals for regulatory reform would, on balance, give more power to the Fed than it has now. And House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank remains a staunch Fed defender. "When you have a terrible mess, it is unlikely that those who attempt to alleviate the danger will come out looking clean," he said in Bernanke's defense this morning. Then again, Frank said, the congressional griping will likely continue until the economy begins to show marked signs of improvement - because...