One day after midterm elections in the U.S., Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announces the nation's plans to purchase $600 billion in Treasuries. NPR takes Bernanke's announcement and attempts to "translate it into plain English." [more inside]
posted by The ____ of Justice on Nov 6, 2010 - 85 comments

In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee... where he’s seeking re-appointment as the Fed’s chairman, Bernanke called for cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security... “Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is, as he put it,” Bernanke said. “The money in this case is in entitlements.” [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Dec 4, 2009 - 91 comments

Anatomy of a Meltdown - Ben Bernanke and the financial crisis (in one page)
posted by Gyan on Nov 24, 2008 - 61 comments

After an historic near-collapse (p), a federal bailout to the tune of $85,000,000,000, a second federal bailout to the tune of $37,800,000,000 and one hell of a party (p), the news on A.I.G. just keeps getting better. Now: Fed arbitrage! Paying down a 9% taxpayer loan with a 2% taxpayer loan? Genius!
posted by jckll on Oct 31, 2008 - 7 comments

The Fed has decided to bail out A.I.G. with an $85 billion dollar loan deal, which will result in 80% of the company being owned by the government.
posted by aheckler on Sep 16, 2008 - 263 comments

Is the currency that oil is denominated in the real reason for the Iraq War? "The Federal Reserve's greatest nightmare is that OPEC will switch its international transactions from a dollar standard to a euro standard. Iraq actually made this switch in Nov. 2000 (when the euro was worth around 80 cents), and has actually made off like a bandit considering the dollar's steady depreciation against the euro. (Note: the dollar declined 17% against the euro in 2002.)"
posted by thedailygrowl on Feb 11, 2003 - 35 comments