MEDIA COVERAGE

[Alex Pollock, Senior Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and one of the sharpest thinkers I know, wrote a wonderful blog in the American Banker about on the Federal Reserve on May 17, 2013 that I commend to you. It’s short, sweet, and to the point. You can find it through the link below.]

Jim Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has laid out an interesting argument, as reported by American Banker (“A Simple TBTF Plan from Fed’s Jim Bullard,” May 9), to determine when a bank is too big and needs to be broken up. In summary, the well-informed argument goes like this:

If a bank is…

Here is the link to the full article

[Robert Pringle, Chairman and Founder of Central Banking Publications, recently published a provocative piece on current massive interventions in the markets by the Federal Reserve and other central banks throughout the world. I recommend that you take a few minutes to read it.]

Money is too loose globally. Trouble is, there’s no obvious trigger that warns governments it is time to raise rates. Only a rise in consumer price inflation – or in inflation expectations – justifies central banks raising rates under their rickety inflation targeting regimes. Even then, governments can prevent them.

The risks and dangers for the global economy are like hidden reefs for a ship – invisible but deadly. It is quite possible, for example, that US monetary policy can cause an asset boom in China so large that its collapse would bring the Chinese economy down with it – and thus throw the world including the US into deep depression. This could happen while US retail prices held absolutely steady. There would be no pressure on the Fed to raise rates, and no justification for doing so from a short-term US perspective.

Fifth Third Bancorp Chairman William Isaac does a lot of traveling and gives a lot of speeches and presentations about the banking business during the year. It’s not typically about Fifth Third, but Isaac’s background as former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. puts him in high demand.

So it’s no surprise he had jetted off to Indonesia late last month to deliver the keynote address at the annual Asian Banker Summit.

Tom Hoenig, currently Vice Chairman of the FDIC who formerly served as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for 20 years, gave an excellent, wide-ranging policy speech at The Asian Banker Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 24. I spoke at the same conference so I had the pleasure of hearing Tom’s speech in person. His speech covers fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies and I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to read it. As usual, his comments are exceptionally thoughtful and provocative. The speech can be found on the FDIC’s website through the link that follows:

Here is the link to the full article

By Lanny Davis

[Lanny Davis, a Washington attorney and founder of Lanny Davis & Associates, who is probably best known for serving as President Clinton’s special counsel from 1996-1998, wrote the the article below on President George W. Bush on the occasion of the dedication of the Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University. Lanny is such a constructive force for reason and bi-partisan cooperation I reached out to get his permission to put his article on my website.]

Thursday, April 25, on the Southern Methodist University campus in Austin, Texas, four living presidents — Jimmy Carter, No. 39; George H.W. Bush, No. 41; Bill Clinton, No. 42, and Barack Obama, No. 44 — will honor one of their colleagues, George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, at the dedication of his presidential library.

So I take this occasion to remind my fellow liberal Democrats, many of whom continue to attack Bush in harsh and personal terms, of three things about him that I don’t think they understand or appreciate.

The Dodd-Frank Act is “the worst financial legislation I have ever seen in my life,” and the law won’t prevent another financial crisis, asserts former FDIC Chairman William Isaac.

“If it had been around 15 years ago, it would not have prevented the last
crisis and it’s not going to prevent the next crisis,” Isaac told Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview.

Plus, the law doesn’t address concerns about financial institutions that are too big to fail, it is far too complex, and it is hurting growth, said Isaac, now chairman of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank Corp. and a senior managing director of FTI Consulting.

Click here to view the full article and video of the interview