Author Archives: Lawrence Goodman

FT: Bair on Protecting Smaller Banks from Investor Nerves

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Today, the Financial Times published Sheila Bair’s Opinion piece “Congress must act to protect smaller banks from investor nerves. Measures to shield operational business accounts, introduced during Covid, should be triggered urgently.”

While she does not believe that universal coverage for all accounts is the answer, she does advocate for using the Transaction Account Guarantee (or TAG programme). “To promote banking competition and mitigate concentrations of power, we need to help them protect their core business accounts. Congress needs to reinstate TAG.”

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article:
https://www.ft.com/content/caae5e89-4f6f-4ec8-94c7-0c15ed4592fa

Sheila Bair is a former chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a senior fellow and Advisory Board member at the Center for Financial Stability.

US regulators are setting a dangerous precedent on Silicon Valley Bank

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Former FDIC Chair and CFS senior fellow Sheila Bair penned “US regulators are setting a dangerous precedent on Silicon Valley Bank” in the Financial Times (FT).  The piece covers:

– Systemic risk determination,
– Use of FDIC insurance,
– Fed policy.

To view the piece:
https://www.ft.com/content/b860ebb6-f202-4ec6-a80c-8b1527c949f4

Falling Money and the Fed

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CFS Divisia M4 (DM4) declined by the 14th largest amount on record since 1968.

The implication is that inflation and growth are slowing more dramatically than many believe.

Over years and cycles, our data and analytics offer paths for investors to profit and officials to conduct policy in a way to limit inflation and promote growth in a less volatile financial environment.

A message on markets, analytics and policy implications will follow next week.

View “Falling Money and the Fed” at
https://centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Falling_Money_013123.pdf

FT: Bair on Volcker and the Fed

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Today, the Financial Times published Sheila Bair’s Opinion piece “The Fed must emulate the tactics of Volcker’s fight against inflation.” Sheila notes that:

  • US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell has expressed deep admiration for the legendary Paul Volcker, yet Powell is deviating from Volcker’s methods.
  • Volcker fought inflation by restraining growth in money supply to keep monetary policy tight through two recessions to finally beat inflation.
  • For many years, the Fed has unwisely paid little attention to the huge volume of money its accommodative polices have created. It now needs to follow Volcker’s example and attack excess money supply head-on.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article:
https://www.ft.com/content/b82082c9-d26a-47a5-8b1a-34121f572645

Sheila Bair is a former chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a senior fellow and Advisory Board member at the Center for Financial Stability.

Barnett on “Why were the Fed’s inflation forecasts so wrong?”

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Professor William A. Barnett – CFS director of Advances in Financial and Monetary Measurement (AMFM) – questions “Why were the Fed’s inflation forecasts so wrong?”

He then addresses limitations in the modeling approach at the Federal Reserve and – more importantly – offers ideas for the future.

To view Bill’s opinion piece…
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article260903877.html

On China’s Financial System and Property Markets: Aliber and Walter

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We are delighted to share work presented in recent days by two good friends of the CFS: Robert Z. Aliber and Carl E. Walter.

Carl discussed his forthcoming book The Red Dream: the Chinese Communist Party and the financial deterioration of China. Red Dream analyzes 1) the build-up of leverage throughout the system, 2) how regulators have worked to generate strong performance metrics while sloughing off unwanted assets, 3) the health of the financial system, as well as 4) the present within the context of prior financial stressors in the U.S., Japan and China itself.

Bob offers his latest thoughts on China’s property market, Evergrande, and future economic prospects more broadly. He first discussed these dynamics in the epilogue of the seventh edition of Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises.

Carl recently served as an independent director of a major Chinese bank. For many years, Carl worked in China, where he last served as JP Morgan’s China COO and CEO of its banking subsidiary. He is now a visiting scholar at the Stanford Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center.

Bob is professor emeritus of International Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago. He has written extensively about the prices of currencies, international investment flows, banking issues, the multinational firm, international monetary arrangements, and financial crises.

To view Carl’s slides on China’s financial system:
http://www.centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Walter_China_Feb_2022.pdf

To view Bob’s “The Ponzi Bubble in China’s Property Market is Deflating”:
http://www.centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Aliber_China_031122.pdf

As these topics are complex and challenging, we look forward to any comments you might have.

Money in The Wash Post

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Congratulations to David J. Lynch at The Washington Post for being the first in a major news outlet, as far as we are aware, to ask the question “why does the Fed ignore the money supply”?

The piece covers much ground, references Bill Barnett’s work as CFS director of Advances in Monetary and Financial Measurement (AMFM), and quotes Steve Hanke, CFS special counsellor and Johns Hopkins professor.

Yet, misconceptions exist. Lynch frames monetarists versus “all but the monetarists” and “conservative critics” versus others. He is correct. Sadly, this is the narrative.

However, CFS Divisia monetary aggregates and liability measures vividly illustrate how Fed policy transmits through the financial system and into the real economy. That’s it. They have been exceedingly helpful at analytically and dispassionately identifying trades and how the economy responds to policy.

CFS monetary data and optimal uses are vehemently non-partisan.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article in the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/06/federal-reserve-inflation-money-supply/

Fed Gov Waller Discussion

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The Center for Financial Stability (CFS) hosted remarks and a discussion with Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller on the economic and monetary outlook on Friday, November 19.

Remarks and the discussion are available at:
https://youtu.be/hQIA4bVFKXw

Thanks also to Howard Marks, John Ryding, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Colin Teichholtz, Nick Sargen, Colby Smith, Nick Silitch, Lisa Lee, Bruce Tuckman, and Jeff Young for excellent questions.

Discussion with Fed Gov Waller on Economic and Monetary Outlook

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The Center for Financial Stability (CFS) will host remarks and a discussion with Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller.  Governor Waller will focus on the economic and monetary outlook.

Prior to his appointment at the Board, Chris served as executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2009.  In addition to his experience in the Federal Reserve System, he served as a professor and the Gilbert F. Schaefer Chair of Economics at the University of Notre Dame.

Date:  Friday, November 19, 2021
Time:  Program begins promptly at 10:45 a.m. and ends at 12:00 p.m.

Remarks and discussion will be live streamed and can be viewed later at: https://youtu.be/hQIA4bVFKXw