Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) gave no date for an interest rate hike, leaving analysts and economists speculating as to when the long anticipated .25 percent increase in the federal funds rate, which now officially stands at “zero to .25 percent,” will come. Following the Fed’s official statements issued after FOMC meetings has
A great uproar was heard when the US Mint temporarily suspended sales of its 1-oz Silver Eagles, the world’s most popular government-issued 1-oz silver coins. The biggest outcry came from people who could not comprehend why the price of silver went down while the Mint admitted it could not meet demand. It’s not hard to
If there is anything that haunts the Fed chairpersons it’s the fear that they will be blamed for causing another Great Depression. Ben Bernanke, noted for his studies of the era, has said that the Fed did not do enough to prevent the calamitous 1930s depression. That position, undoubtedly, led to the Bernanke Fed implementing
In the scheme of things, Greece’s problems are small potatoes compared with China’s. What makes the possibility of a Grexit (Greece exit from the Eurozone) significant is that it would call into question the concept of a unified Europe. If Greece exits, what about Portugal, Spain and Italy, which are also struggling with massive debt?
In the financial news, nothing is getting more attention than Greece’s financial plight. In short, Greece cannot meet its debt payments schedule without further assistance from the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both of which want a more strident austerity program than the present one that has already brought the people of