The Fed and Treasury

Will Trump Try to ‘Overrule’ Monetary Policy?

By Mark Thoma

How will the Federal Reserve evolve during Donald Trump’s term as president? Presently, three of the seven positions on the Federal Reserve Board are vacant. These vacancies, along with the...
Why the Treasury Is Ending a Low-Income Retirement Saving Program

By Beth Braverman

Less than two years after the Obama administration rolled out a myRA, a savings program aimed at helping the millions of Americans without access to a retirement account through work, the Trump...
Will Janet Yellen Give Wall Street a Scare?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, the Federal Reserve has been unable to convince the market it's serious about aggressively tightening policy. Janet Yellen and her cohorts have been guilty of "crying wolf," constantly...
Is the Fed About to Wage War on the Rich?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, stocks have been driven relentlessly higher thanks to a single statement that summarized the aggressive central bank largesse since the eurozone crisis flared up in 2012: Policymakers...
Is the Fed Fighting the Trump Rally?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The evidence is growing that the Federal Reserve’s policymakers are actively working to lean against the stock market's rise, a dramatic reversal from the years of policy support stock market bulls...

The Fed’s Big Mistake: Rate Hikes Hurt US Workers

By David Dayen

Protesters rallied in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia yesterday against an imminent government action that would damage the financial prospects of ordinary workers. And no, it had nothing...
The Fed, the Reality of Tax Cuts, and Donald Trump

By Mark Thoma

For many years, Republicans argued that tax cuts for the wealthy pay for themselves. Cutting taxes on the wealthy, according to Republicans, allows them to keep a larger share of anything new they...
Will Unwinding the Fed’s $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet Kill the Bull Market?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

Over the last decade, investors have grown accustomed to a Federal Reserve that constantly coddled them, allayed their fears and did everything possible to support the financial markets and asset...
The Key to This Market: Here’s What Will Determine if Stocks Rise or Fall

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For now, instead of putting pressure on risk assets, the Fed's newfound hawkishness is bolstering the reflation trade by lifting the dollar higher and attracting global capital into U.S. assets. Same...
Can Wall Street Handle Higher Interest Rates?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the second time in three months, signaling a dramatic quickening of its prior pace. For the first time in more than a decade, Fed policymakers are...

The Fed Is Setting Up the Market for a September Cliffhanger

By Anthony Mirhaydari

Once again, the fate of the free world seemingly rests on a decision out of the Marriner Eccles building in Washington D.C., where on Sept. 17 Janet Yellen and her cohorts at the Federal Reserve will...
IRS Service This Tax Season Was ‘by Far the Worst’

By Suelain Moy

When it comes to bad service, the IRS has had a banner year — even by its own lowly standards. The agency hung up on taxpayers calling for help 8.8 million times in the 2015 taxpayer season,...
The Pros and Cons of Bernie Sanders’ $50 Billion Tax Idea

By Rob Garver

A new study from the Tax Policy Center busts some of the myths surrounding the Financial Transaction Tax and comes up with a bottom line finding that a properly implemented FTT could raise $50...
Easy Money in an Age of Inequality: Why the Fed Fell Short

By David Dayen

The Federal Reserve and its central bank counterparts worldwide have engaged in years of extraordinary monetary interventions to boost asset prices and lower interest rates. Yet overall economic...
Mediocre Jobs Report Sends Mixed Signals to Federal Reserve

By Rob Garver

The U.S. economy continued its aggravatingly slow recovery from the Great Recession in June, leaving economists in disagreement about the course the Federal Reserve should pursue on interest rates.

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