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Posts Tagged ‘Treasury’

The Three Biggest Lies the Government Is Telling You by Charles …

lewrockwell.com1/27/12

So I have chosen to focus on lies about each: the Federal Reserve, the orchestrator of monetary policy; the U.S. budget, the accounting of government fiscal policy; and a few of the Empire's war lies. I am sharing just a … The World Bank gets almost all of its money by way of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),( also not a bank), which gets its money from taxes, the largest share coming from the American people. The IBRD also sells …

In defense of capitalism | RedState

www.redstate.com1/12/12

So all you people defending Mitt Romney's corporate activity as unassailable because by God the business of America is business and what not, remember he once made clear he didn't much care for you guys. …. (Actually it sounds quite a bit like what happened to the banks. …. I have said for months that Rush, Beck, Hannity even Palin keep telling us what our candidate should look like and then we have one and they won't put their money where their mouths are. …

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The just released government’s “stress-test” results suggest that ten of the nation’s nineteen biggest banks will need a total of around $75 billion in new capital in order to withstand losses if the recession worsens.

According to the tests, some of the largest banks are stable, whilst others will need billions more in capital.

Meanwhile, government officials are stressing that the banking industry is still viable in spite of its vulnerability, but concur that it will need massive injections of capital if there’s to be an economic rebound.

The official line is, that none of the banks will be allowed to fail, and that it’s hoped that the tests will restore investors’ confidence, that not all the nation’s banks are seriously weak, and that those that are can be strengthened.

Kevin Logan, who is chief U.S. economist at Dresdner Kleinwort said, “Looking at the big picture, you can say that things aren’t so bad for the financial industry as a whole. The banking industry is not going to make a lot of money going forward, and that’s a dilemma for keeping banks solvent and getting them lending”.

The ten banks that need more capital, have until June 8th to develop a plan and to have it approved by their regulators, and analysts say that the test results sketched an encouraging but cautious picture of the banks.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s plan to buy mortgage-backed securities in order to drive down interest in the U.S. appears to be working, as fixed mortgage rates fell for a second consecutive week, and the number of mortgage applications rose, boosted by an increase in refinancing applications.

Freddie Mac reported that the rate for a 30-year fixed home loan fell to 4.80 percent from 4.82 percent a week earlier, whilst the 15-year fixed rate remained unchanged at 4.48 percent.

The central bank is attempting to drive down interest rates by cutting the supply of outstanding mortgage bonds, thereby boosting their price and lowering their yields, thus allowing banks to reduce their rates on new mortgages, whilst continuing to sell mortgage securities at a profit.

Celia Chen, who is the senior director of Moody’s, Economy.com commented, “The policy is working. Mortgage interest rates are falling to a record low, which will stimulate some buying of homes”.

The not so good news is that sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in March, after climbing by the biggest amount in more than five years just one month earlier.

Purchases decreased by 3% to an annual rate of 4.57 million, which was lower than the 4.71 million which was forecast, and prices were down 12% from a year ago, with distressed properties accounting for about 50% of all sales.

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